Rock Me (First Edition)

Marcelle Clements

ISBN 10: 0671670956 / ISBN 13: 9780671670955

Published by Simon & Schuster, New York, 1988

About this Item

First edition. First printing, with full number line. Hardbound. As New/As New. A tight clean unread copy. A first novel about a burned-out female rock star named Casey who retreats to Maui to confront her past with an ex-lover, Michael, and his pregnant wife,. ccording to the L.A. Times (January 1, 19890: "The novel?s hip style, smooth tone and sensual spirit distinctively recall the music of Steely Dan, a resemblance which turns out to be more than accidental, for Marcelle Clements lives with Donald Fagen, Steely Dan?s lead singer and composer. Clements, a journalist, wrote ?Rock Me? in part to evoke the lives of the musicians she first met at New York City?s High School of Music and Art and then toured with in a yearlong stint as one of Fagen?s backup singers.".

Seller Inventory # 1961

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Rock Me (First Edition)
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster, New York
• Publication Date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0671670956
• ISBN 13: 9780671670955
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: As New
• Dust Jacket Condition: As New
• Weight: 1 pound

About this title

Synopsis

Ex-lovers are locked together in a mysterious dance of love and ambivalence. The power that draws them together is the same that drives them apart.

Reviews

This first novel by journalist Clements ( Other Observations ) has all the trendy elements for commercial success save one: writing that elicits any feeling in the reader. The plot features a burned-out rock star named Casey, but she is never developed sufficiently, and it's hard to care about the fate of such an irritating narrator. Ostensibly the story of an obsessive love, the novel seems the result of a knowing journalist's decision to write fiction about the hard-living denizens of the high-speed world of rock. Overwhelmed by life, Casey has fled to Maui in order to find tranquility, cut down on her drinking and confront her ex-loveran important piece of unfinished business from the past. Michael, a former member of her rock band (called "The Ex-Lovers"), has created a new, cozy domestic life, but Casey's visit dredges up the past for him. Will they or won't they? What about his earnest and pregnant wife? As the narrative shifts between the first and third persons, Clements propels the story through a series of episodic chunks. The fragmented structure is not inappropriate to the equally fragmented thinking represented here. With self-obsessed and immature characters and writing that is only competent, readers will be not so much rocked as lulled.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Those who are familiar with the satiric hilarity of Clements's nonfiction work The Dog Is Us and Other Observations will be surprised at the seriousness of her first novel. However, this story, though slight, is right on the mark as rock 'n' roll novels go. Rock group star Casey is burned out after having lived on the edge too long. She's gone to Maui to visit Michael, an ex-band member and ex-lover, and his pregnant wife. Slowly she is healed, but she is drawn once again to Michael, which would wreak havoc. Casey's stream-of-consciousness chatter is interspersed throughout as she wrestles with her dilemma. The dialogue is believable, not often the case with rock star novels, and the characters are interesting. However, one wishes this were longer and more fleshed-out. A novella, in length and substance. Rosellen Brewer, Monterey Cty. Lib., Seaside, Cal.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.