5 comments about Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs.

1. I was expecting a little more scene-driven story, but this book focuses mainly on Darby's life, not just in his punk days. Overall, I give it 4 stars because you definitely feel like you get to know who Darby was and what he was about by the end of the book. Granted it's probably Mullen's version mostly, but it seemed pretty accurate based on the other reading I've done about Darby.



2. this book is super but be warned, i bought it years ago and loved it, bought a copy recently and it has been censored..nude photos are re edited and i worry the text has been altered..not cool..try to buy an old used copy to get the orignal...bob



3. This is an interview style book with personal recollections on The Germs, in particular Darby Crash and the socal punk and cultural scene circa late 70's early 80's.
   
   I found this to be a fun entertaining read. Much of this book is a great look into not just the socal punk scene during that time period but a glimpse into the overall weirdness that was southern California during those days. The experimental Scientology based school that Pat Smear and Darby Crash attended together where part of the curriculim was doing acid with the teachers that was fully funded and sanctioned by the local public school system is really far out and you almost have to believe that it was some sort of covert government mind control experiment/program going on at that place. When talking about it Pat Smear seems genuinly baffled that a school like this was even allowed to exist. There are a lot of other examples of what an off the wall place southern California was then in this book too. The world sure has changed. You also get a lot of dirt on other people and bands that came out of this scene. It would probably shock a lot of people that a girly pop band like the Go Go's came out of this insanity.
   
   One last thing I would like to add. I consider many of the groups that came out of the socal punk/hardcore scene during the late 70's up until maybe the mid 80's to be the best music that can be labeled as punk that was ever made but The Germs are absolutely, positively, one of, if not the, worst completely unlistenable bands ever. They were an interesting story but I'm sorry they made horrible music.



4. As a cultural history of Los Angeles in the 1970s, this book can't be beat.
   
   Visually stunning photographs and a refreshing, multiperspective commentary bring qualities of both Faulkner and the blog together in a chronological progression to the suicide of Darby Crash. I especially enjoyed the coroner's document and the funeral bill, but all the exhibits were great.
   
   The book includes an unbelievable involvement of church and state in the Scientology influenced Innovative Program School in Los Angeles which 'graduated' Darby in 1976. This section once again shows the importance of LSD in late 20th century culture.
   
   The dynamic of LA punk as it emerged in artfag circles, was subsumed in a Huntington Beach testosterone surge of disaffection and violence consuming punk and creating thrash hardcore. Darby Crash's closeted homosexuality and his apparent fear of rejection for it in late 70's culture, adds historical depth to the effects of discrimination, even among the young.
   
   The book is compelling. I missed Darby's show at the Mabuhay, although I saw the other big show of the weekend, the Sex Pistols at Winterland.
   
   The great strength of the book is the stylistic approach, the book being years in the making. Adding the content into that, I think it's the biggest thing in American literature since Douglas Coupland's Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture in 1991.
   
   Best music history I have ever seen or read.



5. actually i started reading this book while my son had it. he had borrowed it from a friend and had to return it. it is very interesting and for the most part factual. but even the unfactual stuff is told by the actual person involved. if you love punk rock you will love this book!!!
   
   like the music this book contains many references to sex and drugs. a very interesting look at the beginning of the punk scene!!

5 comments about Skinhead.

1. First of all this book is not written as some far in depth account of skinheads, it is a photo journal. Knight is a talented photograher and this book should be put into spectrum as an art book, who's subject is an almost lost subculture. Do not buy this book if you want a grand tale of the non-racist skinhead movement and evolution. Also when looking at the photos be prepared to keep an open mind, past preconceieved notions. If you like the book check out Gavin Watsons Skins, a very similiar book, less writting but more photographic talent. Also if you want more knowledge on the truth behind skinheads, try reading Spirit of 69, a Skinhead bible.
   In rebuttle to another reviewer, all skinheads are NOT nazis now and there is a growing rebirth of the non-racist subculture.



2. Besides the very few pictures in this book, some depicting the racist stereotype, this book was a waste of money. If you are really interested in learning about skinhead 'culture', you should buy Spirit of '69.



