Wallop

3.5, honestly wish it was a bit longer!

Having grown up all over the Denver/Boulder metro area it was fun to catch a handful of minor references to places, and coming up in the punk/hardcore scene I knew a ton of people exactly like those depicted in the novel. That's where wishing it was longer comes into play- I often wonder about some of the people I knew from going to DIY house shows, or slipped around on beer-soaked barroom floors while someone screamed into a microphone at the front of the room and where they might be these days, even if they were in the throes of making shitty life decisions like getting their girlfriends pregnant and absconding to KC. I'd like to think those people figured some shit out, and I'd have loved to see the main character of this book make that journey, but maybe I'm wanting something from the book that Mr. Perkins didn't want it to be about. We probably know some of the same people, and maybe they're still out there fucking up and making mistakes and getting SO CLOSE to that blast of insight needed to push them into being better people and showing up but just not getting it- just like this book depicts.

Even still I had a fun time with it, and as I said before it reminded me of a lot of the people and places and adventures I spent my 20's with and sorely miss. I'm glad there's writers out there like Nathaniel and Adam Gnade and probably others I'm unaware of that are doing their part to document forgotten histories and places in a music scene and place that most people couldn't give two shits about.