From Publishers WeeklyChecker Secretti, musical and philosophical guru as well as drummer for the Derailleurs, a band in Queens, N.Y., faces the goading and intrigues of a rival drummer. Meanwhile, Checker is smitten with Syria Paramus, a glassblower. PW found Checker to be "a boy so radiant that his creator has fallen in love with him. And so has the reader." Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalShriver's second novel, about a teenage rock band in Astoria, New York, is at its best funny, clever, and touching. She uses a few interesting narrative techniques and peppers dialogue and exposition with quotations from and references to middle-of-the-road rock. Her own lyrics are terrific: "Turn a profit on all that ennui." But Checker Secretti, meant to embody mainstream rock, also represents the book's shortcomings. Although the reader is encouraged to see him as a fascinating enigma, Secretti no longer seems complex after some of his secrets are revealed. In an epilogue the rockers are older and "will learn about satisfaction," but this would entail betraying the message of rock and roll. Still, recommended.Ethan Bumas, formerly of the New Sch. for Social Research, New YorkCopyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. Formats : EPUB, MOBI

Shriver, Lionel

HarperCollins Publishers

Longman Publishing

Harper Perennial

United States, United States of America

New York, 2009, c1988

August 4, 2009

Reprint, 2009

librusecid_495795

<p>Beautiful and charismatic, nineteen-year-old Checker Secretti is the most gifted and original drummer that the club-goers of Astoria, Queens, have ever heard. When he plays, conundrums seem to solve themselves, brilliant thoughts spring to mind, and couples fall in love. The members of his band, The Derailleurs, are passionately devoted to their guiding spirit, as are all who fall under Checker's spell. But when another drummer, Eaton Striker, hears the prodigy play, he is pulled inexorably into Checker's orbit by a powerful combination of envy and admiration. Soon The Derailleurs, too, are torn apart by latent jealousies that Eaton does his utmost to bring alive.</p>


<p>A charismatic, brilliant drummer and his band make the perfect setting for a resonant, hilarious, and touching story about youth, jealousy, and ambition.
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2015-12-26