Tiger in a Trance: A Novel - Softcover

Ludington, Max

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1400030633 ISBN 13: 9781400030637

Publisher: Anchor Books, 2003

Synopsis

Max Ludington has created a stunningly self-assured American road novel that captures the drug induced euphoria and paranoia of a Grateful Dead concert, while simultaneously probing the self-destructive tendencies of its head-strong protagonist.

Traveling around the country in his old Volvo following the Dead for over a year, eighteen-year-old Jason Burke discovers how much more lucrative selling acid is than selling T-shirts. Liberally dabbling in his product, his judgment gets cloudier and he starts snorting heroin and sleeping with his supplier’s girlfriend, a green-eyed beauty named Jane. Jason also meets Melanie, a rebellious one-armed high-school girl who’s youthful abandonment leads her deeper into the nomadic world of the Dead. And as his addiction takes hold, Jason reacquaints himself with an old friend of his late father’s who’s near the end of his days. While he struggles with the ghosts of his own past and his exceedingly tenuous future, Jason has to decide where his heart lies and which road will ultimately take him there.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

In the tradition of Robert Stone and Denis Johnson, a darkly authentic road novel set in the nomadic world of the Deadheads.

It is 1985, and eighteen-year-old Jason Burke is a full-time Deadhead, following the Grateful Dead around the country and surviving by selling T-shirts. But Jason is about to discover the lucrative ease of selling drugs. He’ll also meet the women who will play key romantic roles in his life: Jane, the tall, green-eyed girlfriend of a drug dealer; and Melanie, a rebellious high school girl, one-armed as the result of a car accident. Jason’s one-night tryst with Melanie sets the stage for their future before Jason takes off for California with the tour.
Jason has a past of his own. He grew up overseas, the son of a journalist, and when he was eleven his father was killed in a Syrian prison, accused of spying. Jason has never dealt directly with his father’s death, and his detachment has estranged him from his mother and his older brother.
In Carmel, Jason stops for the night to see Harry, an old friend of his father. He learns that Harry, a rock-and-roll-loving alcoholic, is dying of emphysema. Eventually, Jason falls into drug dealing in earnest; hits the road with Melanie; is pursued by private detectives; and returns to nurse Harry through his final illness, all the while battling his own increasingly serious heroin addiction. The end of the road is near.
Combining the high spirits of youth with the sometimes jaded wisdom of the counterculture, Tiger in a Trance is a startlingly sure-handed and accomplished debut novel that recalls such generational classics as Less Than Zero and The Beach. It shows how music, drugs, and especially love can be enchanting, and how the most bewitching things can also be the most bedeviling.

From the Back Cover:

“A gripping and astonishing On-the-Road first novel that in both subject and execution can be compared to the best of both Kerouac and Kesey.”
— George Plimpton


“The Grateful Dead's unique partnership with Dead Heads generated not only devotion but artistic inspiration — and Tiger In A Trance is the finest literary sample of that creativity to date. It is a brilliant novel of life in the world of one subgroup of Dead Heads, documenting the full package that results when the young pursue freedom and are forced to pay the maximum price.”
— Dennis McNally, author of A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead
“The Grateful Dead have been the backdrop of many novels, but Tiger in a Trance is the first one to portray the lives of the Deadheads themselves. The dialogue is fantastic — sharp, economical and authentic. This excellent first novel will certainly last as long as the Dead’s music will.”
— Jim Carroll, author of The Basketball Diaries


"Max Ludington is an obviously accomplished and promising writer. His style is graceful, his characters alive, and he can tell a story. As a generational novel, Tiger in a Trance reminded me of The Sun Also Rises."
— Philip Caputo, author of The Horn of Africa and A Rumor of War

About this edition

• Publisher: Anchor Books
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1400030633
• ISBN 13: 9781400030637
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 386