Forgotten Work

A New York Times New & Noteworthy Book * 'Strange and affectionate, like Almost Famous penned by Shakespeare. A love letter to music in all its myriad iterations.'-Kirkus Reviews * 'This book has no business being as good as it is.'-Christian WimanIn the year 2063, on the edge of the Crater formerly known as Montreal, a middle-aged man and his ex s daughter search for a cult hero: the leader of a short-lived band named after a forgotten work of poetry and known to fans through a forgotten work of music criticism. In this exuberantly plotted verse novel, Guriel follows an obsessive cult-following through the twenty-first century. Some things change (there s metamorphic smart print for music mags; the Web is called the Zuck ). Some things don t (poetry readings are still, mostly, terrible). But the characters, including a robot butler who stands with Ishiguro s Stevens as one of the great literary domestics, are unforgettable.Splicing William Gibson with Roberto Bolano, Pale Fire with Thomas Pynchon, Forgotten Work is a time-tripping work of speculative fiction. It s a love story about fandom, an ode to music snobs, a satire on the human need to value the possible over the actual and a verse novel of Nabokovian virtuosity.