Question: What do you get when you cross a ‘Home Town Boy Made Good’ novel with a ‘Road Trip’ novel?

Answer: Owen Noone and the Marauder.

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The Marauder narrates. His real name remains a mystery for the majority of the novel but the reason for this is unclear. He is a luckless poet and English major, on a scholarship at Bradley University in Illinois. His parents are proud of his academic achievements, being the first of his kind in their family. He is also a DJ for a college music show, playing alternative music to a limited audience. The Marauder’s interest in music takes him to a student bar open-mic night and it is here that he first encounters the charismatic and tuneless Owen, who holds the audience’s attention with a howling screaming rendition of the Guns and Roses’ song ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’. The novel immediately launches into Owen Noone and the Marauder’s growing relationship and subsequent rise to stardom.

Owen, a baseball player, who also has family money, buys them both guitars and persuades the Marauder to leave his chosen path and form a band. The placid narrator finds and then steals ‘The Penguin Book of American Folk Songs’ by Alan Lomax from the library and even though Owen appears to be tone deaf, they both use the book to learn to play guitar and sing the songs. Much to M’s parent’s bitter disappointment the two hit the road.

They are lucky enough to land a gig in the first bar they try and find a boarding house that they paint in return for free lodgings. Their pseudopunk folk sound is so off the wall that the discerning youth in the US fall for the band and demand more. They continue to learn songs from the Lomax book and maintain their run of lucky breaks.

Their concerts always begin with the same song. They run through the same line-up and end on their what is to become their signature ‘Yankie Doodle.’ This ending is wisely adapted for the Southern audience, when they add a few bars of ‘Dixie’. This line up is described in great detail at each concert again and again.

Their trips round the USA are interspersed with significant incidents; Owen meets girl and marries; they get bored with one town and move to another; their truck breaks down, they buy another; their house is flooded when they are at a rock festival, they move. With each new incident The Marauder puts up some resistance to the plan, shows a fear of the change, complains and then follows Owen’s plan. These are typical traits in the Marauder’s character, but the history behind this reticence is never revealed.

The pair move to New York and land a gig supporting M’s favourite band. They are offered a record deal (another lucky break), but don’t hang around long enough to sign the contract. Now joined by Anna, Owen’s girl friend, the trio head west in search of Owen’s estranged father who is running for senate in California and is opposed to the music and film industry; the very thing Owen is successful in. This episode provides the only real conflict in the novel and many of the bands subsequent decisions are driven by the father-son relationship. True to his character the Marauder falls in line.

The couple lead a charmed existence with each new date leading to greater success. The lost record contract catches up with them, but at no time are they in danger of being duped and even when they move to a larger label they retain the upper hand. All this success is managed with no business acumen, talent or apparent brains. The two bumble through each incident relying on luck. Near the end of the novel things begin to fall apart, but at last the reader discovers the Marauder’s real name, while pondering what the last 300 pages were about.

The book is written in a straight-line sequence. The language is easy to read, but the plot and characters are weak with no real depth to any of their actions, most notably the main players. It is impossible to either like or dislike them; Owen looks promising at in the beginning of the story but the charisma that is needed for his apparent success, never makes it’s way onto the page. The Marauder is dull, with no real substance.

The novel may appeal to individuals who wonder what life is like on the road, but I doubt whether this novel portrays an accurate picture. There are no drugs, little sex and no Sharon Osborne. Readers who prefer to be stimulated by their reading material should leave this book on the shelf.

Moira McPartlin currently lives in Glasgow , but travels extensively with work. She started writing three years ago to relieve the boredom of airport lounges. She enjoys writing short stories and her passion for mountaineering and travel provides plenty of material for non fiction articles. Moira has yet to have any work published, but lives in hope. She is currently working on her first novel.

© 2004 Laura Hird All rights reserved.