27. Sway by Zachary Lazar

Category: 50 Books

27. Sway by Zachary Lazar

I was intrigued by the cover, I know! I’m ALWAYS suckered in by covers, right? But this book was in the fiction section and had The Rolling Stone on the cover. I had to pick up and see what it was about. Here’s the description from goodreads:

Three dramatic and emblematic stories intertwine in Zachary Lazar’s extraordinary new novel, SWAY–the early days of the Rolling Stones, including the romantic triangle of Brian Jones, Anita Pallenberg, and Keith Richards; the life of avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger; and the community of Charles Manson and his followers. Lazar illuminates an hour in American history when rapture found its roots in idolatrous figures and led to unprovoked and inexplicable violence. Connecting all the stories in this novel is Bobby Beausoleil, a beautiful California boy who appeared in an Anger film and eventually joined the Manson “family.” With great artistry, Lazar weaves scenes from these real lives together into a true but heightened reality, making superstars human, giving demons reality, and restoring mythic events to the scale of daily life.

The jacket cover had a much better desciption.

I really wanted to like this book. Honest. I mean, the Rolling Stones, Manson Family, 1960s… what’s not to like? But the whole time I was reading it I kept thinking about how the book, while you can tell the author did tons of research, was still just fiction. And not only that, but if you think about it it’s fanfiction. Rolling Stones/Manson family fanfiction? Really?

And all the parts (of which were many. most, even.) with Kenneth Anger made me really hate the book. I didn’t like him. I dunno if that’s what the author was going for or not, but he just seemed like a parasite. And all the homosexual stuff was just way too often. I mean, “we get it, he wanted to suck off all the guys. That’s great. Can we move on? Because I’m moving on.” Is all I’m saying.

The idea behind the story is fascinating, I think, but the book just doesn’t work. It’s too slow, or too gay, or too forcing with the occult hooha all the damn time. And the ending was disappointing all, “wow. that was intense. but we lived through it and now we’re all old and not even friends anymore. oh well.”

So if you see this book around, read the jacket cover cos you’ll be all, “hmm. that’s interesting.” but then put the book down and walk away.

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