5+ stars for Enfant Terrible: Opening Acts by Gwydhar Gebien #litfic #literaryfiction #bookreview
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  • N. N. Light
    • Nov 27, 2023
    • 3 min read

5+ stars for Enfant Terrible: Opening Acts by Gwydhar Gebien #litfic #literaryfiction #bookreview



Title: Enfant Terrible: Opening Acts

Author: Gwydhar Gebien

Genre: Literary Fiction

 

Book Blurb: 

 

Damen Warner is the front man for a metalcore band who has hit the skids. Hard. His record label dropped him, his manager has gone missing and now his agent won’t return his calls. He is broke and homeless, and his career is deader than rock and roll.

And worse—he’s thirty.

In a last-ditch effort to revive his career, Damen returns to Chicago on the promise of playing Lollapalooza and his life quickly spirals into a vortex of sex, drugs, rock and roll, colorful language, explicit content and poor taste.

Antagonizing everyone in his path, Damen struggles to reinvent himself and to come to terms with his estranged family as he plummets face first to rock bottom.

Subversive, sardonic, brilliantly painted and deeply fascinating—Damen’s story is "fun" in the way carnival rides are fun: erratic, brightly colored and constructed by itinerants of negotiable character.

 

My Review: 

 

Hitting rock bottom is one thing Damen can’t cope with but one random phone call changes everything. Enfant Terrible: Opening Acts is not for the faint of heart. If you like your humor dirty, irreverent, and offensive, this book is perfect for you. Shock factor? Heck ya! Drugs, sex, and rock n roll? You bet. This story is about the downfall and comeback at any price of a front man of a metalcore band. Think Monty Python meets Kerrang!. The descriptive narration is immersive. The characters reek in vulnerability while the world-building is brilliant.

 

Let’s start with the world-building. You may be thinking to yourself how a literary fiction can have world-building. It’s quite simple. When you’re talking about a rockstar’s life, the author must have intricate world-building or else the story will fall flat. This author takes on the metalhead world of rock n roll and infuses this book with tidbits of the music scene. From the downfall of a group to the behind the scenes of a big music festival, everything is detailed. A total escapism for a rabid music fan, like me.

 

The descriptive narration is detailed just like the world-building. The narration is gritty, crass, and hilarious. It connects the reader to the main character, Damen. It’s what the author uses to hook the reader and it’s effective. I hadn’t read more than a first three pages before this book’s claws were buried deep in my chest. That, my friends, is hard to accomplish.

 

A brilliant expose on the downfall of rockstars and I couldn’t read fast enough. I can’t wait for the next book.

 

My Rating: 5+ stars

 

Buy it Now:   

 

Grab your e-copy on sale for 99 cents!

 

 

 

 

 

Author Biography:

 

GWYDHAR GEBIEN (Pronounced Gwed-ra Gay-bin)Gwydhar Gebien is a writer, an artist and a filmmaker; originally from Chicago now transplanted in Los Angeles in pursuit of a career in film production. She is still pretty sure her subversive sense of humor would do well in a television writers' room.With a background in theatre from Illinois Wesleyan University and a master's degree in film production from University of Southern California she is putting her training to good use at Warner Brothers Animation on adult content that she is not currently at liberty to discuss.An eldritch creature of introverted disposition, Gwydhar, lives a quiet life in a pink house with her husband and a cat and a minivan, but can occasionally be coaxed out into the open with music, snacks, or a single-malt whisky.

 

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Reviewed by: Nancy

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