3. You know, I'm glad that I bought the book and I have to say, It was really better than I had expected. It does have some really nice illustrations (that you may have seen around the internet) that detail the skinhead fashion particular to the year. It is the best source I've seen yet on the early skinhead style.
   The unfortunate thing is that contrary to the illustrations, the photos seem to be more often of the mid 70's and early 80's, and rarely of the earlier 60's skinhead fashion that I had hoped for. Most of the skins in these photos are in jeans, and not a lot of the dressier "hard mod" side of things. As mentioned in another review there are unfortunately several racist "sieg heil" photos, and only one black skinhead photo. And let's face it, I think in a skinhead book we all want to see some black skinheads.



4. Lets face it, spirit of 69 retails at 600 bux. This book gives a very good look at the 80's revival and a good history of our culture. Not as good as '69, but none the less, a cheaper alternative.



5. Goes through the clothes worn, classic blue beat ska 45's. You know, that sort of thing. A few great snapshots from the 60's, and some 80's too. If you're a skinhead and are in the know, this book's not going to bring about any new revelations. Its still cool to have. And why not pick up a copy now that Amazon sellers have it as cheap as $7 and under?
   
   And freshies... stop whining about this nazi stereotype. We get it, we've heard it, its annoying.

4 comments about Punk.

1. PUNK: THE WHOLE STORY celebrates some thirty years of a movement which embraced musical and social anarchy and produced not just revolutionary music, but outrageous street fashion. It was born in 1976 and Punk Magazine embraced the music, movement and personalities: PUNK details the years leading up to punk's beginning and offers a color photo-laden survey of the genre essential for any student of contemporary music.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



2. This is a terrific book.
   
   The only unfortunate aspect is the "offering" by Nick Kent. Mr. Kent, I was there and you were not even a blip on the radar screen. Nick Kent seems to have the same sort of difficulty with the truth that Malcolm McClaren has always had. So in that, his self-aggrandizing claim of being on the scene before there was one is at the very least, documentation of how he considered himself way more important than he actually was to the whole thing. There's a bit too much Blondie as well. She just wasn't what we thought was punk at that time.
   
   The whole movement was thanks to the Sex Pistols and there is plenty of focus on the group and their brief career. The book gives time to their come-back a few years ago which is also very interesting and relevant.
   
   All in all, a good book. Just don't be fooled by Kent.



3. It's a very intersting book.
   Rich of wonderfull photo, offer a very completed review of Punk scene.



4. Very nice book, lots of pictures that I have not seen before, the collection of biographies were also good, although short. This makes a great "coffee table book"

2 comments about Blondie: Unseen 1976-1980.

1. Roberta Bayley's images of Blondie rank up with the best. Her pictures from the "Heart of Glass" video shoot are certainly some of the most iconic shots of Debbie ever taken. The band gave Roberta carte blanche to shoot both onstage & behind the scenes, and that she did from 1976 to 1979. Lucky for us, since these were the band's most interesting years as a cohesive, artistic unit, and also when Debbie was at her most stunning-looking. Much is revealed about the relationships at work within the band during their meteoric rise to the top. The pictures tell most of the story; but Roberta's brief-but-insightful text guides the reader artfully to their own conclusions by describing the time & place without over-interpretting it for us. The earliest shots show a gaggle of punky twenty-something kids with a gawky and girlish frontwoman, still in her thrift-shop threads and suspended in a state of seemingly perpetual adolescence. In a three-year span, we see the band get slicker and Debbie more mature in her visual presentation, but it all seems to get less and less fun for our heroes as they go along. Thankfully, Roberta knows when to leave a party--her chronicle ends in 1980 when the band was at its commercial (if not artistic) peak--so we get to vicariously experience Blondie's thrilling ascent to fame without having to witness their sad demise. A must for every fan.



2. ATTENTION...all you Debbie/Blondie fans out there. This is one book not to miss. A must have. I own countless books on Debbie & Blondie, and this is by far the best book where photographs of Debbie and the band are concerned. Beautiful black & white and color photos abound. The shots taken for the Parallel Lines album are unbelievable. What a gorgeous woman! Talent,style,beauty...Debbie in her prime had it all. There's a great full page photo of Debbie & the band taken on a street corner in N.Y.C. in B&W that just has that great New York City summertime Rock & Roll feel to it. Again this book is loaded with great photos at different shows, on the road, backstage, etc...And the price of the book is a BARGAIN! I can't believe this book was'nt double the price.

5 comments about The Taqwacores: A Novel.

