A review by monty_reads
Born to Rock, by Gordon Korman
3.0
3.5 stars.
Born to Rock doesn't really aspire to be anything more than lightweight, fast-paced entertainment, but I can respect that when it does it so well. Leo Caraway – Young Republican and future Harvard student – discovers that A) his scholarship is being revoked, and B) he's likely the son of King Maggot, frontman for Purge, one of the best of the early-80s punk bands. After confronting King, Leo signs on to roadie for the band during their reunion tour, expecting at some point to hit his dad up for Harvard tuition money.
What follows is, at heart, a fish out of water story as straitlaced Leo attempts to survive the world of a punk rock band. Still, the book ends up saying some important things about family, relationships, and identity, and it's one of the more music-savvy Young Adult novels I've read (right up there with Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park. A lot of books that strive for musical authenticity get the details wrong, but author Gordon Korman does a nice job of subtly whitewashing the band's backstage antics for a younger audience while getting the gist of the antics across.
The book won't change your life, but it will offer a pleasant diversion for the few hours it takes to read it.
Born to Rock doesn't really aspire to be anything more than lightweight, fast-paced entertainment, but I can respect that when it does it so well. Leo Caraway – Young Republican and future Harvard student – discovers that A) his scholarship is being revoked, and B) he's likely the son of King Maggot, frontman for Purge, one of the best of the early-80s punk bands. After confronting King, Leo signs on to roadie for the band during their reunion tour, expecting at some point to hit his dad up for Harvard tuition money.
What follows is, at heart, a fish out of water story as straitlaced Leo attempts to survive the world of a punk rock band. Still, the book ends up saying some important things about family, relationships, and identity, and it's one of the more music-savvy Young Adult novels I've read (right up there with Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park. A lot of books that strive for musical authenticity get the details wrong, but author Gordon Korman does a nice job of subtly whitewashing the band's backstage antics for a younger audience while getting the gist of the antics across.
The book won't change your life, but it will offer a pleasant diversion for the few hours it takes to read it.