Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Apr 2016
400 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
"Justin Tussing rocks the rock novel. Vexation Lullaby is pure raw pleasure from start to finish." - Lily King, author of Euphoria
Peter Silver is a young doctor treading water in the wake of a breakup - his ex-girlfriend called him a "mama's boy" and his best friend considers him a "homebody," a squanderer of adventure. But when he receives an unexpected request for a house call, he obliges, only to discover that his new patient is aging, chameleonic rock star Jimmy Cross. Soon Peter is compelled to join the mysteriously ailing celebrity, his band, and his entourage, on the road. The so-called "first physician embedded in a rock tour," Peter is thrust into a way of life that embraces disorder and risk rather than order and discipline.
Trailing the band at every tour stop is Arthur Pennyman, Cross's number-one fan. Pennyman has not missed a performance in twenty years, sacrificing his family and job to chronicle every show on his website. Cross insists that "being a fan is how we teach ourselves to love," and, in the end, Pennyman does learn. And when he hears a mythic, as-yet-unperformed song he starts to piece together the puzzle of Peter's role in Cross's past.
"Starred Review. Tussing uses startling and memorable details to punctuate scenes with a cinematic flourish, and he is particularly adept at using dialogue to reveal how much we actually aren't saying to each other. And the ending is dazzling." - Publishers Weekly
"An offbeat novel that's savvy about both music and emotional insecurity." - Kirkus
"Justin Tussing rocks the rock novel. Vexation Lullaby is a major literary stunner and pure raw pleasure from start to finish." - Lily King, author of Euphoria
"Rock and roll can save your life in this electric novel, and it does - just not in any way you'd expect. Vital as a bass line, soaring as a guitar riff, Vexation Lullaby will have you holding up your lighter for more." - Stacey D'Erasmo, author of Wonderland
"Vexation Lullaby is as brilliant, wry, and irresistible as the enigmatic musical genius at its ever-shifting center." - Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, author of Ms. Hempel Chronicles and Madeleine is Sleeping
"A mesmerizing book - terrifically fast, funny, and snapping with original observation on every page... The writing is so good in this novel you want to read it aloud for Tussing's music."- Salvatore Scibona, author of the National Book Award Finalist, The End
This information about Vexation Lullaby was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Justin Tussing is the author of the Ken Kesey Award-winning novel The Best People in the World, and his short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Triquarterly, and A Public Space, among other periodicals. He is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and currently directs the University of Southern Maine's Low-Residency MFA Program in Portland, Maine.
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