Title: alt.punk
Author: Lavinia Ludlow
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
URL: Casperian Books
Price: $12.50 (direct from publisher)
Other Information/warnings: Graphic sex, drugs and rock and roll.
Summary (from the publisher): We Need a Cleanup on Aisle Five. Hazel is a middle-class hypochondriac doing (over)time as a manager at Safeway, the only place that would hire her with an MBA from a state school. She hates her boyfriend, her family, and her life. Otis is a guiltless weirdo who still has action figures in his bed; a postindustrial Peter Pan who wakes up in the middle of the night crying from nightmares he can't remember. A punk rock void, he describes the world with the creative imagination of a child. Together, they are a disaster.
In alt.punk, Lavinia Ludlow explores the ragged edge of art, society, and sanity, viciously skewering the politics of rebellion. With a savage eye for detail, she unveils the layers of mythmaking that underlie class and ideology in the twenty-first century.
My Review: From the moment I first heard of Lavina Ludlow’s debut novel, alt.punk, I knew it would be right up my alley. Germaphobia, hard music, and a sexy, man-boy lead singer in a punk band. I was so looking forward to it that I ordered it on release day. But, like Ludlow’s lead character, Hazel, I got too wrapped up in the drama of a day-job to find time to read it. Now, almost 4 months after the book arrived at my home, I got a long weekend to do absolutely nothing but sit down and read this really fascinating book.
Now, a warning up front…you better have a strong stomach before you dive into Ludlow’s world. There’s drugs, bodily fluids, drugs, excrement, drugs, irresponsible sex and...drugs. Hey, it’s rock and roll after all. Now, that to me is a plus, but it may not be everyone’s cup of Clorox. If it is, you’ll find yourself treated to a brilliantly dark, biting satire not only of the punk scene, but also of that middle class that settles for less than its dreams and of those who, about to exit their twenties, act as if they are living in Logan’s Run (well, the movie version), where life past 30 simply doesn’t exist.
