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You Think You Hear: A Novel
Lou Farren loves two things in rock and roll and his friend Cree, a beautiful drummer in a pop band who has no idea how he feels. Adrift in a post-college world of boring computer jobs, Lou agrees to be the roadie for the Day Action Band, a brilliant but unknown ensemble made up of Cree, bassist Joey, and Lou's best friend, Tim, on guitar. Opening for the Radicals, a British group with a single climbing the charts, the band travels coast to coast, moving closer and closer to fame. As Lou drives the Day Action Band's van, sells their T-shirts, and mediates their arguments, he learns what it's like to stand just outside the spotlight. He watches Tim charm women from the stage, sees Joey achieve the coolness he's always wanted, and tries unsuccessfully to look away when Cree falls into a tour romance with the lead singer of the Radicals. Every night Lou sits at a table in the back of the club, envying his friends and facing the idea that his life might be significant only for its relationship to theirs. When the band comes close to breaking up, Lou is forced to confront what he really wants for them, and for himself.
Reminiscent of Nick Hornby's High Fidelity, Matt O'Keefe's hilarious and poignant debut is the story of a young man coming to grips with the distance between his dreams and his reality. You Think You Hear is about unrequited love, a romance with pop music, and the search for moments in life as satisfying as a perfect song.
Reminiscent of Nick Hornby's High Fidelity, Matt O'Keefe's hilarious and poignant debut is the story of a young man coming to grips with the distance between his dreams and his reality. You Think You Hear is about unrequited love, a romance with pop music, and the search for moments in life as satisfying as a perfect song.
- GenresFiction
295 pages, Hardcover
First published April 14, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
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July 31, 2008About a month ago, Bookslut had an article about rock-n-roll novels. I, being one of those readers that saw nothing unusual or abnormal with the behavior of the self-absorbed music geeks in Nick Hornsby's High Fidelity, took the article with me to the library and searched through their card catalog (okay, it's really a computer catalog) for matches.
Of all the book's listed, Matt O'Keefe's debut novel, You Think You Hear, looked the most promising. It's the story of four friends - three of them the on the cusp of success as a college-rock trio. The fourth friend is our protagonist, Lou, who has agreed to act as their roadie as the band hits the road their first big tour (opening for an English band hoping to match their British success on this side of the pond).
I looked forward to a behind the scenes peek at a mid-level, still-traveling-in-a-van, make-or-break tour. I wasn't expecting Hornsby-level writing, especially in a debut novel, but I did expect that same music-wonk dialog that carried High Fidelity, and hopefully a good story.
What I got was great writing, but not much story. Although the characters are all out of college, their profession leaves them in a suspended college-life state-of-mind, otherwise known as the slacker mindset. O'Keefe nails the specifics of this lifestyle (ex-girlfriends, bongs, fighting over the co-pilot's seat), but it doesn't make for the most focused storyline. A little story here, back in the van. A little more story here, some talk of music. Back to the story, than a little riff between band members. It's like the tour van is going cross-country, but the plot is stuck circling in a cul-de-sac.
The music talk isn't very original or very interesting like it was in High Fidelity. Instead of High Fidelity's lovable (to me) music snob you've-never-heard-of-them-so-they-must-be-good obscure references, all of music talk here deals with either well-worn classic rock (the band actually recreates lines from Tom Petty's awful mass-market "Free Falling" by being sure to glide down over Mulholland Drive with the song on the tape deck) or with the fictional songs of the novel's fictional band, none of which seem like they could actually survive in the real world.
Like I said, the writing is strong. Strong enough to make you not give up on the book. O'Keefe avoids the freshman mistake of writing a screenplay instead of a novel. Dialogue is natural sounding and flows nicely through descriptions of people and places and through the thoughts of our intrepid roadie. The story may not be the strongest, but you never roll your eyes at it either.
So - good writing, a so-so but readable story, and characters that you like while you're reading but forget about while you're not. Not too bad, but from a book about a cross-country tour I ended up wishing that its story had gone somewhere too.
Of all the book's listed, Matt O'Keefe's debut novel, You Think You Hear, looked the most promising. It's the story of four friends - three of them the on the cusp of success as a college-rock trio. The fourth friend is our protagonist, Lou, who has agreed to act as their roadie as the band hits the road their first big tour (opening for an English band hoping to match their British success on this side of the pond).
I looked forward to a behind the scenes peek at a mid-level, still-traveling-in-a-van, make-or-break tour. I wasn't expecting Hornsby-level writing, especially in a debut novel, but I did expect that same music-wonk dialog that carried High Fidelity, and hopefully a good story.
What I got was great writing, but not much story. Although the characters are all out of college, their profession leaves them in a suspended college-life state-of-mind, otherwise known as the slacker mindset. O'Keefe nails the specifics of this lifestyle (ex-girlfriends, bongs, fighting over the co-pilot's seat), but it doesn't make for the most focused storyline. A little story here, back in the van. A little more story here, some talk of music. Back to the story, than a little riff between band members. It's like the tour van is going cross-country, but the plot is stuck circling in a cul-de-sac.
The music talk isn't very original or very interesting like it was in High Fidelity. Instead of High Fidelity's lovable (to me) music snob you've-never-heard-of-them-so-they-must-be-good obscure references, all of music talk here deals with either well-worn classic rock (the band actually recreates lines from Tom Petty's awful mass-market "Free Falling" by being sure to glide down over Mulholland Drive with the song on the tape deck) or with the fictional songs of the novel's fictional band, none of which seem like they could actually survive in the real world.
Like I said, the writing is strong. Strong enough to make you not give up on the book. O'Keefe avoids the freshman mistake of writing a screenplay instead of a novel. Dialogue is natural sounding and flows nicely through descriptions of people and places and through the thoughts of our intrepid roadie. The story may not be the strongest, but you never roll your eyes at it either.
So - good writing, a so-so but readable story, and characters that you like while you're reading but forget about while you're not. Not too bad, but from a book about a cross-country tour I ended up wishing that its story had gone somewhere too.
May 4, 2007
So this was kind of a neat book to read because it's about someone I know. The book was written by Matt O'Keefe, who is a member of the Day Action Band, and is about his time on tour with pApAs fritAs, although the names of the band and band members were changed. Since I know Tony (and was able to figure out which character he was) it was kinda like sitting around listening to stories about when they were on tour. Probably not as cool an experience if you don't really know the guy, but from what I recall it was pretty well written and gave a good account of a band on the road, so it can still be enjoyable.
November 19, 2013
I liked it. Kind of an early 2000s post-college self discovery book. When I first started reading, I was rolling my eyes at some of the flowery descriptions (and even after I started really liking the story, continued to do so). But Lou grew on me with his insecurities about his place with the band. I would have liked to see him evolve further until he could stand up for himself with them, but I think that was the whole point of it.
May 27, 2011
Well written with excellent description and metaphors, but somewhat meandering with mildly unlikeable characters I found difficult to relate to.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews