Sophisticated Boom Boom
By (Author) John Kelly
Vintage Publishing
Vintage
15th April 2004
1st April 2004
United Kingdom
General
Fiction
Narrative theme: Sense of place
Biographical fiction / autobiographical fiction
Humorous fiction
823.92
Paperback
208
Width 129mm, Height 197mm, Spine 13mm
145g
In Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, in the seventies, nothing happens. Every day. Teenagers Declan Lydon and his trusted friend Spit Maguire stand under lampposts waiting to be overtaken by some hormonal storm, to be enveloped by strange women, to finally make some connection with the glorious, glamorous world they know is out there somewhere. Their salvation comes through music. When, miraculously, Thin Lizzy come to town, Declan goes in to the concert in his brown cardigan and emerges wearing a black leather jacket-Sophisticated Boom Boom is a tender, hilarious account of the agonies and absurdities of growing up in a backwater of pebbledash and Space Invaders. Crucially, though, this is a love-letter to the period and the place, and to the liberating, healing power of music that galvanises and transforms.
'John Kelly is an immensely gifted writer - he can do things with the spoken language that are rare to behold and behear' Tom Paulin
John Kelly was born in 1965 in County Fermanagh. He works as a writer and broadcaster. He is the author of The Little Hammer, published by Cape in 2000. Married with one daughter, he lives in Dublin.