The Love Song of Jonny Valentine: A Novel - Softcover

Wayne, Teddy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1476705860 ISBN 13: 9781476705866

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2014

Synopsis

One of the most critically acclaimed books of the year, Whiting Award-winner Teddy Wayne’s second novel is “more than a scabrous sendup of American celebrity culture; it’s also a poignant portrait of one young artist’s coming of age” (Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times)—and an enduring yet timely portrait of the American dream gone awry.

In his rave on the cover of The New York Times Book Review, Jess Walter praised Wayne’s writing for its “feats of unlikely virtuosity” and the boy at its center as “a being of true longing and depth, and...a devastating weapon of cultural criticism...You’d have to be made of triple platinum not to ache for Jonny Valentine.”

With “assured prose and captivating storytelling” (Oprah.com’s Book of the Week), The Love Song of Jonny Valentine also showcases “one of the most complicated portrayals of the mother-son relationship since Room” (BookPage). Touring the country in a desperate attempt to save a career he’s not sure he even wants, Jonny is both driven by his mother’s ambition and haunted by his father’s absence, constantly searching for a familiar face among the crowds. Utterly convincing, whip-smart, yet endearingly vulnerable, with an “unforgettable” voice (Publishers Weekly, starred review), the eleven-year-old pop megastar sounds “like Holden Caulfield Jr. adrift in Access Hollywood hell” (Rolling Stone).

Called “a showstopper” (The Boston Globe), “hugely entertaining” (The Washington Post), “heartbreakingly convincing” (People), “buoyant, smart, searing” (Entertainment Weekly), and “touching and unexpectedly suspenseful” (The Wall Street Journal), this extraordinary novel has been widely embraced as a literary masterpiece and the rare “satire with a heart” (Library Journal, starred review).

About this title

Review:

Playlist for The Love Song Of Jonny Valentine by Teddy Wayne

The pop music in The Love Song of Jonny Valentine is, by 11-year-old singer Jonny’s own admission, utterly disposable. It’s a mainstream product that goes in one ear and out the other, but not before separating the listener from her money. Yet he dreams of creating art that is timeless, along the lines of his idol, Michael Jackson (especially “Billie Jean”). And though my own musical taste runs counter to Top-40 aesthetics, I, too, have a soft spot for catchy, hook-driven pop.

The contemporary landscape of dance-pop shares some attributes with the crooners of the 1950s and early ’60s, but has its strongest roots in synthesizer-heavy pop from the ’80s. That also happens to be the music I grew up with. Here are 17 songs from the decade, some iconic, some lesser-known. All remain, to me, listenable and danceable after all these years. In other words: timeless.

1. Billie Jean by Michael Jackson

2. (I'm a) TV Savage by Bow Wow Wow

3. 88 Lines About 44 Women by The Nails

4. Kiss by Prince

5. I Think We’re Alone Now by Tiffany

6. Take on Me by A-ha

7. She Drives Me Crazy by Fine Young Cannibals

8. Since Yesterday by Strawberry Switchblade

9. Turning Japanese by The Vapors

10. Walk Like an Egyptian by The Bangles

11. Mexican Radio by Wall of Voodoo

12. Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves

13. Come on Eileen by Dexy’s Midnight Runners

14. Girls Just Want to Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper

15. Material Girl by Madonna

16. 99 Red Balloons by Nena

17. Kids in America by Kim Wilde

About the Author:

Teddy Wayne, the author of Loner, The Love Song of Jonny Valentine, and Kapitoil, is the winner of a Whiting Writers’ Award and an NEA Fellowship as well as a finalist for the Young Lions Fiction Award, PEN/Bingham Prize, and Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He writes regularly for The New Yorker, The New York Times, Vanity Fair, McSweeney’s, and elsewhere. He lives in New York.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1476705860
• ISBN 13: 9781476705866
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 319