From Up River and for One Night Only

Product Description Meet The Gorgons The Legionnaires Chicken Treblinka The Statistics . . . Meet Dee, Gordyn, Em, and Jay, indecisive members of the greatest New Wave band to ever spring from River Bend City. Before they graduate from high school and flee a mill town that's seen better days, these ambitious friends (two sets of siblings) aim to make something from nothing as a test-run for planned careers of total glamour in New York City. Set between Labour Day 1980 and a Battle of the Bands contest in February 1981, From Up River and for One Night Only traces the unsure but determined steps of the gang's hopeful act of creation. The darkly comic and autobiographical story memorably captures the detours, setbacks, compromises, ethical quandaries, and illicit opportunities encountered along the twisty highway to the band's fifteen-and-a half minutes of fame. From Publishers Weekly Grubisic (This Location of Unknown Possibilities) dives deeply into nostalgia in this autobiographical coming-of-age story. Four teenage friends dream big dreams in a small British Columbian town in the 1980s. Gordyn, Dee, Em, and Jay are two sets of siblings who exist on the outer edges of their high school's social circles. Their immediate goal is to form a New Wave cover band that can win an upcoming Battle of the Bands contest in nearby Bottlesburg, but their sights are set on glamorous rock-and-roll careers in London, Paris, and New York. With little money, experience, or talent, the four struggle to acquire instruments and decide what music to play. Along the way, they test the waters of sexuality and find some unusual ways to make money. Though Grubisic's carefully crafted descriptions of the teens' world can slow the narrative and cause it to meander, they provide much of the book's dark humor. This excursion into the '80s will be immersive for readers who remember the decade fondly; the story of dreamers pushing against the confines of conventionality and limited expectations will resonate more broadly. (Apr.)
Review "Lovingly and delightfully told, and completely without sentimentality, Grubisic's autobiographical novel is a long ode to youth, to unquenchable life and, yes, it's nostalgic but in the best possible way." --Vancouver Sun"A wordsmith by nature and profession, Grubisic spends pages on lengthy and complex passages that appear as digressions, yet are written with intention: every word is fitting, deliberate, and laden with meaning." --Quill and Quire"Grubisic's novel is an exciting exercise in language, and it does give its readers enough to hold onto, should they be ready for the ride. The story's climax is a fantastic marriage of music and poetic prose, culminating in a final performance that leaves its readers, characters, and linguistic audience wanting more disjunction, confusion, and grunge." --Lambda Literary"This excursion into the '80s will be immersive for readers who remember the decade fondly; the story of dreamers pushing against the confines of conventionality and limited expectations will resonate more broadly." --Publishers Weekly"This is not your typical rock 'n roll novel. Sure, it's full of wild misfits, day job drudgery, and dreams of stardom. But the real headliner here is Grubisic's intoxicating, immersive language. It's a cacophony of linguistic power chords, a picaresque road trip with no particular place to go. We've never seen a coming-of-age story quite like this one." --Mark Sampson, author of Sad Peninsula and The Secrets Men Keep