Whale Music

by Paul Quarrington

Book Overview

Des Howell is a former rock 'n' roll star who never leaves his secluded oceanfront mansion. Naked, rich and fabulously deranged, he subsists on a steady diet of whiskey, pharmaceuticals and jelly doughnuts and occasionally works on his masterpiece, "Whale Music." One day, upon awakening from his usual drunken stupor, Des discovers on his sofa a young alien from the faraway universe of Toronto. This girl has made the trek to Des' hideaway because she...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 038526772X
• ISBN13: 9780385267724
• Release Date: January 1990
• Publisher: Doubleday Books
• Length: 226 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.

Customer Reviews

What would Brian Wilson think?

I remember reading some years ago that Brian Wilson is reported to have remarked - "Whale Music is the best book about the Beach Boys that I have read." Why not?

Fantasy is Reality

Anyone who has been semi conscious on Earth over the last 40 years knows that "Whale Music" draws it's inspiration from The Beach Boy's creative genius; Brian Wilson. As I recollect, Mr. Quarrington's book hit the shelves at about the same time as Mr. Wilson's autobiography. Having read both, I would choose to re-read 'Whale Music'. At it's worst, it's fictionalized take off on the man's life is extremely entertaining. At it's best, it's a great satire of the media's reporting of Mr. Wilson's every ingested cheeseburger. I love this book and, I especially love Brian Wilson's contribution to the world.

Smile ...

It has been at least ten years since I read this book but I still remember it fondly. It is largely a thinly-fictionalized account of the turbulent life of Brian Wilson, not exactly, but he is obviously the prototype for the eccentric musical genius protagonist and former songwriter/producer/singer of a California-based brother act. I was insipred to try to track it down again after reading about an all-star Brian Wilson tribute concert. My dim memory of this book is that the narrator is the Wilson-based character, who also reminded me a bit of the hero of John Kennedy Toole's great rambling novel "A Confederacy of Dunces." There are some laugh-out-loud sequences in this book as well as the expected tortured-artist tales. I would gladly read it again.

Fantastic 1st Person Narrative!

Quarrington's Whale Music is as decadent and sincere as its main character. A touching story doused in an absurd fondue of drug abuse, money, rock and roll, and agoraphobia. Track this one down!

Quarrington knows us better than we know ourselves.

There are a rare few writers in our society that can capture the paradox between the fragility and strength of the human spirit like Paul Quarrington. The alcoholic, drug-addicted main character spends his time talking to ghosts of his past, dunking his naked, corpulent body in the pool, and working on a composition for the whales below his cliff-side house. An uninvited visitor from another universe turns his life upside-down and he is forced to face the ghosts of his past, present, and future. In the process he lays bare those things that we most hide about our own selves, that make up the very essence of those things which make us human. If you like books which forever change the way you look at life, "Whale Music" is for you