AUDIOBOOK
About
For fans of A Visit from the Goon Squad and Joyce Carol Oates' Blonde, here is a scathing and enthralling new novel about America's monstrous obsession with fame from the winner of a 2011 Whiting Writers' Award.
Megastar Jonny Valentine, eleven-year-old icon of bubblegum pop, knows that the fans don't love him for who he is. His image, his voice, and even his hairdo have been packaged-by his LA label and by his hard-partying manager-mother-into bite-size pieces for easy digestion, sliding down the gullet of mass culture, the biggest appeal to the widest demographic. But somewhere inside the relentless marketing machine is still a little boy, devoted to his mother and determined to find his absent father among the countless, faceless fans-isn't there?
A twisted, brilliant, and viciously funny coming-of-age story set inside corporate arenas and luxury hotel suites, Teddy Wayne's The Love Song of Jonny Valentine explores with devastating clarity the underbelly of fame in twenty-first-century America's celebrity culture, told through the eyes of one of the most unforgettable child narrators since Holden Caulfield. This novel is a literary masterpiece from the award-winning and critically acclaimed author of Kapitoil-one of the standout writers of his generation.
"In Jonny Valentine, Teddy Wayne has created a
vivid and achingly authentic portrait of an adolescent prodigy trying to make
sense of a world from which he's been kept mostly separate. Wry, witty, and
genuinely moving, this is a novel that delves into the private longings of a
public figure, exposing the sometimes dark and often ridiculous inner workings
of a life in show business. The Love Song of Jonny Valentine is
absorbing and beautifully written-and also a ton of fun to read."
"This is ultimately a satire with a heart, capturing the sadness, longing, and confusion beneath the celebrity veneer as Johnny tries to make sense of the confusing adult world around him and be loved in a way that has nothing to do with star-struck fans. A top-of-the-charts tale."
"Deft and delightful…touching (and unexpectedly suspenseful)…A sweeter, softer-edged satire of the pop-culture carnival." "Heartbreakingly convincing."
"The Love Song of Jonny Valentine is a showstopper."
"I'd wanted to go slowly and read The
Love Song of Jonny Valentine over the course of a week or two, but
once Jonny's voice got into my head, I was hooked and kept picking it back up,
and so I ended up on the last page, reading that final, amazing sentence, at
like three in the morning. This novel is a serious accomplishment…America as we
know it, with laughs on every page, but also a book that doesn't take one cheap
shot…And at the swirling core, you have an eleven-year-old boy trapped by his
fame and trying to figure out how to move through the world, and who wants
nothing more than to find his father. This is a book with a runaway narrative
engine, tremendous ambitions, and an even bigger heart. I do not lie when I
tell you: Teddy Wayne is as good a young writer as we have."
"What is most searing about Teddy Wayne's
splendid new novel is not his trenchant social criticism, nor the itchy,
unsettling way that he makes tragedy entertaining, but that in the bubble of
celebrity which comprises little Jonny Valentine's whole world, at times the
only differences between the savvy, drug-taking, lonely adults and the savvy,
drug-taking, lonely kid himself are his outsized talent, and their avarice plus
wrinkles."
"A moving, entertaining novel that is both
poignant and pointed-a sweet, sad skewering of the celebrity industry…To create
out of that entitled adolescent voice a being of true longing and depth, and
then to make him such a devastating weapon of cultural criticism-these are
feats of unlikely virtuosity, like covering Jimi Hendrix on a ukulele."
"A buoyant, smart, searing portrai
Megastar Jonny Valentine, eleven-year-old icon of bubblegum pop, knows that the fans don't love him for who he is. His image, his voice, and even his hairdo have been packaged-by his LA label and by his hard-partying manager-mother-into bite-size pieces for easy digestion, sliding down the gullet of mass culture, the biggest appeal to the widest demographic. But somewhere inside the relentless marketing machine is still a little boy, devoted to his mother and determined to find his absent father among the countless, faceless fans-isn't there?
A twisted, brilliant, and viciously funny coming-of-age story set inside corporate arenas and luxury hotel suites, Teddy Wayne's The Love Song of Jonny Valentine explores with devastating clarity the underbelly of fame in twenty-first-century America's celebrity culture, told through the eyes of one of the most unforgettable child narrators since Holden Caulfield. This novel is a literary masterpiece from the award-winning and critically acclaimed author of Kapitoil-one of the standout writers of his generation.
"In Jonny Valentine, Teddy Wayne has created a
vivid and achingly authentic portrait of an adolescent prodigy trying to make
sense of a world from which he's been kept mostly separate. Wry, witty, and
genuinely moving, this is a novel that delves into the private longings of a
public figure, exposing the sometimes dark and often ridiculous inner workings
of a life in show business. The Love Song of Jonny Valentine is
absorbing and beautifully written-and also a ton of fun to read."
"This is ultimately a satire with a heart, capturing the sadness, longing, and confusion beneath the celebrity veneer as Johnny tries to make sense of the confusing adult world around him and be loved in a way that has nothing to do with star-struck fans. A top-of-the-charts tale."
"Deft and delightful…touching (and unexpectedly suspenseful)…A sweeter, softer-edged satire of the pop-culture carnival." "Heartbreakingly convincing."
"The Love Song of Jonny Valentine is a showstopper."
"I'd wanted to go slowly and read The
Love Song of Jonny Valentine over the course of a week or two, but
once Jonny's voice got into my head, I was hooked and kept picking it back up,
and so I ended up on the last page, reading that final, amazing sentence, at
like three in the morning. This novel is a serious accomplishment…America as we
know it, with laughs on every page, but also a book that doesn't take one cheap
shot…And at the swirling core, you have an eleven-year-old boy trapped by his
fame and trying to figure out how to move through the world, and who wants
nothing more than to find his father. This is a book with a runaway narrative
engine, tremendous ambitions, and an even bigger heart. I do not lie when I
tell you: Teddy Wayne is as good a young writer as we have."
"What is most searing about Teddy Wayne's
splendid new novel is not his trenchant social criticism, nor the itchy,
unsettling way that he makes tragedy entertaining, but that in the bubble of
celebrity which comprises little Jonny Valentine's whole world, at times the
only differences between the savvy, drug-taking, lonely adults and the savvy,
drug-taking, lonely kid himself are his outsized talent, and their avarice plus
wrinkles."
"A moving, entertaining novel that is both
poignant and pointed-a sweet, sad skewering of the celebrity industry…To create
out of that entitled adolescent voice a being of true longing and depth, and
then to make him such a devastating weapon of cultural criticism-these are
feats of unlikely virtuosity, like covering Jimi Hendrix on a ukulele."
"A buoyant, smart, searing portrai