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How The Mistakes Were Made: A Novel (2011)

by Tyler Mcmahon(Favorite Author)

3.82 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0312658540 (ISBN13: 9780312658540)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

St. Martin's Griffin

review 1: As a music afficianado, I was pleased to receive this book. It follows a band that is signed to an indie label during Seattle's infamous grunge scene after which they immediately begin touring and ultimately break up. The female drummer, Laura, who was also a member of the revered 80's hardcore punk band SCC, is blamed by the world for the bands demise. The story is told after the fact from Laura's point of view.The chapters alternate between first person narrative as Laura tells "how the mistakes were made" and second person narrative exploring the events that lead to the creation and destruction of Laura's first punk band. The second person narrative did not work well and seemed jarring. While the concept was a good one, it would have worked better if Laura had narrated ... morethe "flash back" chapters in first person as well.The timeline used by the author for the rise and fall of the band was a bit unrealistic. Not many bands are signed after their first gig, go on to a four city tour immediately afterward and then, right after returning from the tiny four city tour, are sent to tour in Europe. The main character Laura also was stereotypical, cliche, and a bit off putting. For someone who wants to "set the record straight", she does not rouse much sympathy. Overall, all of the characters, from the groupies to the band members, were cliche. The sound of the band is never fully realized in the book. I had a hard time relating the "grunge" sound of The Mistakes with all of the talk of the hardcore punk scene. The punk seems to stand out in my mind much more than the grunge sound that The Mistakes were supposedly playing.This is a book I could have easily hid under the sofa seat and forgot about. It would have worked better as a B-list indie flick.
review 2: I liked parts of this book. McMahon keeps pretty strongly to Laura's voice, even when he's using second person. Her parents seemed realistic, and Nathan's also.I just couldn't warm up to every other chapter being a flashback in present tense and second person POV. The other chapters were past tense and first person POV. My guess is that half the flashbacks could be cut and you wouldn't lose anything terribly important about her past. By the end of the book, I decided I just couldn't like Laura. She never caught on that Nathan felt as close to Sean as she did to Anthony. She complained about having "given everything" to ungrateful fans, but went ahead making music and touring with the Mistakes until internal band issues made her want to leave. Frankly she came off as kind of whiny. She did a noble thing toward the end and people who really make a decision like that must find it very hard. Once the Mistakes started getting popular, they didn't have many obstacles on their way to the top. Their career seemed too easy. Yes, Sean had significant issues, but those didn't stop the band's upward momentum. I'm a writer so I may be more nitpicky than others. less

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