Baroque-A-Nova
Kevin Chong
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Baroque-A-Nova

Kevin Chong
Plume
Paperback
225 pages
January 2003
rated 2 1/2 of 5 possible stars

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Baroque-A-Nova is a hard book to review. It has an interesting setup, raises provocative questions about fame, activism and relationships, and, yet I failed to really care about a single character.

The novel, author Kevin Chong’s first, centers around Saul, a typically jaded, self-absorbed teenager whose separated parents once made up the celebrated folk duo The St. Pierres. When the story opens, The St. Pierres are experiencing a resurgence of fame when a band with the great name of Urethra Franklin samples the folk band’s greatest hit. Saul’s father, the laconic, booze-loving Ian St. Pierre, is living with two young women who can’t technically be called "groupies" because Ian is no longer part of a group. Saul lives with his stepmother, Jana, a reasonable sort who met Ian while traveling with The St. Pierres as a teen.

This bizarre life is made even more peculiar when Saul’s long-absent mother, the reclusive Helena St. Pierre, killed herself. Her death further inflames The St. Pierres renaissance and draws a crowd of reporters to town. Meanwhile, certain factions start to blame the notably creepy Ian. There are also sub-plots about Saul’s sometime girlfriend, Rose, and a book that Saul’s school is attempting to ban.

With all this going on, it’s understandable that Chong wouldn’t have time to develop the characters. The most fleshed-out person in the novel is Saul, who is far too self-absorbed and pretentious to be truly engaging. He’s cruel to his girlfriend, and the characters he claims to have affection for – Jana, Ian and Marina, one of the women living with his father – don’t fare much better. As for the rest of the characters, they’re sketches at best. Ian is constantly making long, often alcohol-fueled speeches, so we know what a pompous jerk he is, but there’s no real insight into his actions. And hints that he actually was involved with Helena’s death surface and disappear inexplicably.

Chong is at least ambitious, and he can be funny, especially with detailing the mob mentality that celebrity often inspires, and in the often saccharine lyrics of The St. Pierres’ ditties. But there’s no real anchor in his story. The whole thing just sort of drifts aimlessly, giving the reader no true reason to care what happens to anyone.



© 2003 by Amanda Cuda for Curled Up With a Good Book


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