1. Michael Mohammed Knight converted to Islam as a teenager and spent a few months in Pakistan learning the hardcore version. After a later spiritual crisis, he has reincarnated as the leading spokesman of punk-islam.
   Always fun to read, loaded with more Islamic references and Arabic phrases than a jihadi manifesto from Tora Bora, this book rocks. Blasphemous and funny, occasionally preachy, never dull.....definitely worth buying.



2. WOW. This is one of the most brilliant books i've ever read! Who would have thought that two things like Islam and Punk rock could ever overlap, let alone be combined in such a genius way. From the radical feminist in full burqa(her burqa is covered with band patches!), to the straightedge punk with Qur'an verses tattooed on him, to the mohawked drunk punk who plays the call to prayer on electric guitar from the roof of the house...this book is just genius in every detail! The only problem i can imagine is that he uses A LOT of arabic terms and Islamic references which may be hard to understand if you don't have background knowledge about Islam. But READ IT ANYWAY! Find somebody you can ask if you need the terms defined for you. This book is worth the time! (p.s.the word "fasiq" means "pervert") Not exactly for the conservative thinker...BEWARE, you will need to think outside the box on this one. Though the end result is something that is unexplainably...blasphemously reverent, dogma-smashingly righteous...what can one say?...allahu akbar!



3. This fun, smart, sexy, Muslim-American, punk rock novel is one of the best fictional books I've read in ages! The characters, the plot and its pro-feminist, queer-positive, anticapitalist politics will captivate you! Frankly, once I started the book I couldn't put it down! The ending is pure genius. At a time when anti-Muslim xenophobia is sweeping the country, this book is a necessary intervention. I can't wait for Knight to write another book!



4. Knight's novel is a brilliant blend of reality and imagination. Character development is richly textured and his descriptive prose paints a vibrant texture that will stay with the reader long after reading the novel. The potential for Islamic cultural influences on very familiar popular cultural scenes is elegantly framed and cleverly nuanced leaving one with the sense of being wrapped in a world of the imminently possible rather than being in just an idiosyncratic world of a remarkably creative imagination. This book is a hidden gem that both shares and inspires new visions of tolerance and acceptance amidst the blood and gore found in the realities of recent American imperialism.



5. It is refreshing to read a Muslim novel, yes, Muslim novel, rather than, say, a Christian or a Jewish novel. The novelistic form rose from Christian, Puritan roots and, so, the Muslim novel may well have resonances with that form.
   
   However, "The Taqwacores" appears to be a novel about immaturity, Western struggle for young, unconnected Muslims who have an innocent purity of 'Deen' or religion.
   
   Breaking so many taboos in Islamic culture about music, co-habitual relations, social behaviour, religious practice (women leading the Kutbah or prayer meeting, for example) that it makes for an uneasy, revolutionary and iconoclastic reading for the traditional Muslim critic. One wonders if Michael Muhammad Knight will be taken as an apostate.
   
   Young people do make music, do wear tatoos and Mohican haircuts, do pray behind women and do take the prophet's name in vain, but let them do so until they come to see that there are aberrations, and that Islam calls for righteousness, plain living, clean family relations and normalised sexuality.
   Jaffer

5 comments about Wreckers of Civilisation.

1. though it is true that without throbbing gristle and their off-shoot, psychic tv, industrial music as we know it today would simply not exist. However, throbbing gristle was not the absolute first industrial group in the world. The first was Cabaret Voltaire, though they and Gristle started so close to each other that it probably doesn't matter. Piece of little known trivia.



2. Can I just say that the constant linking of Throbbing Gristle to modern day "industrial" acts is totally fallacious. TG have nothing to do with these groups, the only possible link is in the use of loud aggressive electronic music (which was only a part of TG's oeuvre) - but then Faust (even Hawkwind!) were doing that schtick long before TG. True, TG did coin the phrase, "Industrial Music For Industrial People" -but with a socio-political/ cultural intent and meaning far beyond the ken of a bunch of spoilt American middle class kids trying to shock their "moms". Read the book.

   Speaking of the book. Looks great and is generally very well researched and highly recommended. For me, the COUM Transmissions part was the most interesting 'cos the least documented - even so it would have been interesting to hear from other COUM participants such as Fizzy Paet and Foxtrot Echo, also to find out what these people are doing now. The TG part told few stories that I hadn't heard before but did confirm that, sometime around 1979-1980, Genesis P-Orridge seriously lost the plot: I'm afraid the comments on Hitler and Nazism from this period are ill-informed, naive and plain stupid - not worthy of a man who, I have on good authority, is actually an extremely nice person. All in all, I was left feeling rather sorry for Gen, who seems a bit too artistic and sensitive for this nasty old world of ours.




