A tour de force that reads so well that after a while the reader completely forgets he is dealig not with a human being but with a Gregor Samsa metamorphosed into a John Coltrane double. The incredible adventures of the horn-blowing bear left me mesmerized. The climactic gigs must be amon the best at capturing that sort of artistic creation in fiction. Josef Skvorecky
The hero of this sensational first novel is an alto-sax virtuoso trying to evolve a personal style out of Coltrane and Rollins. He also happens to be a walking, talking, Blake-and-Shakespeare-quoting bear whos musical, spiritual, and romantic adventures add up to perhaps the best novel, ursine or human, ever written about jazz.
The hero of this sensational first novel is an alto-sax virtuoso trying to evolve a personal style out of Coltrane and Rollins. He also happens to be a walking, talking, Blake-and-Shakespeare-quoting bear whos musical, spiritual, and romantic adventures add up to perhaps the best novel, ursine or human, ever written about jazz.
Winner of the PEN/Faulkner award. One of the LA Times Book Review's 100 Best Books of 1997.
The hero of this sensational first novel is a n alto-sax virtuoso trying to evolve a personal style out of Coltrane and Rollins. He also happens to be a walking, talking, Blake- and Shakespeare-quoting bear whose musical, spiritual, and romantic adventures add up to perhaps the best novel, ursine or human, ever written about jazz.
The hero of this sensational first novel is a n alto-sax virtuoso trying to evolve a personal style out of Coltrane and Rollins. He also happens to be a walking, talking, Blake- and Shakespeare-quoting bear whose musical, spiritual, and romantic adventures add up to perhaps the best novel, ursine or human, ever written about jazz.
