Finished Sa 12/13/14 (My book and this seems to be the first and only novel by this author)
This novel isn't so much about the deleterious effects of Heavy Metal music, but how an attempted suicide colored by this music impacted a dysfunctional family.
Tom and Ellen Newsome and their high school senior son, Chris.
Opening Scene- Chris and his friend Jim Firestone are listening to the music of a death metal band, SHALLOW GRAVE (Album Title- 'Hope Against Hope'). Jim is poor and from a single family home. His mother is dead from cancer and his father is a shiftless alcoholic. Both boys seem to agree that death would be preferable to life, and Jim produces his father's pistol and they both shoot themselves in the head. Jim dies and Chris's shot goes through his cheek.
The novel backtracks and fills in the reasons for this act. The story is told in alternating chapters where the point of view is presented from Tommy and Chris's perspective.
Ellen wants to blame the band and convinces Tommy to engage a lawyer, Donald Correa. This man tells them that they would have no case. First Amendment Right to Freedom of Speech.
Chris's girlfriend is Meg and she is a local girl without aspirations, and her relationship with Chris is shaky. Clearly a significant reason for Chris's depression, and it's revealed that they have recently engaged in sex.
Neither one of them seems to view the relationship in the same way.
One night Tommy travels to a local tavern that features Heavy Metal music. He meets the lead singer of a band and befriends the young man, Sean-Patrick. This is where the discussion of Heavy Metal enters the novel, and Tommy eventually invites Sean-Patrick to his home for dinner. Ellen immediately blames Sean-Patrick for the death of Jim and the crippling injury to Chris. Sean-Patrick flees the house after being nearly assaulted by Ellen.
Chris is very smart and had just been accepted to Cornell, but he isn't sure that this is the right move. College is much more a dream of Tommy's. Another possible motivation for the suicide pact.
The novel ends a month after the accident/suicide. Chris is at home and not very communicative. He has found an old battery operated toy of three monkeys, ('see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil'), and he is cleaning them. One of the arms is broken and he is determined to repair the toy. Probably a clumsy metaphor for working on the repair of family's relationships.
I'd only rate the novel a 'C', but it can be read easily in one or two settings. Could have been much better if the Art vs. Freedom of Expression was more deeply developed. However, this suicide incident could have occurred regardless of Chris's musical choices, and maybe this was the author's real point.
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