3. Anybody interested in truly subversive music / art / anti-art needs to read this. This obsessively documented and well written tome lays out the attempts by Coum Transmissions / Throbbing Gristle to wreck civilization, and for good reason. Dadaists P-Orridge, Tutti, Sleazy and Carter meet in post industrial collapsed welfare state Britain and decide that things must be changed or at least destroyed and set about to do so. Musically influenced by the Velvet Underground, Captain Beefheart, 50-Foot Hose, Nico and a number of other artistes you've never heard of, t/g created the soundtrack for industrial society's post-mortem. On the surface apolitical, t/g was severely antiauthoritarian on all levels, deconstructing the 20th century while advocating a true revolution of the cortex, where everyone would be free to think for themselves without the restraints of normality or even sanity. Simon Ford does a very good job of putting t/g in context, and reminding us blase 21st century dwellers just how provoking they were. These four people shook the art and music world, and the reverberations affect people who've never heard of them, let alone the many that have heard of but never heard them. Read this while listening to "Second Annual Report", "Special Treatment", "Rafters" and "D.O.A." Can the world be as sad as it seems? Don't worry, t/g is long gone and civilization is safe.



4. Having been a member of COUM TRANSMISSIONS from 1971 to 1976 I must say that Simon Ford has done a commendable job in his overview of the work of COUM and TG.I have corresponded with the author and he recognises that there still remains more to be told.There certainly is much about performances and first hand experiences that needs to be added.Hopefully in a subsequent edition ,or in a new contribution by another author, this will be addressed. Another reviewer asked the question "what became of Foxtrot Echo and Fizzy Paet?".We are alive and well and living lateraly,as allways, in England.



5. It took me all of 1999 to get hold of this book, and finally amazon.com sold me a slightly damaged copy for $32. People are waiting for a second printing and/or a US edition. The cover looks cheap, white with a cut-out and rearranged photo of TG members from the «20 Jazz Funk Greats» album cover. But that's about the only negative thing I could say about the book. This will stand as the definitive work on the subject for a LONG time. It's incredibly thorough, and with many picures and illustrations never or rarely seen before, including many photos of the pre-TG hippie version of Genesis P-Orridge. It tells the full story from GPO's birth in 1950 up to the split of TG in 1981.

   While TG has been the subject of quite a lot of writing before, in two of the RE/Search books and many music mags, the performance art COUM period has had very little attention and critique. This is fully rectified here. When TG put out their first LP, you're more than halfway thru the book. Ford's unfolding chronological work is strong on both personal biographical detail and assessment of COUM/TG's place in art history.
   I see TG/GPO as much stronger conceptualists than actual artists, much like their mentor William Burroughs. But as such, they have wielded an extremely strong influence on others, and sown the seeds of whole new genres of art and music. The unorthodox use of synths, «industrial» noise and cut-ups are now commonplace, while in the 70's it could cause riots when presented to an audience most used to the popular music of the time.
   The COUM group's extreme use of bodily fluids and food in performance could be viewed as a continuation of the ground-breaking work of people like Hermann Nitsch and Otto Mühl. Coum did some far out stuff, but were in my opinion not as much pioneers in their field as TG was. But the scandalous 1976 «Prostitution» show at the ICA in London must have been a lot of fun. Backed by tax-payers' money, Cosey Fanni Tutti tore out nude pics of herself from men's magazines she had posed in, and presented them as art. If it's in a gallery, it must be art, right? Not quite. The exhibition created a massive moral outrage.
   For record-collecting geeks, a full discography listing ALL releases (official, semi-official and bootlegs) is included in the back of the book, but in the book itself only the recordings released while TG was active are discussed. Which is a perfectly valid decision, as these are the original «manifestos» authorized by all TG members.
   An indispensable book for anyone with an interest in 20th century art and music history.

5 comments about Born to Rock.

1. "I'd always blamed my McMurphy DNA for every weird urge and character flaw, but that was just neurotic. Never did I seriously believe that I'd turn out to be so spectacularly right! I mean, a dad in the entertainment industry would have been kind of cool, but this was more like terrorism than show business. The blood of a notorious lowlife flowed through my veins. I was Prince Maggot." Leo Caraway makes this statement in the book Born to Rock by Gordan Korman when he realizes that his true biological father is not who he thought he was. As he finds out it is really front-man of the famous punk-rock band Purge, Marion X. McMurphy. A.K.A. King Maggot.
   
