Sophisticated Boom Boom - Hardcover

Kelly, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0224061291 ISBN 13: 9780224061292

Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd, 2003

Synopsis

In Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, in the seventies, nothing happens. Every day. Teenagers Declan Lydon and his trusted friend Spit Maguire stand under lampposts, in their circles of saliva, waiting to be overtaken by some hormonal storm, to be enveloped by strange women, to finally make some connection with the glorious, glamorous world they know is out there somewhere. Their salvation - and release from the grinding tedium and bewilderment of small-town adolescence - comes through music. When, miraculously, Thin Lizzy come to town, Declan goes in to the concert in his brown cardigan and emerges wearing a black leather jacket...Sophisticated Boom Boom is a tender, hilarious account of the agonies and absurdities of growing up in a backwater of pebbledash and Space Invaders - about the loyalty of friends as they stumble together through the awkward years of puberty into an equally confusing independence, for which they are seriously under-prepared. Crucially, though, this is a love-letter to the period and the place, and to the liberating, healing power of music that galvanises and transforms. In the expert hands of John Kelly, this is a thrilling journey: touching, original and very funny.

About this title

Review:

I'm deeply suspicious of books where chapters open with song lyrics or quotes from characters other than those featured in the text. So when I perused through John Kelly's "Sophisticated Boom Boom" and noted Elvis Costello quoted here, Al Green quoted there and Brian Eno quoted somewhere else, I knew we were in for something either very good or downright trashy. Actually, Kelly's book is neither but alludes to both. "Sophisticated Boom Boom" is set in seventies Enniskillen, a rites-of-passage fictional biography of Declan Lydon who uses contemporary music of the time as his A-Z. It probably isn't the best guide to depend on, as we find when Declan's first imaginary experience of the Sex Pistols finds him kissing the floor with a split head and spew holding him fast to the deck. Kelly writes with a humorous style not dissimilar to Colin Bateman. To read Samuel Beckett described as a "wiry hore" with looks "like the Hangin' f***** Rock. even when he was a chile he looked like a quarry" is funny indeed, and more than a little accurate! Declan and his friend Spit are great muckers and this is their story of a few miserable years in Enniskillen, coloured with sparkling observations and wicked wit. "Sophisticated Boom-Boom" has its jarring moments - fictional punk bands' names that don't ring true, those quotes, the local history lessons, but for all that it's a well-travelled journey, made with critical references to Horslips, Thin Lizzy and Van the Man, that many will empathise with and remember it themselves. - Harry Doherty

Book Description:

Hilarious second novel by Ireland's top music journalist (2002-10-18)

About this edition

• Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0224061291
• ISBN 13: 9780224061292
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208