The Love Song of Jonny Valentine

by Teddy Wayne

Overview

For fans of A Visit from the Goon Squad and Joyce Carol Oates’s Blonde, a scathing and unputdownable 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 inside the relentless marketing machine, somewhere, 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. From the award-winning and critically acclaimed author of Kapitoil, this new novel is a literary masterpiece by one of the standout writers of his generation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781410459626
Publisher:	Gale Group
Publication date:	07/24/2013
Edition description:	Large Print
Pages:	528
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Teddy Wayne, the author of Kapitoil, is the winner of a 2011 Whiting Writers’ Award and a finalist for the Young Lions Fiction Award, PEN/Bingham Prize, and Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He writes regularly for The New Yorker, The New York Times, Vanity Fair, McSweeney’s, and elsewhere. He lives in New York.

Editorial Reviews

This first-person account of Jonny Valentine, a young pop star reminiscent of Justin Bieber, is warm, smart, charming, and, best of all, believable. Narrator Kirby Heyborne handles the story’s many characters with distinction. His portrayal of Jonny makes listeners feel like they're at his side throughout the concert tour. Jonny is wise beyond his 11 years and honest when he messes up or observes his mom looking "old and tired." Heyborne's voice softens when Jonny reads from his mother's computer as she sleeps and expresses exuberance when he plays a childhood tickle game. He also strikes the right tone when Jonny shares industry information or reads concert reviews. Audio is the perfect vehicle for this story. Listeners of all ages will enjoy this glimpse into a life most of us can only imagine. S.G.B. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

MARCH 2013 - AudioFile