   Leo Caraway is a bright, 18 year-old, and president of the Young Republicans. Leo's life is going great for him. He is about to graduate high school and has a scholarship to Harvard. However, while taking a test he is accused of cheating and has his scholarship taken away. His family can't afford tuition and Leo can only think of one person to turn to. King Maggot. The only problem is, King doesn't know who Leo is.
   
   Born to Rock is an excellent story of a young boy trying to connect with his true father and makes you wonder, "what will happen next?" This book is way too exciting to put down. I loved reading about Leo's many adventures and problems while touring with the band Purge and discovering the true identity behind King Maggot and the rest of Purge.



2. "I'd always blamed my McMurphy DNA for every weird urge and character flaw, but that was just neurotic. Never did I seriously believe that I'd turn out to be so spectacularly right! I mean, a dad in the entertainment industry would have been kind of cool, but this was more like terrorism than show business. The blood of a notorious lowlife flowed through my veins. I was Prince Maggot." Leo Caraway makes this statement in the book Born to Rock by Gordan Korman when he realizes that his true biological father is not who he thought he was. As he finds out it is really front-man of the famous punk-rock band Purge, Marion X. McMurphy. A.K.A. King Maggot.
   
   Leo Caraway is a bright, 18 year-old, and president of the Young Republicans. Leo's life is going great for him. He is about to graduate high school and has a scholarship to Harvard. However, while taking a test he is accused of cheating and has his scholarship taken away. His family can't afford tuition and Leo can only think of one person to turn to. King Maggot. The only problem is, King doesn't know who Leo is. Leo is troubled when he is trying to figure out how he will come in contact with King Maggot so he throws a note to him during a press conference. But doesn't know if he will respond.
   
   Born to Rock is an excellent story of a young boy trying to connect with his true father and makes you wonder, "what will happen next?" This book is way too exciting to put down. I loved reading about Leo's many adventures and problems while touring with the band Purge like losing a poodle in a nightclub and dealing with his grumpy roommate, Cam, all while discovering the true identity behind King Maggot and waiting for the DNA tests results to come back.



3. I listened to this as part of a book club, knowing that I wouldn't really care to read it as it's not my favorite genre. Still, even though I don't care much for young adult lit., it made me smile and it livened up my workouts as well. It struck me as a bit low-budget, esp. when the musical breaks came in, but it was worth a listen.



4. My 12 year read this for a summer reading project and he thought it was an o.k. book



5. Gr 7-10-Leo Caraway is a strait A student, president of the Young Republicans group, and is the biological son of a Punk Rock Star. He didn't know who his bio dad was until be stumbled upon a website that talked about Marion X. McMurphy who's name is listed on his birth certificate. When he is accused of cheating on a test, he loses his scholarship to Harvard. He then decides to try to meet his punk rock dad , aka King Maggot so that he can get closer to him to try to get him to pay for his college tuition. I thought this book was very interesting because it talks about punk rock and has a very good storyline. I would recommend this book to any rocker looking for a good story about punk rock or the difficulty of teenage life and being a roadie. I would recommend this book to the age group of 13 to 18 years. I thought it was the best book I ever read E V E R!!!

5 comments about Lobotomy: Surviving the Ramones.

1. This was the first book that i finish in my life, i hated reading. It takes you through dee dee's lifestyle and mentality, the lows and highs, and ofcourse his relationships with the ramones. Now if you love this style of punk, not that mohawk stuff, then this book is a must read. Dee dee is punk rock, he wrote most of the ramones songs except for joey's love songs so, the geniuse behind the voice is this man.
   
   anyways blah blah blah get this book if you're a real ramones fan and not just a pop fan "Gabba Gabba Hey !"



2. Most people seem to miss the point of this book. Dee Dee is joking around... he's being authentic... being Dee Dee... a PUNK and a drug addict. Everything is exagerrated and shot through Dee Dee's Special Black Humor Lens. Every page has priceless moments where Dee Dee takes the piss out of someone... like the Idiots who buy this book and actually expect Dee Dee to be some sort of self-important Rock Historian. He invents endless bizarre stuff like Marc Bell doing the "Chicken Beek Boy Dance" and references it every 5 pages to really rub it in. Brilliant.
   
