You Think You Hear: A Novel

By Matt O'Keefe

Lou Farren loves two things in life: rock and roll and his friend Cree, a beautiful drummer in a pop band who has no idea how he feels. Adrift in a post-college world of boring computer jobs, Lou agrees to be the roadie for the Day Action Band, a brilliant but unknown ensemble made up of Cree, bassist Joey, and Lou's best friend, Tim, on guitar. Opening for the Radicals, a British group with a single climbing the charts, the band travels coast to coast, moving closer and closer to fame. As Lou drives the Day Action Band's van, sells their T-shirts, and mediates their arguments, he learns what it's like to stand just outside the spotlight. He watches Tim charm women from the stage, sees Joey achieve the coolness he's always wanted, and tries unsuccessfully to look away when Cree falls into a tour romance with the lead singer of the Radicals. Every night Lou sits at a table in the back of the club, envying his friends and facing the idea that his life might be significant only for its relationship to theirs. When the band comes close to breaking up, Lou is forced to confront what he really wants for them, and for himself. Reminiscent of Nick Hornby's High Fidelity, Matt O'Keefe's hilarious and poignant debut is the story of a young man coming to grips with the distance between his dreams and his reality. You Think You Hear is about unrequited love, a romance with pop music, and the search for moments in life as satisfying as a perfect song.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 031226903X
• ISBN13: 9780312269036
• Release Date: April 2001
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
• Length: 295 Pages
• Weight: 0.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.6" x 1.2" x 6.2"

Customer Reviews

Captivating and funny

I discovered this book at a discount book store in the clearance section, and took a chance. I began reading it the same night, and was unable to put it down. Matt O'Keefe's characters are personable, funny, and the story keeps you on your toes, wondering what will happen next. While reading, you almost feel as though you are on the road with these characters, experiencing everything they are. Take a chance, as I did, and go on the road with these four young people as they come into their own.

the perfect road trip read

In his debut novel Matt O'Keefe presents an engaging cast of characters - some likable, others not - but all of them real. The details of life on the road are funny and poignant and perfectly drawn - I read this book while driving across the U.S., and kept hoping to run into Matt O'Keefe's narrator along the way. "You Think You Hear" is a great book that deserves a big audience.

O'Keefe's debut charms one and all

Matt O'Keefe's book is hysterical, but more importantly, it is honest. His characters: Lou, Cree, Tim, Joey and dozens of other colorful people say funny things, they say unfunny things, they say mean things, they say flawed things. They are human. How often do we as readers come across a piece of literature that is as reflective of ourselves and our society as this? It's as if Matt O'Keefe has known me all his life and knows MY friends. Through a vast knowledge of music and the beautiful landscape of America, O'Keefe does not set out to change the world nor does he intend to solve anything that incredibly important in the whole scheme of things. What he does accomplish, though, is an adventure into the minds of America's youths. You do not have to be music literate to love this book. But you have to have once been 18 or 30, or somewhere in between when you didn't know exactly what you were doing or where you were going, but you were loving the ride!