I bought this book because I loved NEVER MIND NIRVANA, the author's latest novel. This is not as good as NEVER MIND NIRVANA and it's much slower and longer, but it kept my attention because it's a lot like NEVER MIND NIRVANA in its postmodern approach and all the music and the great dialogue and characters. I think this book is slower becasue it follows several characters, instead of just one, but some people may prefer that. The women characters are surprisingly real, and I totally related to one. And I should mention that there's one character who is just like Pete Tyler from NEVER MIND NIRVANA. If you're a fan of this author you will like this book.

I recommend reading this book with a bottle of your favorite poison in one sitting. It moves fast and it takes you along for the ride. Appealing and intriguing characters and a great story.

This is what happens when smart literary writers take on trashy popular subjects - even if it's one of the best Hollywood books ever, I'm not sure how much that is saying. I enjoyed it a lot though. The writing is both hip and traditional.

and why they are still vitally important today. Why are so many non-Indian Amerciansdrawn to Native American culture, to the collective view of the world andthe human niche within it? Learn, through example, how the oral tradition is a source of inspiration, education, humor and emotional release for those who still practice the arts of story-telling. Learn why Trickster is as or more important today not only to Indian stories but to cultures around the world. And if you're curious about the stand Native Amercians tend to take regarding environmental issues, read this book. The Constitutional precedence of treaties with Indian tribes is clearly, succinctly discussed, and if you have any questions remaining after reading this slim volume, many sources of additional texts are cited. This is a wonderful blend of academics and plain speaking. Quite rare!

I bought this book shortly after it was published on the strength of a Brett Easton Ellis blurb on the back. Remember him? Anyway, I rather enjoyed the gray, narcissistic mood and the protagonist's obsession with murdering himself. Cool song quotes from the Smiths and Replacements place the book between melancholy self-possession and sensitive longing, though I would not be surprised if the feel is at least somewhat dated by now (think of "Less Than Zero"). My copy was absconded by a trailer park wench who later confessed and told me it was the only book she ever read all the way through. She also said one of her kids shredded it and she tossed the carcass. I have searched for it ever since, lamentably to no avail. This last should not so much stand as a tribute to the novel's force, but rather as a nod toward cheap sentamentality. Nevertheless, "Sad Movies" is a fine, relatively light read if you can find it

I bought this because of the "Trailer Park Chicks Dig It" review below. It came out about seven years before Nick Hornby's "High Fidelity" and it's sharper, funnier, cooler, and, of course, American. It's very 1980s, I agree with the other reviewer, but it's also "timeless" I suppose in that it's a guy in his 20s coming of age and all that. The author has a new novel coming out, "Never Mind Nirvana," which people here in Seattle are talking about, but I don't know much about it yet except it's supposed to be great and Peter Buck of R.E.M. wrote a quote for it.

You have to give author Mark Lindquist credit here for writing about subject matter that is familiar to him, since he is obviously immersed in Seattle's music scene, and as a special prosecutor he knows what he is talking about when discussing the prosecution of a rape case as well. I think if one approaches this book with an understanding of what it is, and what it is not, it may be a worthwhile read to many readers.

First, although the comparisons to Nick Hornby's High Fidelity are inevitable, this book doesn't quite measure up. Hornby's book was full of meaningful musical references most of us could get - when Rob was ripping U2, or putting some Motown R&B artists on his turntable, the reader could relate. Here, in Never Mind Nirvana, readers might get a little overwhelmed with the attention to detail given Seattle's 1990's grunge scene, since most of us don't know Temple of the Dog from Mother Love Bone.

Plus, in Hornby's book, the other characters have a lot more depth to them, especially the female ones. Here, women are seen more as targets for pick-up efforts by protagonist Pete Tyler and his prosecuting sidekick Scott Foss. Accordingly this book really strikes me as a guy book, that I would recommend to male friends but not females. Some reviewers have complained that the date rape trial which sets the plot in motion is given short thrift, and I must say the courtroom scenes were some of my favorite in the novel, but I don't think Lindquist set out to write a courtroom thriller about that subject. He set out to write a book about a 37 year old former rocker who is forced, by this case, to reassess his lifestyle and attitudes toward women.

As for the ending, which some have called unsatisfying, I thought the book ended perfectly. Hollywood might tie things up a little more neatly if they ever adapted this to the screen, but I found the end of the novel dead on and consistent with the preceding chapters.

A couple of final trivial complaints. Lindquist uses smoking and drinking a little too much, like a writer's crutch, having Pete and his companions constantly reaching for a Camel or a scotch every two pages to give them something to do. I was getting headaches just imagining the smell of stale smoke and scotch whiskey. Also, while every character he meets seems to remember Pete and his band Morph, at one point several people in a club confuse a band member from Alice in Chains for a guy from Pearl Jam. In Seattle, we are to believe fans recognize a bassist from Morph and yet mistake a member of Pearl Jam? Finally, I found the present tense narrative style a little unsettling at the start, but once the novel got going I quickly settled into the author's pace and forgot about it.

In summary, I enjoyed Mark's book and read it very quickly (perfect airplane reading I might add). Had Lindquist concentrated a little more on the other characters, and a little less on obscure Seattle nightclubs and artists foreign to most of us, he'd be basking in more 5 star reviews.

I really liked this book. It's funny, it's interesting, and its enjoyable. I'ts not a great work of literature, but it doesn't pretend to be. It is the story of Pete, a 36 yeard old prosecutor who can't seem to let go of his misspent (and possibly more fun) youth as part of a Seattle grunge band, yet he feels the strong pull of adulthood and responsiblity. He thinks he may (gasp!) even want to get married, he just doesn't know which of his current or former girlfriends should be the one. His personal conflict becomes a professional conflict, of sorts, when he takes on a date rape case which pits his past life--the Seattle rock scene--against his future--life as a responsible member of society.

That description sounds a lot more serious than the book actually is. The characters in this book are really amusing. Pete's commitmentphobia and his fear/dread of aging, being alone, selling out will ring true to anyone in their thirties. This book reminded me a lot of Nic!k Hornby's High Fidelity (although it doesn't rise to the cult classic-ness of that book) and at times I think it was intentional (i.e., certain breakups make his top ten regrets of all time)

For a quick read, there is alot to chew on in this novel--regret, responsibility, aging, loneliness, commitment. All these serious topics, however, arise in a funny, not so serious novel that is a pleasure to read. It's the perfect book to take to the beach and then lend to all of your friends.

I read about this book in the Wall Street Journal's "Biggest Buzz of the Summer" Issue or whatever it was called, and I've heard a lot of hype that reminded me of when Jay McInerney's "Bright Lights Big City" was published, but I finally broke down and bought this slickly packaged book anyway. And I'm glad I did, because it's exceptionally smart and surprisingly genuine. There's a date rape plot as the lead character Pete has to prosecute someone who, like himself, was once in a grunge band, but what the book's really about is what it means for a guy to be a grown-up these days as everything's changing, and how music helps, and doesn't help. It's a hip contemporary version of Richard Ford's "The Sportswriter," but the writing has the wit of Jay McInerney as well as the depth of Richard Ford, and a totally original style that is engaging and modern (postmodern?). This book is one of the few that lives up to it's hype (and to its blurbs from R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck and Brat Pack writer Bret Easton Ellis).