   But where the book really shines is Dee Dee's brutally honest portrayal of the life-long battle addicts wage with there addictions. Usually a losing battle. His humanity is bared for all. And we are all one and the same. In contrast to Phony Rock Stars and Celebrities who carefully cultivated air-brushed images that absolutely no one believes anyway. After reading this book... I just love this guy. I would have cried the day he died.



3. There are only a few good books out there about the Ramones. This is one of them.



4. This book was surprisingly good. Dee Dee's sincerity and honesty really showed through this confessional autobiography. The book is filled with Dee Dee's insight about his journey from a highly dysfunctional family to being a successful song writer and punk star. It made me realize how much he contributed to the band and even during the times he was out of the band he was still writing songs for the Ramones on a freelance basis. What impresses me about Dee Dee is that his main goal was happiness and he was well aware of his struggle, his own ghosts and faults. This book also is simply enjoyable to read. Dee Dee is a great writer with tight chapters that wrap up nicely. I really love this book and will definitely reread it a couple more times.



5. For those who are complaing that this book is not a comprehensive history of The Ramones, you are missing the point. This is the story of one Dee Dee Ramone, a man who lived part of his life as bassist for the band, and lived his whole life as a drug addict. Ego? Of course. As addicts, we are insecure egomaniacs and if we don't have our sobriety, we have no chance of building a better life from this chaos.
   Dee Dee never found what he needed. The only irony is that the word "Surviving" is in the title. Like thousands before and after him who are still suffering, Dee Dee did not survive.

5 comments about Beige.

1. Beige/Katy is dumped into the Punk rock scene with her father in L.A. and is a fish out of water. But she figures it out. That was the fun part. The really great stuff, though, is the characters and their relationships with each other. I fell in love with Rat, despite his weird hair and inability to dress himself. I liked Lake Suck in the end, which is a trick because at the beginning she is very unlikeable. Cecil is so good at this, making you love characters you think you must hate. She did the same thing in Queen of Cool.
   
   Buy this book! You'll be glad you did.



2. When Katy is shipped off to Los Angeles to live with her father for the summer, she is less than pleased. Why couldn't she stay in Canada, or go with her sensible mother on her trip? After all, her father is Beau Ratner, the aging punk rocker known by his fans as "The Rat."
   
   Katy is not a punk rock kind of girl. She's not even a music kind of girl. Katy's a good girl. Even if that means keeping it all inside. Even if that means hating everything to do with music--everything that, all those years ago, made her mother run off, do drugs, sleep with "The Rat," and get pregnant with Katy.
   
   BEIGE is a fantastic novel, and Cecil Castellucci is a very talented writer. Her characters are wonderfully real and fresh. Her story is absorbing enough to be read all in one sitting (so start this one on an empty Saturday!). BEIGE is an honest, real, intelligent, and very well-written book for music lovers and those of us who can't tell the difference between the great and the popular alike!
   
   It's a good music story, sure, but, more than that, it's a wonderful and amazingly good life story. BEIGE is one of my top picks for 2007 so far, and I'm definitely moving Cecil Castellucci's other two teen novels (Boy Proof and The Queen of Cool) up on my to-read list.
   
   Reviewed by: Jocelyn Pearce



3. Katy's summer vacation is not exactly what she had in mind. When her mother goes to Peru for an archaeological dig, Katy is exiled from her beloved home of Montreal to crazy Los Angeles with her stranger-than-strange father, who she hasn't seen since she was seven years old. The last time he visited her and her mom, he was caught trying to bring drugs into Canada. Now he's banned from that country for life.
   
   Both Katy's parents are recovering addicts who met in the world of sex, drugs and rock 'n roll. Beau Ratner (aka "The Rat") was the drummer for the infamous band, Suck. When her mother (who was a groupie) got pregnant, she moved to Montreal and got clean. It took years for The Rat to give up drugs, and his only real relationship with his daughter has been through emails, phone calls and letters.
   
   Katy feels like a fish out of water in L.A. She is a nice, polite girl who smiles even when she's unhappy. She doesn't like music and would rather spend her time reading books from the library. When she first sees her dad's band perform at a party, she feels sick. "They yell beside me and around me while I shrink to the smallest size I ever was. Small like a child. Like a frightened mouse."
   
