The Last Mad Surge of Youth [Paperback]

The Last Mad Surge of Youth is a novel set in the world of the music industry, a wonderfully-imagined portrayal of the rise and fall of a pop band; from the youthful excitement and passion of a group of principled teenagers with roughly-recorded demo tapes with hand-made covers, right through to the alcohol-induced self-destruction we've seen in real life once or twice before with overblown pop stars and film stars alike.

The setting may be familiar, and Hodkinson accurately dissects recognisable scenes from the music industry, but this novel is far from being a collection of clichéd rock scenarios, since what really binds the novel together is the story of friends John Barrett and Dave Carey. The passion, the idealism, the excitement as the first band is formed; the going of separate ways as Carey realises that a life spent in journalism would feel less fraudulent; the rise to success and alcohol-induced burn-out of Barrett; and the gradual coming-together of the two again, where an old secret is cleverly and unexpectedly revealed.

Anyone who's been there and done that will find the descriptions of the early years - the demo tapes, the gigs, the sheer excitement of coming together with like-minded people and creating a sound which feels, to those people at least, greater than the sum of its parts - so accurate it will set the reader's heart a-flutter.

While Hodkinson's understanding of the music industry makes such scenarios an enjoyable read, it is the author's understanding of people, of relationships which really makes this novel so enthralling. Hodkinson has an exceptionally honest way of writing about relationships and emotions, but is effortless about it, letting his wonderfully familiar images sneak in behind your eyes and seep straight into your soul.

His honesty makes the text all the more powerful and touching; the reader is drawn right in to the mind of the characters... then again, just when you think things might be getting a little too serious and introspective, Hodkinson has a talent for delivering a killer line which has you laughing out loud when you least expect it.

The author also has a rare talent for binding up the most vivid descriptions of life, of landscapes, of people and relationships into the smallest packages - where lesser writers may labour for half a page, Hodkinson has it nailed in a sentence or two, the impact all the greater for this.

The structure of The Last Mad Surge of Youth is key to its success too. Dispensing with chapters, Hodkinson lays out a series of scenes, short snatches of life which intrigue and draw the reader in to the characters and story. Page by page, characters are cleverly jigsawed into life until we are left with rich pictures, real people, not mere stereotypical rock stars and journos. So clear are the pictures Hodkinson paints, this novel would translate to screen very successfully.

This continuous string of brief scenes is addictive too, the sections are short enough to tempt you into 'Oh go on then, just one more...' I was late for work on more than one occasion and had a couple of episodes of finding the clock reading three in the morning when I should have been in bed by twelve.

The structure is at its most effective when we leap from past to present and back again. Simultaneously observing The Rise and The Fall of Barrett makes his unstoppable self-destruction all the more poignant; on one page we have the hope, the excitement of the young band breaking through, but these scenes are dripping with dramatic irony since, like in a Greek tragedy, we already know what's in store for these boys, twenty years down the line. Barrett in particular is a most cleverly-crafted character, despicable yet somehow vulnerable, by the end of the novel the reader is no nearer knowing whether to love or hate him.

Beautifully written, heart-warming and -breaking in equal measure, The Last Mad Surge of Youth is an enthralling and moving read. Get yourself a copy immediately. (And if your boss gives you a hard time for being late for work, get them to read it too, and they'll soon understand)

Yes, the story-of-a- band thing has been done before - but not as well as this. It traces the journey from over-earnest beginnings in the ideologically- driven Group Hex to stardom with the Killing Stars, with an ever changing cast of personnel.

At its heart, the book is the story of two childhood friends, Barrett and Carey, and the choices they make. It's a compelling tale, sometimes sad, sometimes laugh out loud funny. And there's a genuine shock revelation just before the end, that you won't see coming.

This book has more than its share of quotable lines, including: "The dilemma swung like a creaking hinge in his head", " Barrett had seen himself on television and in photographs too many times, and knew the impact of every gesture, every expression, so he went through life impersonating himself" and "he liked the places trains took you to: the unsweetened side with its austere buildings and sharp-edged metal"

The Last Mad Surge of Youth is highly recommended. Don't miss it.

Two men who once were in a schoolboy band together meet up again after 25 years. One became a very successful musician but is now well on the downhill slope: The other has had a quiet life in his home town.

Mr Hodgkinson must be exactly the same age as I am: His evocations of what it was like to be Northern, working class and yearning for escape from that life chimed with my own experience exactly. I went to the same sort of school, where you were 'already on a list to go and work in a local factory' , had the same sort of careers interview, where you went in saying you wanted to be a journalist and came out with a job running a photocopier for the council: Lived in the same run-down Victorian shared houses when I was making my own escape. The author's powers of description of the minutae of the post-punk period are astonishing - the music, the NME articles, the post-hippy ambience of cheap flats in those days, everything. It's the sort of book - maybe the book - I wish I had the talent to write myself. Excellent.