Checker and The Derailleurs

Name: Checker and The Derailleurs
Brand: Brilliance Audio
Availability: InStock
Author: Lionel Shriver
ISBN: 9781423397175

Author: Lionel Shriver

Narrator: MacLeod Andrews

Unabridged: 8 hr 44 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download (DRM Protected)

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Published: 08/04/2009

Categories: Fiction

Synopsis

Beautiful and charismatic, nineteen-year-old Checker Secretti is the most gifted and original drummer that the club-goers of Astoria, Queens, have ever heard. When he plays, conundrums seem to solve themselves, brilliant thoughts spring to mind, and couples fall in love. The members of his band, The Derailleurs, are passionately devoted to their guiding spirit, as are all who fall under Checker’s spell. But when another drummer, Eaton Striker, hears the prodigy play, he is pulled inexorably into Checker’s orbit by a powerful combination of envy and admiration. Soon The Derailleurs, too, are torn apart by latent jealousies that Eaton does his utmost to bring alive. “A bittersweet, graceful, poetic, yet clear-sighted vision....A tale about good and evil, and about the promise and pain of being nineteen.” – Cleveland Plain Dealer “More compelling even than the plot turns are Shriver’s insights into human nature....Checker and The Derailleurs, like its beguiling protagonist, is hard to forget.” – People

About Lionel Shriver

Lionel Shriver's books include The Post-Birthday World, Game Control, and the Orange Prize-winning We Need to Talk About Kevin. She writes frequently for the Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, and The Independent. She lives in London.

Reviews

AudiobooksNow review by Carla on 2014-11-28 20:50:17

The author perfectly captures my experience of the inane self absorption of the young and musically gifted, where the rude and loud are celebrated and the nice exploited. It would have been a great subject for satire but it turned out not to be that kind of book.Maybe I didnt get far enough. After about the fifth disk, when the glassblowing woman, in a rare amiable moment has a hearttoheart with Checker and shares the revelation that everybodys dad dies and everyone originally comes out of a woman, I couldnt bear it any more.If youve always wondered what it would have been like to hang out with a rock band in the 1980s, this is your book.

Goodreads review by Seth on June 09, 2011

For a long time, Checker and the Derailleurs had mostly a cult following. Published in 1989, it went out of print until reissued in 2009. Now that Lionel Shriver's books are going to gain new audiences due to the buzz around the film version of We Need to Talk About Kevin, someone will probably try......more

Goodreads review by Vonia on November 19, 2019

Checker The Derailleurs. Where to begin on this magnificent hidden gem from Lionel Shriver? To begin with, this coming-of-age story is about so much more than that; far more than any brief synopsis I have read posits. Then again, I would have a difficult time writing a synopsis that is up to par, wi......more

Goodreads review by Adam on August 12, 2010

As much as I loved Checker's curious mystique and unyielding fascination for the world in which he lives, I had a hard time caring about his story! The quippy dialogue was definitely cute as each character was defined primarily through their interactions with others. However, so many main characters......more

Goodreads review by Leo on November 18, 2015

As Shriver herself exclaims: a Shriver with a happy ending!! It had its great moments but I skimmed the ramble and could only recommend to diehard Shrivers like myself :D......more

Goodreads review by Sharon on March 24, 2023

I first read this book 16 years ago and it blew my mind. I still read it every year or so because it's still as good every time. The descriptions are lush without being mawkish and the characters are very well drawn. And if you want some subtle 80s culture and music references, you'll love it.......more