   The Rat's best friend and bandmate, Sam Suck, has a teenage daughter, Lake, who gets bribed with gift certificates to Guitar Center to spend time with Katy. Lake Suck is into music, has her own band and writes manifestos on her rehearsal space's wall. As a commentary on Katy's very unpunkrock style, Lake nicknames her "Beige." And in L.A. that is exactly how Katy feels. Very, very beige.
   
   As her summer unfurls, however, Katy encounters many surprises. She learns more about her family history and her father, but also realizes that she doesn't have to be that polite, smiling, beige girl all the time. Maybe it's okay to live the punk rock lifestyle every once in a while and let things out.
   
   BEIGE is a quirky, fun read with characters that burst off the page. The plight of Katy is sad yet funny, and will grip readers from start to finish. The multitalented Cecil Castellucci is a musician herself who clearly knows the music-related material well, which makes the story truly realistic. Teens will enjoy the mix-CD-type chapter heads that list names of artists and songs. Also, there is a bit of punk rock history scattered throughout the book.
   
   --- Reviewed by Kristi Olson



4. I realllly wanted to love this book - for many reasons.
   
   First, any book with the topic of addiction is bound to be interesting.
   Secondly, the book mentions Montreal quite a lot.
   
   I reallly did not like this book - for many reasons.
   
   First, the addiction aspect is glossed over - despite the fact that it is the core reason this family is so disrupted. The author tries to sprinkle 12 step stuff in there - such as HALT. Nice try, but since there is very little set up to begin with, in this novel, about the whole addiction issue related to the main character - " I was once on heroin - now I kicked it" and so few other references to 12 step - that the whole thing just feels like a cheap plot ploy. By the way, I doubt many adolescents will "get" what HALT really means. Time might have been better spent talking about the main character's addiction issue and slowly introducing the 12 step aspect to the reader.
   
   Secondly, where to start with the whole Montreal thing? First of all, although I appreciate the author actualy spelling Montréal correctly (with the accents)every other French word in this book is without the accents. Small detail but if you are going to use French as your background and since I am French Canadian - its important to me. Also, if you are English speaking in Québec - you do not use those ridiculous French swear words - I swear to you!!!! It feels as though the author used every gimicky trick she could think of to refer to Montréal. Poutine - only available in Québec - like Montréal is only known for its cheese curds???? I suppose I should be grateful she does not refer to the Olympic Stadium roof! By the way, who the heck goes shopping for clothes at les Cours Mt-Royal - especially for back to school clothes - unless this family is made of money!!!!
   
   Maybe i am being petty here - but the devil is in the details and the author is off base here.
   
   As for the actual storyline - yeah its pretty --- should I say it? Beige.



5. Beige is an amazing read. When I started reading the book, I didn't think I was going to be able to relate to any of the characters. The roster contains Katy, our narrator, who let's face it, is one of those typical teen girls who never sticks up for herself and represses all her feelings, keeping them bottled up until she explodes. I hate characters like that. Then there's the free-spirited mom, totally oblivious to her daughter's pain. There's the father who never grew up. And then we have Lake, who is one of those people that thinks "really original" can only mean one thing. That goes around insulting everyone who isn't punk.
   
   But Castellucci treats her characters with a velvet glove. You get inside their heads and see the true heart through the rough edges.
   
   Katy is going to spend the summer with the RAT, her punk rocker father who is the drummer for a once infamous band named Suck. She would much rather be in Peru with her free-spirited mother, excavating caves and stuff.
   
   The Rat lives in a hovel hole of an apartment and is totally wrapped up in making Suck live again. He bribes the daughter of Sam Suck, Lake, into "baby-sitting" Katy during the day. Lake thinks Katy is totally boring and beige. Katy quietly goes about her business, biding her time until her Mom might call and say it's time to go home. But when that call gets delayed, Katy has to survive on her own in a world that feels foreign. Katy spends her days listening to the musical hopes of Lake and being schooled in the way of the punk.
   
   The book is about Katy creating her own version of original and sticking to it. I was very happy that she didn't just become punk. She learns the Sam Suck punk mantra, but she doesn't just jump on the bandwagon. And she comes up with her own way of making music.
   
   The best think about Beige is that you could hand this book to so many teens. Your razor-edged teens will enjoy the punk scene, while more conservative minded teens will relate to Katy's feelings of being an outsider in this environment. I think guys will enjoy it, too. Each chapter lists the name of a band and song that teens could listen to while they are reading the book.

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