Review: Coming of Age Worth Reading
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 26, 2012
I originally ran into Daron's Guitar Chronicles as a serial and started reading... and didn't stop until I fell over two hours past my bedtime. And then I woke up the next day and did it again until I got to the end. This is probably a good summary of the story's quality.But more extensively: this is a first-person narrative set in the '80s, told by a 19-year-old musician trying to make it in the rock scene. He's got a problem family, no money, and if that wasn't enough to deal with, he's also gay. In the '80s.I have to be honest... I'm kind of over coming-of-age stories. I may at one point be excited about them again, but for now I'm really tired of the pinhole perspective of self-involved teens. But Daron's Guitar is missing that "this universe is populated solely by teens" feeling. Tan fills Daron's world with adults at every stage in their life, from the grizzled music veterans, the failures and the tired agents to their daughters, Daron's schoolmates and the hopefuls in the music industry. Daron observes them all; sometimes he lacks the life experience to understand them, but we know that they have a life outside Daron's limited perspective and Tan paints that very well. This world feels real: like our world, like we could run into Daron today and this will all have had happened.Not only that, but the music details are just fabulous. This is someone who really knows her stuff. I actually laughed out loud when Daron made a reference to Jon Anderson when snarking about a former roommate who was trying to get weird/experimental. If that wasn't enough, every chapter title... is an '80s song. Not just a trip down nostalgia lane for those of us who lived through them, but an impromptu soundtrack and very clever.Finally, I'm really impressed by the portrayal of Daron's relationship difficulties (such as he can be said to have them, given the circumstances). His struggle between the typical teen hormonal highs and lows and his need to have a meaningful tie with someone... it's poignant and deftly evoked. Such a great loneliness, conveyed so powerfully and yet without preaching.This is incredibly skillful writing and a compelling story. I don't regret the lost sleep at all.