Dizzy Z - Hardcover

Holland, Matthew

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 156947074X ISBN 13: 9781569470749

Publisher: Soho Pr Inc, 1998

Synopsis

With his life plunging out of control, legendary rock star Dizzy Z struggles to cope with the crises of fame, long road tours, drugs and alcohol abuse, creative differences with his band, Blood Cheetah, and the increasing likelihood that he will not outlive his own legend. A first novel.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews:

A fractious debut novel (``Read this book LOUD!'' urges a prefatory note) about a rock band threatened by internal discord and outside pressures, told by its eponymous hero (and lead guitar player) in a long, semi-drunken snarl. ``Dizzy Z`' (born David Dillinger Zimmerman) headlines the group Blood Cheetah, all of whose five members hail from working- class Dorchester, south of Boston. Crises mount during the California leg of their extended nationwide tour. They're wanted for questioning about a riot following their Rio, Nevada, gig, and a combination of liquor and cocaine has Dizzy (``an introspective headcase,'' in his own words) acting even more manic than usual. The story follows the track of Dizzy's vacillating allegiances to getting and staying high, and making himself a more socially responsible person (we hear his thoughts about feeding the starving poor, legalizing drugs, and befriending farmers, for example). Fragmentary relationships with fellow musicians, the group's support staff, a former girlfriend turned fashion model, and assorted starstruck groupies (the most interesting of whom handcuffs Dizzy to a futon) flicker across the surface of a novel that, oddly enough, doesn't have anything very specific to say about the music that is ostensibly Dizzy's (and its) raison d'ˆtre. Instead, we're subjected to a morose rant only infrequently punctuated by lively one-liners (``anybody who quotes Monty Python is a dork''; ``Ted Kennedy? I could drink him under the table with one kidney tied behind my back''). And a climactic scene in which the rockers visit the mother of a teenager who was murdered for concert tickets is a last-minute grasp for some substance that simply misfires embarrassingly. Holland's first fiction tells you more than you'll want to know about being comparatively young, talented, rich, famous, HIV-negative, stoned, and paranoid. But it doesn't pull itself together, and it doesn't tell a story. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Soho Pr Inc
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 156947074X
• ISBN 13: 9781569470749
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 274