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Fiction

Emotionally bonsai’d

88 Lines About 44 Women by Steven Lang

by Jo Case
October 2009, no. 315

88 Lines About 44 Women by Steven Lang

Viking, $32.95 pb, 258 pp

ABR receives a commission on items purchased through this link. All ABR reviews are fully independent.

In an intriguing coincidence, three recent novels by notable male writers feature central characters who, former members of world-famous rock bands, ruminate on the mess they made of the past. The notion of faded rock stars clearly provides much scope for exploring issues of male ego, sexuality and mid-life crisis. Unlike Nick Hornby (Juliet Naked) and Nick Earls (The Story of Butterfish), Steven Lang is no ‘lad-lit’ writer, though he does delve into similar thematic territory in his second novel, 88 Lines About 44 Women.

 


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88 Lines About 44 Women

88 Lines About 44 Women by Steven Lang

Viking, $32.95 pb, 258 pp

ABR receives a commission on items purchased through this link. All ABR reviews are fully independent.


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