Shriver Lionel. Checker and the Derailleurs

From Publishers Weekly:Checker Secretti, musical and philosophical guru as well as drummer for the Derailleurs, a band in Queens, N.Y., faces the goading and intrigues of a rival drummer. Meanwhile, Checker is smitten with Syria Paramus, a glassblower. PW found Checker to be "a boy so radiant that his creator has fallen in love with him. And so has the reader."From Library Journal:Shriver's second novel, about a teenage rock band in Astoria, New York, is at its best funny, clever, and touching. She uses a few interesting narrative techniques and peppers dialogue and exposition with quotations from and references to middle-of-the-road rock. Her own lyrics are terrific: "Turn a profit on all that ennui." But Checker Secretti, meant to embody mainstream rock, also represents the book's shortcomings. Although the reader is encouraged to see him as a fascinating enigma, Secretti no longer seems complex after some of his secrets are revealed. In an epilogue the rockers are older and "will learn about satisfaction," but this would entail betraying the message of rock and roll. Still, recommended.