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The Age of Anxiety

A Novel - The Times Bestseller

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The Age of Anxiety

By: Pete Townshend
Narrated by: Michael Jayston
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About this listen

 The debut novel by Pete Townshend, one of the world's greatest rock stars.

The Age of Anxiety is a great rock novel, but that is one of the less important things about it. The narrator is a brilliant creation - cultured, witty and unreliable. The novel captures the craziness of the music business and displays Pete Townshend's sly sense of humour and sharp ear for dialogue. First conceived as an opera, The Age of Anxiety deals with mythic and operatic themes including a maze, divine madness and long-lost children. Hallucinations and soundscapes haunt this novel, which on one level is an extended meditation on manic genius and the dark art of creativity.

(P)2019 Hodder & Stoughton Limited©2019 Pete Townshend Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Music Witty Paranormal
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It is always of a bit of a worry when a rock star decides to turn their hand at a different art. This, Pete Townshend's first proper novel is the torturous tale of the salacious lives of musicians and their families narrated by 68 year old art dealer with a complex past. They say you should write what you know and Townshend heeds to this advice never straying far from his own life story hard drugs, booze, complicated relationships and a pub rock band that morphs to produce "soundscapes" that are inspired by thoughts from its audience. The story is set in a parallel imaginary world with fictional bands but there are a few passing references to the real world and a couple of in jokes too eg "what? sell out? like The Who?"

Some of the relationships between the characters are bewildering but the real stars here are the descriptions of the inner mechanisms of the music industry, the creative process, the hallucinations and the amazing descriptions of the soundscapes. This is powerful stuff and guaranteed to fascinate even a casual fan of Townshend and his music.

Apparently Pete Townshend has been working on The Age of Anxiety for 10 years and he has plans to turn the project into a "rock opera installation". I, for one, can't wait.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss

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Being a big fan of the man's music and his excellent autobiography, "Who I Am", I had high hopes and really wanted to enjoy this. Wasn't to be, I found it meandering and very short on plot. It never grabbed me. I'm left to wonder how many others, like me, bought this on the reputation of the author, and had he been unknown would this have hit the bestseller lists? Doubtful. Sorry, Pete, but it's a no from me.

High hopes... dashed.

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some brilliant paragraphs, but overwhelmed by rambling, self-indulgent almost sixth form level writing. desperately needed an editor. No doubt that this work would never have been published if author wasn't already established through music. hate to say it, but was hard work to keep listening.

oh dear.

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