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gabysm11's review against another edition
2.0
Parts of it were funny and entertaining, it certainly feels like a fall through the rabbit hole....gone very, very wrong. At first I thought the narrative was a bit dragged but in the end it was what redeemed it. The narrator became the best part of the book and the reason you wan't to keep reading. I wanted to know what happened to him, I liked him, I was rooting for him. The other characters? Not so much.
monicacm's review against another edition
4.0
I’ve been a fan of Wesley Stacie’s since he was John Wesley Harding. I’m not sure why it took me so long to read one of his novels—some of my favorite songs of his tell stories, like The Truth, Ordinary Weekend, or even July 13, 1985. It may be that I was just waiting for him to write a rock and roll book, which this is. In Wonderkids, he writes a very fun story of a band that inadvertently becomes the first “kindie rock” bad. A very entertaining read.
erincataldi's review against another edition
4.0
Stace, Wesley. Wonderkid. 10 CDs. unabridged. 11 hrs 55 mins. Dreamscape Media. 2014. ISBN 9781629236988.
Perhaps the greatest band that never existed, author Wesley Stace (you may also know him as folk singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding), sure makes you wish they had. Under the direction of the madly energetic and bizarre Blake Lear, a group of London misfits goes from being an unnoticed nonsense band to an overnight sensation in America. The reason for their success? The record label saw potential in their mad rag tag group and decided to market them to a new audience, children. In Los Angeles they pick up some new band members and put together a show that kids and their parents will enjoy. Everyone music. Told from the perspective of Sweet (Lear's recently adopted kid, only ten years his junior), the gradual rise of the Wonderkids is a sight to behold. It is laugh out loud funny and oh so believable. Regrettably, the story started out a bit slow, but by the time the band is in America it picks up massive momentum and becomes impossible to stop listening to. There is added authenticity to the story as it is narrated brilliantly by the author, complete with British twang, hilarious impressions and two bonus songs at the end. A must read for fans of music memoirs and humor. - Erin Cataldi, Johnson County Public Library, Franklin, IN
Perhaps the greatest band that never existed, author Wesley Stace (you may also know him as folk singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding), sure makes you wish they had. Under the direction of the madly energetic and bizarre Blake Lear, a group of London misfits goes from being an unnoticed nonsense band to an overnight sensation in America. The reason for their success? The record label saw potential in their mad rag tag group and decided to market them to a new audience, children. In Los Angeles they pick up some new band members and put together a show that kids and their parents will enjoy. Everyone music. Told from the perspective of Sweet (Lear's recently adopted kid, only ten years his junior), the gradual rise of the Wonderkids is a sight to behold. It is laugh out loud funny and oh so believable. Regrettably, the story started out a bit slow, but by the time the band is in America it picks up massive momentum and becomes impossible to stop listening to. There is added authenticity to the story as it is narrated brilliantly by the author, complete with British twang, hilarious impressions and two bonus songs at the end. A must read for fans of music memoirs and humor. - Erin Cataldi, Johnson County Public Library, Franklin, IN
jenniepicky's review against another edition
3.0
The beginning and the end seemed too slow. The story doesn't really pick up until you finally learn who your narrator is and seems to continue on for far too long in the post tour synopsis. But such is life, and I think that might be the point. The middle was wonderful.
nixieknox's review against another edition
3.0
I want to hang out with Sweet.
I liked this book, but I thought the end may have been a little too long. I was a little confused by the end especially - why did Blake do that? To what purpose?
I did love how they fell into being a kids band. The guy at the KindieCon (whatever it was) confirmed my suspicion that Sweet, as an unreliable narrator, was painting too rosy of a picture of life on the tour bus.
All in all a great read - I was sucked into the life.
I liked this book, but I thought the end may have been a little too long. I was a little confused by the end especially - why did Blake do that? To what purpose?
I did love how they fell into being a kids band. The guy at the KindieCon (whatever it was) confirmed my suspicion that Sweet, as an unreliable narrator, was painting too rosy of a picture of life on the tour bus.
All in all a great read - I was sucked into the life.
townblog's review against another edition
3.0
I've yet to read a really great novel about a rock n' roll band. Even otherwise good/great writers (Lethem, DeLillo, Perrota, King) have stumbled in trying to dramatize sound we can't hear and musical creativity we can't see. Maybe words aren't the right tool with which to describe music (cf., "dancing about architecture."). Wesley Stace's background in folk-rock and the focus here on a Wiggles-ish kids band lend themselves to a noble attempt, but ultimately falls short. Early chapters,about the band's emergence are fun, but the long-term shift to focus on the young adult adopted by the lead singer sort of sapped the energy and inventiveness of the book. I think we're meant to experience/admire the lead singer through the narrator In a Nick Carraway/Jay Gatsby fashion, but as a fan of singer-songwriters, I already know what it's like to be fascinated with rock stars...
sharonfalduto's review against another edition
4.0
Finally, a book I really enjoyed and would recommend! Told from the p.o.v. of a young man brought along on tour with a rising young band, this is a funny story about rock 'n' roll, backstage mayhem, and a completely made up but absolutely real sounding history of "kiddie rock" set in the 1990s, not that it is overly 90s ridden. (No passages such as "she was wearing a baby doll dress and Doc Martens while she sullenly listened to Nirvana music").
Wesley Stace is a musician who records under the name John Wesley Harding.
Wesley Stace is a musician who records under the name John Wesley Harding.