Tales of a Punk Rock Nothing

Having worked in a number of health food stores over the years with riot grrrl feminists and more-vegan-than-thou punk rockers, I found this novel both fun and very realistic. (I also worked with many New Age hippy characters unfortunately absent from this book). Besides being a highly entertaining novel, it is also very creative. Rather than being structured around a traditional linear narrative, this novel is a collage of journal entries, letters, and zines. So if you're looking for a fun little novel about the punk subculture, activism, and granola, pour yourself a nice cold glass of carob soymilk, sit back, and enjoy.

This memoir-style independent press novel is a bittersweet and hilarious capsule of the 90's punk lifestyle with all its pretensions, good intentions, and occasional hypocrisies (as are encountered with any movement). It's also a very quick, quirky, and fun read. Elliot is from a small town in Tennessee, and having just graduated from high school and partaken in his first punk-like activity of busting out the windows of his local Wal-Mart, is eager for a change. He moves to Washington DC to a straight-edge vegan co-op, and begins his new struggle of trying to fit in while doing the right things as he sees them, and also trying hard to look like he's NOT trying to fit in. If that sounds complicated, it is, as anyone who has been in or on the fringe of any punk-type movement since the early 90's knows.This book contains letters, journal entries, fliers, and three issues of Elliot's zine, which have a very authentic feel. Elliot's joys in his new life (working for Food Not Bombs, stenciling "KISS" over nazi graffiti, being in a band, and a vigilante-style operation against a K-Mart store) are wonderful to read, and his frustrations (being a "feminist" male while in a relationship with a Riot Grrrl; putting together rock shows when bands are feuding and the thin line between selling out and not selling out comes into question; the calculated non-fashionable "fashion" of punk; infighting with his house and scene mates) are familiar and easy to relate to. With its ironic ending and Elliot's refreshing voice all the way through, this book is a must-read for anyone knowledgeable or curious about the evolving punk movement.

I actually bought this book from one of the authors at the Pearl Jam concert at the Superdome in Louisiana, then watched him get warned to not sell books, then watched him get arrested for just standing around. I wasn't expecting that much from a book on the street, but it is honestly awesome. There are a lot of viewpoints in this book, and a lot that I don't agree with, but it was a fun read and gave me lots of new stuff to think about.

Anyone can play punk rock - well not everyone can OFF tune their guitars quite so - but anyone can play it. But only geniuses like these two authors can write punk rock. In some sense punk is about reinventing oneself and the medium of one's expression. (Is Dylan the ultimate punk?) This story is about a young boy from a small town who reinvents himself - expresses his true self - by going to the big city (Washington, DC) and immersing himself in a sociogroup with ideals/goals he shares. The brilliant insights come when he realizes that being Jewish and from a small town are as much a part of who he is as his ideals. We see real insight into the human condition where the hero wrestles with his mixed inner voices, peeling away the layers to what is truly important about us, and what defines who each of us is. We wait for more books from these obviously talented writers. I hope their angst continues, and they produce more fodder for all of us wrestling with these essential questions of identity and self.

This book manages to criticize the dominant culture without being self-righteous because it is also a sensitive story of a young man from a small town as he develops and refines his social conscience. As he gets his counter-cultural education in the big city punk rock scene, he manages to maintain his perspective and sense of humor. This is a great book with a truly unique style and voice.