The Exes - Hardcover

This charming novel charts the last days of rock as seen through the eyes of the four members of the Exes, a painfully hip Boston-area indie alterna-pop band. Each of the four chapters takes on the tale of the band's conception and fruition from the perspective of a different member, producing an omniscient Rashomon-like narrative that weaves pop reference and nerdy rock-geek sensibility into a combination Harlequin Romance/Celebrity Tell-All. Author Pagan Kennedy is best known for her zine Pagan's Head and her handbook of all things '70s, Platforms. She puts that subcultural know-how to work in this fast-moving story about rockers who love their own images more than the notes and tempos of the music they play. --James DiGiovanna

Kennedy (Spinsters, 1995, etc.) makes much of the GenX scene she knows well in this witty, sincere, if fluffy saga of four musicians who form a band with a shot at the big timeif they can only surmount their utterly snarled lives. Hank is a purist, having played his guitar in various groups around home-base Boston until decamping, miffed that perfections so hard to find. His musical vision begins to take shape, however, when he teams up with his ex-girlfriend Lilly: her lyrics contain flashes of genius that he can fine-tune. Together they dream up the idea of a band comprised solely of people who used to be loversjust enough of a hook to get them gigs until their sound can make its own reputation. So bisexual bassist Shaz is recruited fresh from another band she's soured on because it's about to sign a record company contract. She brings with her one of her exes, Walt, a gawky Harvard biochemistry grad student, ace drummer, and recent head case. The team in place, Hank and Lilly make the most of it, practicing and promoting until the band is a hot item. But Hank and Lilly become an item again as well, which adds to the stress of pushing the band, and no sooner do they choose to cool it than Lilly decides to get pregnant by her regular boyfriend. When the band goes on its first extended tour, Shaz, ever-wary of being compromised by commercial demands, balks. Hank moves quickly to find a replacement, alienating Waltand so it goes, four paths diverging along the rocky road to success. Touchingly open and amusing, though the story, barely distinguishable from standard sitcom fare, suffers from a cloying feel-goodness. Every characters so likable, and so conventional, that Kennedy defeats her own purpose. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.