Twisted Kicks

I first read "Twisted Kicks" in the early 80s when I was in college. At that time I could tell it was more or less portraying the generation just prior to mine; the one that came of age late enough that Vietnam and the draft were no longer a problem, but too early for Reaganomics, the 80s and "the year punk broke". The book focuses on a few months in the lives of a group of recent high school graduates in a small town in Virginia during the waning of the 70s. Although set in Virginia (the better to make one of the failed parental characters an ex-intelligence agent), it could really be set in Anytown, USA, such as in Ohio where I came from. The young main characters are the creative fringe of their town, the artists, the glam rockers who listened to Bowie, Lou Reed, Patti Smith and maybe the Sex Pistols (Ian Curtis having not shown up on the US radar screen as of yet). Surrounded by disillusioned, morally bankrupt adults, a crumbled economy in recession, and general boredom, all the kids try, with varying degrees of success, to plot an escape route. As the story begins, the most successful escapee, Dan, has become an underground punk musician in New York City, only to be sent fleeing back to his old hometown and circle of friends after killing an audience member in self-defense. Dan discovers that two of his old friends have lapsed into self-destructive behaviors, a third is hatching a plot to become a big-time drug dealer and a fourth is trying to hitch her sexy wagon to the most likely star possible. The one girl he can't get out of his mind, the honest and sweet Jane (whose theme song is, predictably, "Sweet Jane"), has gone away, and when he finally tracks her down he finds she has fled into suburban conventionality. She lives with a radio DJ whose mainstream musical tastes - dressing up like Abba's "SOS" for a costume party (remember this is when Abba was just a top 40 hitmaking act, well before the band became cool, cult and camp) - illustrate how little he could possibly understand deep, creative souls like Dan and Jane. The ending is left open, which is probably more realistic, if not as "happy" as one might like to see. Yes, the main characters in this book are full of angst and incredibly self-absorbed. They're all about 20 years old, so how else would you expect them to be? Overall, this is a great and somewhat overlooked slice of life from an American era that's gotten lost in the shuffle for most people who didn't live through it. Crank up some Velvets and Human Switchboard, get in the wayback machine, and be glad that now we at least have better college radio.

"Twisted Kicks" is no less than one of the great novels of our (or anyone's) time. I've read it many times and it never fails to thrill and delight me. This amazing book chronicles the lives of several diverse characters in the mythical town of Icarus, VA in the late 70's-early 80's. An almost perfect time-capsule of the druggy mixture of boredom and glam that was so many teen's lives at that time. Because the style of the novel itself is slightly surrealistic, the reader really seems to feel and experience the characters confusion, giddiness and disenchantment with themselves and their world. This is the only book I've ever read where every single person seems believable and directly drawn from life (I think I've MET some of these guys!). I really can't recommend it highly enough...I know it changed my life, and books like that are rare indeed. Completely Brilliant!