Starving in the Company of Beautiful Women: The Great American Rant, 2017 version

This is somewhat fictional, somewhat history, and somewhat hallucinatory. I was there for all of them. I may be stuck there, I don't know. A great first effort that truly conveys punk rock life from a musician's perspective back before punk became a music industry flavor. Back when punk was an attitude not a category. This book oozes attitude.

There are lots of novels about sex and drugs, but I don't think the people who write them have done enough of either. Starving in the Company of Beautiful Women is written as fast and as sexy as its subject matter but doesn't try too hard.It's a first-hand narrative of Herion-infested, panty-swimming existance of musician, Cash Newmann. It's about love, beauty, ignorance, and ugly. And these topics are often touched within a few sentences of each other.Michael Dean has enough spunk (no pun intended)to take the english language to the next level. When words fail, he just makes a new one. I'm glad to have added "kittywhore" to my vocabulary since reading his book.I, like many of the women in the book, felt for Cash in his glimmering moments while still absolutely disgusted by his drugs-are-candy and women-are-bathtowels ideals. Was our hero truly a monster? All the more reason to turn the page.This decade is starving in the company of forced novels about addiction, lust, and power. Dean mercifully spoons us something substancial.

I loved this book so much, I immediately acquired the film rights!! This work is best approached with an open mind, and a willingness to think and read below the surface. Dean is a very lyrical and metaphorical writer... there is much, much more to this work than just sex, drugs, and rock n' roll (though his approach to these subjects is quite interesting as well). While this isn't the first time we've seen a story about the downfall of a lonely, misunderstood rock star, what I loved about "Starving" is Michael's choice to portray the character of Cash as an active hero rather than a passive victim. Things don't just "happen" to him, he is no unfortunate victim of fate or society... he knowingly chooses his path and destiny, fully aware of the consequences, just for the chance to touch something real, something raw - even if just for that brief second on the way down (because, well, that's what we artists do... if you're not living on the edge of death, then you're dead already, pal). Also, keep in mind that before Dean penned this novel he had spent years writing lyrics for hit bands such as Bomb... I think the book's sub-title "The Great American Rant" is a bit of a dis-service, I see it more as 302 pages worth of poetic insight into what it means not only to be an artist, but a human being as well.

possibly the most fascinating work so far by an author of his generation and stature. dean's grittiness and wittiness is equaled only by his loquacious bodaciousness. words cannot describe the way he use words to describe the way he uses. his soul is bared, as well as his flesh and mind. the fractured wholeness of this tome shall live on through the ages. a true testament to all human endeavour, the search for truth and art and beauty in a mad, mad world.

man, this cat can write women so well, I almost wonder if it is a woman writing under a mans name. the clarity of thought, and depth of passion is undeniable.