"You know what punk is? A bunch of no-talent guys who really, really want to be in a band. Nobody reads music, nobody plays the mandolin, and you're too dumb to write songs about mythology or Middle-earth. So what's your style? Three chords, cranked out fast and loud and distorted because your instruments are crap and you can't play them worth a damn. And you scream your lungs out to cover up the fact that you can't sing. It should suck, but here's the thing - it doesn't.
Rock and roll can be so full of itself, but not this.It's simple and angry and raw. " And you thought your life was complicated, welcome to the new world of Leo Caraway, straight laced student, a future student at Havard and for now an unsuspecting groupie for a punk rock band called the Purge. Let the fun begin. Our lives can be so structured, school, activities, jobs, girlfriends, so when something so out of the ordinary takes place it can really throw you for a loop, and literally put your life upside down. Welcome to Leo's new world, a world so unlike his own, straight-laced and conservative.
With a twist of fate, Leo discovers that the man he thought to be his father is really not, and his biological father is actually Marion X. McMurphy, also known as King Maggot, lead singer of the Purge. Image your surprise to find out that the one person you would least want as a parent, is really your father. As Leo imbarks on this journey with his father he watches in wonder as King bawled their signature anthem, forty thousand throats screamed along with him: “ Bomb Mars now! Nuke Mars now! Just you wait and see,Bomb Mars now! Nuke Mars now! The new diplomacy … ” I looked over at the music critic from the L. A. Times .
She wasn't making notes. She was weeping. Her eyes never left the figure that rampaged across the stage.Neither did mine. The thought that this was my father, that I shared an earlobe and DNA with this force of nature, made me dizzy. I knew that I was going to like this novel when the opening line was "There are two kinds of people in this world- those who have had a cavity search, and those who haven't.
This is the story of how I wound up in the wrong category. " Isn't that a great first page line? It had me hooked as I thought that this was hilarious and almost gross at the same time.It is the perfect read from a male reader although I think that girls will get the humour although gross at times to be very amusing. Born to Rock caught my attention from the beginning and it was interesting to see how someone like Leo, who based on his upbringing could when forced to re-evaluate his situation could overcome the conflicts of his beliefs and look beyond them to see that what he imagined or perseved what not neccesarily in fact true. He was being brought up in a very conservative household, when he discovers his mother's past with this obnoxious punk rocker. It throws him for a loop, I think it would happen to most of us.
We have this preconceived idea of who and what our parents stand for and in an instant that whole image is thrown out the window. To top it off, you find out your father stands for eveyone that you dispise, forcing you out of your comfort area when you really need to get some help or assistance from this person. It causes you to really do a reality check or your beliefs, your family values and how you can readjust your feeling when forced into this situation. I think Leo handles it fairly well, and I think the the author of the book, catches what it is like to be a teenager faced with this type of situation.
Some of the lines of the characters are really very funny and you can imagine yourself saying the exact words. I thought that this book took us through all the highs and lows that Leo was experiencing in a very funny and humorous way. Not being a huge reader of novels, I prefer to read car magazines, I will admit this one was well worth the read, and I understand will soon be made into a movie, can't wait to see who will earn the roles of these very interesting and conflicting characters, hopefully it will be as enjoyable to watch as it was to read.
