- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd; First Edition edition (April 24 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0006391745
- ISBN-13: 978-0006391746
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,612,679 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Amazon.ca
Live by Request, Rob Payne's debut novel, is a brisk and unabashedly silly look at the trials and tribulations of Archangel, a typical bar band from an ordinary southern Ontario town. Archangel is an ill-sorted quartet of twentysomethings, united only by their desire for fame and their fondness for petty arguments. Payne's narrator is Jay Thompson, a champion moper who frets about his go-nowhere job, his unspoken love for his bass player (an English lit. graduate student named Janice), his sad-sack divorced parents, and his even more melancholic 15-year-old brother, Sheldon. Noel, a corporate drone, and Tyler, a temperamental would-be musical genius, round out the band and ensure that Archangel's rehearsals will never be peaceful and productive. Things get really grim when they lose their only steady gig, a mostly-covers Sunday night at a local pub. In desperation, Jay and Tyler begin recasting their songs in an attempt to compete in an American Christian-rock talent search--never mind that no one in the band is even vaguely religious.
Live by Request works best when its humour is deadpan; Payne is often able to invoke the farce of This Is Spinal Tap and leaven it with a bit of genuine humanity. Sometimes, however, Live by Request feels too much like a Canadian imitation of High Fidelity, and it does not stand the comparison well, for Payne's talent for evoking character through the name-dropping of a true music geek is decidedly shaky. Live by Request is a high-spirited and entertaining read but too contrived to be a real delight. --Jack Illingworth
Books in Canada
Live by Request is an innocuous little novel about a hapless band called Archangel, playing a Sunday night gig at a listless pub. One member, Jay, a slacker college dropout, is a bartender at the club, and much of the story is about his developing relationship with the bassist, a girl named Jan. With names like that it takes 50 pages to figure who is who. It is very difficult to write a novel about musicians for no matter how many band names they drop it is impossible to remember who they like or don't like, and it is impossible to translate their style, whatever it might be to the page. There is a little bit of humor when they try to pass themselves off as a Christian rock group, and creepy fundamentalist Christians take a few well placed hits. One of the tenets of novel writing is that the author picks up characters at a moment when everything they do is vitally important. Here are some of Jay's observations that turn the novel into an advertisement for blandness: "...I've spent most of my life trying not to be engaged in anything remotely controversial, and I don't plan to end that streak now." "You'll come to realize that I'm basically a boring guy who loves music and movies and spends most of his time doing very little." "Life proceeds at its mundane pace. As usual, I've made no significant changes." The last quote is from the final page and sums up the story better than any reviewer could. W.P. Kinsella (Books in Canada)
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Buy your next book at the same time...,
By Craig Derenzis (Ottawa, ON, Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Live By Request (Paperback)
... because this one'll be done in no time. This book was incredibly funny; it has definitely cemented itself on a short list of novels that have made me laugh out loud. Its like a "High Fidelity" aimed at 20-somethings, rather than 30-somethings. Like most 20-something guys (like myself), Jay Thompson, hasn't really got a clear picture of where he wants to be, much less how to get there... professionally, personally, musically, romantically... the list goes on and on. Talk about being able to identify with the protagonist!!! "Live by Request" gets a total thumbs-up from me... maybe you oughtta check it out.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)
5.0 out of 5 stars
Buy your next book at the same time...,
By Craig Derenzis - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Live By Request (Paperback)
... because this one'll be done in no time. This book was incredibly funny; it has definitely cemented itself on a short list of novels that have made me laugh out loud. Its like a "High Fidelity" aimed at 20-somethings, rather than 30-somethings. Like most 20-something guys (like myself), Jay Thompson, hasn't really got a clear picture of where he wants to be, much less how to get there... professionally, personally, musically, romantically... the list goes on and on. Talk about being able to identify with the protagonist!!! "Live by Request" gets a total thumbs-up from me... maybe you oughtta check it out.
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