The Exes

by Pagan Kennedy

Book Overview

In one of the most critically acclaimed novels of recent years, Pagan Kennedy takes readers on a hip and hilarious tour of today's rock 'n' roll world. The Exes, an up-and-coming indie band, is made... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684854422
• ISBN13: 9780684854427
• Release Date: July 1999
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.0" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

smarter than it lets on

Pagan Kennedy writes splendidly. The Exes is a mass of energy with distant lightning bolts of real wisdom. One trifling gripe: how can you write a book about a band comprised of ex-lovers and not give the slightest tip o'the hat to the Big (Fleetwood) Mac? They were hip once, too. Anyway, Kennedy's a star.

A witty novel that really rocks!

In this fast-paced, funny, richly detailed novel, each of the four central characters tells his or her own story about their band, The Exes. The main plot, which binds these characters and their stories together, is simple: four indie rock scenesters form a band and, despite the baggage left from their various romances gone sour, they manage to make this band into something more than the sum of four disparate parts. But this over-arching plot is hardly the point. A book ballyhooing the rise and fall of a fictitious rock band would be just as pointless as a book championing a non-existent sports team -- unless the author were able to deliver unforgettable characters acting in compelling, true-to-life scenes. That is exactly what Pagan Kennedy delivers in THE EXES. By narrating THE EXES from four different points of view, Kennedy allows us to see her characters not only as they see themselves, but also as they see by each other. The portraits that emerge are deep and complex, and in the stories that unfold, ambition, relationships, and the love of doing something for its own sake all become inseparably intertwined, just as in life.

A page-turner with character

In this fast-paced, warm, richly detailed novel, each of the four central characters tells his or her own story about their band, The Exes. The main plot, which binds these characters and their stories together, is simple: four indie rock scenesters form a band and, despite the baggage left from their various romances gone sour, they manage to make this band into something more than the sum of four disparate parts. But this over-arching plot is hardly the point. A book ballyhooing the rise and fall of a fictitious rock band would be just as pointless as a book championing a non-existent sports team -- unless the author were able to deliver unforgettable characters acting in compelling, true-to-life scenes. That is exactly what Pagan Kennedy delivers in THE EXES. By narrating THE EXES from four different points of view, Kennedy allows us to see her characters not only as they see themselves, but also as they see by each other. The portraits that emerge are deep and complex, and in the stories that unfold, ambition, relationships, and the love of doing something for its own sake all become inseparably intertwined, just as in life.

Hit me where I live

There are times when a writer produces a work that seems to peer so accurately into your own soul that you could swear the author had lived with you for a couple of years, trailing your every move and chronicling the seamiest details of your own night life (and the paralyzing, sometimes embarrassing amalgam of emotions that accompany it). Reading The EXes was like reading an autobiography I never wrote -- it's that personal. Kennedy has a way of making every reader feel like he or she really is the protagonist, and that the author is some kind of angelic hovercraft, flitting above one's life, transcribing and interpreting what one formerly thought was too personal to be expressed. Oh -- and did I mention? This book rocks.

The exes on a road to stardom...

The new novel "the exes" by Pagan Kennedy is a true-to-life biography in the lives of four twenty-something band members. This book tells of the way they formed their band and of how they got their name. The book goes into detail about each of the four characters and tells of each of their lives in the past, present and future while continuing to tell the main story about the band, the bands travels and the bands destiny. It is through this band that the four members each realize something about their lives and suddenly everything becomes clear about what they are to do in this world. This is an exciting book, especially if you live in the Boston area because the book names local clubs, such as the middle east, the no longer existing rat and t.t the bear's. The book also talks about the "hip" places to hang, such as "the other side cafe". I enjoyed this book a huge amount and finished it within one day. If you like to go and listen to local music and hear that indie-rock sound, this book will make you feel like you are in the middle of a cheering crowd surronded by the smell, the loudness and the oneness that is experieced only in a small club. You have to go out and buy this book and experience every truth that it is.