How Soon Is Never?

July 21, 2003
A Jewish boy from Long Island parlays his New Wave rock music fandom into a quest for love in Spitz's sweet, winning debut, a coming-of-age novel–cum–quirky romantic comedy. Joe Green, Spin
writer Spitz's alter ego, is a jaded, jittery and perpetually hungover music critic for Headphones
magazine. He's "rocking out and getting high and living irresponsibly" in New York City—all part of the job description of working for a major rock and roll magazine—but he's beginning to worry he looks 40 in daylight, though he's only 30. The well-crafted first half of the novel flashes back to Green's experiences growing up as an alienated, latch-key kid on Long Island in the '70s and '80s who finds redemption in bands like the Clash, Depeche Mode, Devo and the Smiths. Spitz shifts gears when Green meets Miki, a comely co-worker who's equally frustrated with her empty, fast-lane rock and roll life. Matters improve when a new editor gives them the go-ahead for a landmark story: the two team up to try to reunite their beloved band, the Smiths. The scenes in which Miki and Green track down Morrissey and his mates work as the backdrop for the self-deprecating, would-be lovers' efforts to resist their attraction to each other. An engagingly acerbic style freshens the familiar material, and Spitz works hard not to run the Smiths conceit into the ground. The result is a first novel that skirts the usual clichés of rock tales and growing-up sagas. (Sept.)Forecast:Readers who enjoyed Nick Hornby's
High Fidelity may be attracted by the story, though it has a narrower, Gen-X appeal.

August 1, 2003
There has been a resurgence of interest in the pop music that exploded out of working-class Manchester, England, in the early 1980s. First there was the exuberant film " 24-"Hour Party People, a paean to the band Joy Division, and now comes this first novel-" cum"-homage to the Smiths. Dissipated music journalist Joe Green longs to reclaim the purity of his young rock 'n' roll soul. He fondly recalls his fellow high-school outcasts and their unquenchable enthusiasm for local alternative rock station WLIR, which led them to their greatest discovery: the angst-ridden music of the Smiths, whose songs made loneliness, sadness, and outrage seem cool. Although the band has long since broken up, Joe and fellow " Headphones "magazine employee Miki become obsessed with the idea of reuniting the band. They pitch the idea to their editor and are soon on their way to England, where they meet face-to-face with their personal rock gods while rediscovering their love for the music of their youth. An infectiously enthusiastic ode to rock 'n' roll.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)