COWBOY ANGST: A Novel - Softcover

Emmons, Jasen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0684818973 ISBN 13: 9780684818979

Publisher: Scribner Paper Fiction, 1996

Synopsis

Dropping out of law school and defying his father in order to pursue a music career with his country band, Dennis McCance finds himself in a hostile world that mirrors his own inner struggles. Reprint. 15,000 first printing.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews:

Emmons achieves a sweet, laid-back tone in this debut novel, but he can't overcome the ennui inherent in yet another story of a member of Generation X who can't decide what to do with his life. Sapping matters further is the fact that Dennis McCance's next move is clear when the novel opens. After playing drums in a country and western band called Cowboy Angst in college, he gave law school a try. He didn't like it much, and now he's headed home to Montana for the summer to tell his parents that he's dropped out. In the meantime, Montana Wildhack (n‚e Janey Bowman), the lead singer for Cowboy Angst, wants McCance to join her in Austin, Tex., and start a band. The two have always been close friends, but it's obvious that there could be something more between them. The question is: What on earth is holding McCance back? He makes some vague references to the instability of the music business (Wildhack's father has made her solemnly swear not to wait tables after she turns 30); but since he loves his drums and Wildhack and little else, his indecision feels forced. Some red herrings are thrown into the mix: Susan Hall, a woman McCance has seen on and off when he's home in Montana, is back in town; and the tense relationship between him and his slightly weird deputy sheriff brother shakes things up a little. But there is always the sense that Emmons is dragging his feet. Too many anecdotes--including a tasteless one in which McCance recounts how he and a high school friend amused themselves on the band bus by playing ``dick tag, in which you had to touch people with your member without getting caught''--slow things down, and a final dramatic twist adds little except length. Emmons has a deft, casual delivery, and his hero's voice is seamless, but ultimately these feel wasted on a lackluster story. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Booklist:

Dennis McCance has spent an entire semester not telling his family that he has dropped out of law school. Returning home to Montana for what would have been his summer vacation, Dennis reluctantly gives his folks the news: all he really wants to do is play the drums in his country band, Cowboy Angst. In Dennis, the author had created a stunning portrait of ennui, a slacker who can't make up his mind, can't live up to his expectations of himself, and who feels alienated from his life and everything around him. He is terrified (with good reason) of his father, a taciturn bully who wants Dennis to join his firm after law school, and of his older brother, Miles (also with good reason), another taciturn bully who has become a deputy sheriff. Dennis' inner dialogues seethe with anger and sadness, all brilliantly conveyed. Emmons has created a nasty world populated with deeply disturbed and disturbing characters who bring with them the unsettling feel of reality. The misery and random violence are crafted with sterling precision. An amazingly good first novel deserving of a wide readership. George Needham

About this edition

• Publisher: Scribner Paper Fiction
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0684818973
• ISBN 13: 9780684818979
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 264