I'd had a recommendation for a different Martin Millar book a couple of years ago but, like you do (or don't in this case), hadn't gotten around to picking it up. Remembering the author's name though I snagged this one when I saw it a short while ago and thought I'd give it a try and you can't really go wrong with Led Zeppelin can you?

This book has the narrator reminiscing about the time that the greatest rock band ever went to play a gig in Glasgow in 1972. He was 15 at the time (well, more or less) so this was a momentous occasion for him and his friends. His best friend Greg, Suzy, the unrequited love of both their lives who was the girlfriend of Zed who both he and Greg idolised and was regarded as the hippest guy in school and Cherry who was pretty much regarded as a hanger-on by everyone else. They'd all managed to get tickets for the gig but tensions within the group may cause some fallout before it happens. Can they survive intact and who will end up with who by the time it's all over?

The story, told by the narrator to a friend when he'd past 40, details the events leading up to the concert, the gig itself and the immediate aftermath. It evokes the style of some of the Nick Hornby books I've read but perhaps with a younger protagonist as focus for the story. It captures the angst and drama of that time of your life almost perfectly. Told in short chapters "so even with a short attention span, you'll be able to read it easily" and subjected to the nice and big stage, replacing any adjectives deemed too large with words like nice and big, this is an easy book to read and the temptation to just carry on a bit longer is always there. So is it any good? Let's just say it's nice and not very big and you don't even have to be a Led Zep fan to appreciate what it has to offer. ( )

Once again Martin Millar has sufficiently entertained me. Millar has taken me back to those awkward teenage days where "you love her and she loves him and he loves somebody else-- you just can't win*," and to see Led Zeppelin play in Glasgow, Scotland 1972. Okay, I never actually got a chance to see Zeppelin, but reading a book about the days leading up to a Zeppelin concert, being at the concert, and then the aftermath reminded me of going to one of my first concerts (Black Sabbath -- Madison Square Garden (MSG)-- 1980) and when the seats were destroyed at MSG for the 1982 Judas Priest concert. Fun times! Enough about me, and back to "Suzy, Led Zeppelin and Me." This book is a fun and quick read. 40 year old protagonist (Millar) recounts his love for Suzy, his D&D playing and his love for Suzy with his best friend Greg, his admiration for the coolest dude-- Zed, and his ambivalent feelings toward Cherry-- the geeky girl nobody likes (except for Zed), and of course, his favorite all time band the great Led Zeppelin.

*quote from the J. Geils Band ( )

Entertaining and funny about Zeppelin concert in Glasgow in the 1970s. The novel is full of the pain and anguish of being a teenage - memories! ( )

Nice story of teen life in 1972. Rings true. ( )

No promises or warnings about spoilers. I'm a guy who doesn't like to read the front cover of a book before jumping in, so I have to figure if you're reading a review, then you don't mind a little info about the contents of the narrative.

I just read Martin Millar's book Suzy, Led Zeppelin, and Me. My previous experiences with Millar's work are limited, since I don't live in Britain. Only a few of his books have made thier way across the pond. I have a friend who forced us to buy The Good Fairies of New York. (She seriously forced us. She put my wife in a half-nelson in the middle of Border's and wouldn't let go until it was in our possesion. It was kind of embarassing since she's half my size.) I'm glad we own it because I really enjoyed it. Since then, I've seen Lonely Werewolf Girl in stores but didn't buy it when I had the chance, and I regret it. Although I must admit a little trepidation at the prospect that maybe his other books aren't as good as Fairies was, since his books are hard to come by. Still, I nabbed the copy of Suzy as soon as I saw it.

I wasn't worried after reading the first chapter. Millar tells his coming of age story like a British Kurt Vonnegut with ADD. His tale is about how Led Zeppelin came to Glaskow when he was almost 15, and the events that surrounded the concert. He is telling it to his friend Manx who is suffering from post-partum depression and helping him judge a literary contest. Martin Millar, in the two books of his that I've read, manages to do two things incredibly well. The first thing is tell stories about music that make me want to start buying CDs. The second is that he manages to create characters who I completely loathe and want bad things to happen to, and then make me feel bad for them when things do, and be happy when things go well again. That isn't to say that Suzy ends like a fairy tale, it didn't. But there were times when I wanted to fly to England and punch Martin in the face for being a loser. But by the end I'm a fan.

I won't have the same fear when I see a copy of Lonely Werewolf Girl or any of his other books that may someday make thier way to my neck of the woods (small town Indiana, always a haven for the literary). There are some grammatical errors and editorial mistakes that frustrated me while I was reading but a lot of books have those these days. But his style is deceptively simple. He tells you he's giving you a Pinto, but when you look under the tarp you find a Lamborgini.

Once more: I curse Britain for producing wonderful fiction. ( )