Doug Cowie, Owen Noone and the Marauder

 

An amiable book, in many senses.  Tested by water and fire, Owen and his new just out of college friend form a band based on the Lomax songbook, and in a road trip/buddie movie/rock novel, travel coast to coast in Marauder's first-person memoir of a late friendship.

Good on lots of counts; it's understated, and the things it states seem pretty truthful, not least Marauder's difficulty in finding the right things to say or how to feel what he's feeling; it makes you want to see Owen Noone and the Marauder live; and the trajectory of fame, and expected bottom-of-bin status, is nicely done, too.  Great final sentence, something which defeats most novelists, and scoops the award for best use of babushka doll metaphor in literary history.