The Ossians by Doug Johnstone
Thursday, 27 Mar 2008 18:34
Doug Johnstone's rocking The Ossians
Published by Penguin, out March 27th, paperback, number of pages here, £12.99.
In a nutshell...
Engaging, Vivid, Dark, Rhythmic, Loud
What's it all about?
Connor Alexander is the lead singer of the Ossians, a Scottish rock band named after the third century Gaelic poet. He's loud, gin-soaked, speed-fuelled and is living the rockstar life without being a rockstar. The rest of the band consists of his twin sister Kate, his girlfriend Hannah and best mate Danny. They, too, are coke-snorting, beer-swilling rockstar wannabes - each in their own way.
The band is on tour, and hoping to be snapped up by a major label following their final gig. However, once the alcohol begins to flow, the music gets cranked up, and Connor's dealer turns up with a bag of suspicious looking parcels to be delivered, things become interesting to say the very least.
Who's it by?
Doug Johnstone lives in Edinburgh with his wife and son. He has a PhD in experimental nuclear physics and before he became a writer used to design airborne radars. His band, Northern Alliance, has released four albums to critical acclaim. His first novel - Tombstoning - was published in 2006.
As an example...
"Connor was precariously pitched between the best part of a bottle of gin he'd lifted from his folks' house, a couple of anonymous pills and some furious weed smoking, and kept his provocative banter more or less in check."
Likelihood of becoming a Hollywood blockbuster
More likely to get a 22:00 slot on Channel 4 (probably by the people who write Skins) than make it into cinemas. Not Trainspotting or Spinal Tap, but would make a better screenplay than some offerings out there at the moment.
What the others say
"A rock odyssey so exhilaratingly authentic, you can hear the chords and smell the vomit." - Christopher Brookmyre
"A romantic, drug-fuelled, soul-searching, less-than-glamorous adventure round the coastline of Scotland." - Kenny Anderson, King Creosote
So is it any good?
It took me a while to get into the book, it felt a little bit too much like something written with the hope of turning it into a TV show. I was prepared for gritty realism, but it just felt a little bit too... shiny, with initial plot twists and turns standing out a mile away. But once you get into the mind of Connor and you begin to see the world through his gin-soaked eyes, it becomes all the more engaging.
Moments of confusion on his part become confusing for you too, remembering faces from previous gigs in different chapters becomes as baffling for the reader as Connor's drug-addled mind must make it for him. Bewilderment and uncertainty are major parts of the book and by the end you feel as though you've been sat with the Ossians; drinking smoking and trying to live the rock and roll dream as much as you can, while travelling round the coast of Scotland in a van.
8/10
John Brunskill
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