Synopses & Reviews
Praise for Tim Kinsella's The Karaoke Singer's Guide to Self-Defense:
"For all this novel's depth of story, and that story's grip and wealthy undercurrents, Tim Kinsella's rushing, trippily meticulous prose is so exciting to follow that the story seems as much the novel's soundtrack and topography as it is the point. A thorough and wildly distinctive read."—Dennis Cooper, author of The Marbled Swarm
"On a number of occasions, it's shit-your-pants brilliant. Kinsella, who has been a principal member of a number of Chicago bands, is already something of royalty in the Chicago indie music scene. Consider Self-Defense the first entry in a case for similar esteem in indie lit."—Newcity Lit
Cult actress Laurie Bird's story is told in a second-person narrative, creating a fictional blurring of what little is known of her biography with her acting roles as cross-country drag-racing moll in Two Lane Blacktop, champion cockfighter's wife in Cockfighter, and mansion-dwelling Hollywood starlet in Annie Hall, and unravels in a bathtub where she commits suicide at the age of twenty six.
Tim Kinsella's first novel The Karaoke Singer's Guide to Self-Defense was named among the "Best Chicago Books of 2011" by CBS Chicago, and listed on Flavorpill's "Most Exciting New Books." Kinsella has an MFA in writing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Since forming in 1996, Kinsella's band Joan of Arc and its related projects have released more than thirty records.
Review
"In his freewheeling sophomore novel, indie rocker Tim Kinsella pieces together a fictional account of real-life aspiring actress Laurie Bird...[using the] handful of minor roles she scored before her untimely death. [...] In pointed, lyrical prose, Kinsella breathes life into a starlet while also posing compelling questions about film and appropriation."
Booklist
"Initially the setting seems so familiar. I know this. Ive seen these films so many times. Ive fallen in love with Laurie Bird and wondered where she goes when shes not in frame. Its like gazing upon a magnificent and hyper-detailed print, beautiful and meticulous with a pitch-perfect flow. I give Kinsella a five thousand star review for launching me deep into an alternate universe somewhere between fiction of the most intimate and biography of the most compelling."
Devendra Barnhardt, award-winning musician
Praise for The Karaoke Singer's Guide to Self-Defense:
For all this novel's depth of story, and that story's grip and wealthy undercurrents, Tim Kinsella's rushing, trippily meticulous prose is so exciting to follow that the story seems as much the novel's soundtrack and topography as it is the point. A thorough and wildly distinctive read.”
Dennis Cooper, author of The Marbled Swarm
On a number of occasions, its shit-your-pants brilliant. Kinsella, who has been a
principal member of a number of Chicago bands, is already something of royalty in the Chicago indie music scene. Consider [The Karaoke Singer's Guide to] Self-Defense the first entry in a case for similar esteem in indie lit.”
Newcity Lit
Synopsis
Actress Laurie Bird's life and films blur into fictionalized second-person narrative that unravels when she commits suicide in a bathtub.
Synopsis
In
Let Go and Go On and On the story of obscure actress Laurie Bird is told in a second-person narrative, blurring what little is known of her actual biography with her roles as a drifter in
Two Lane Blacktop, a champion's wife in
Cockfighter, and an aging rock star's Hollywood girlfriend in
Annie Hall.
Laurie Birds story unravels in a bathtub where she commits suicide at the age of 26, and Let Go and Go On and On draws on this very American story to explore our endless fascination with the Hollywood machine and the weirdness that is celebrity culture.
Synopsis
Laurie Bird appeared in three films:
Two Lane Blacktop, Cockfighter, and
Annie Hall. Her fiancé, Art Garfunkel, was away shooting another film,
Bad Timing, when she committed suicide at the age of 26.
Let Go and Go On and On blurs what little is actually known of her with her roles in these films. Guided by constraints, it is a collage and a loving tribute.
About the Author
Tim Kinsellas first novel The Karaoke Singers Guide to Self-Defense was named among the Best Chicago Books of 2011 by CBS Chicago, and listed on Flavorpills Most Exciting New Books. Kinsella has an MFA in writing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Since forming in 1996, Kinsellas band Joan of Arc and its related projects have released more than thirty records.