Goodnight Steve McQueen: A Novel

by Louise Wener

Overview

From the author of The Perfect Play comes a charmingly
romantic–yet very edgy-novel set in the music industry about friendship,
love, growing up, and always following your dreams.

Danny McQueen has dreamed of being a pop star since he was thirteen-years-old. Now he's twenty-nine and still dreaming. But he faces a dilemma. His girlfriend Alison wants him to sort his life out. She's given him an ultimatum: Find a record deal by the end of the year or it's find a new girlfriend. When is it time to give up on your childhood ambitions? When is it time to stop watching Columbo in your underpants and get a proper job? Is six months long enough for one last assault on the big time? Is friendship ever more important than love? Is it just your imagination or can your girlfriend always tell when you've been looking at Internet porn? With the help of his boss Kostas, his two best friends, and an eighty-year-old Kung Fu enthusiast called Sheila, Danny McQueen is about to find out.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780060725631
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/15/2005
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Before turning to writing, Louise Wener was the lead singer of the 1990s British band Sleeper. She lives in London.

Read an Excerpt

Goodnight Steve McQueen
A Novel

Chapter One

Do you remember the quiz show Winner Takes All? It had a top prize of one thousand pounds. They kept it in a Perspex display case. A thousand crisp green notes. Right there. Right under your nose, and it was real money as well, not like those cheques they wave about on Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

I can't remember anyone winning it, though. Not ever. Most of the contestants seemed happy with fifty quid and a slap on the back from Liza Tarbuck's dad: a weekend for two in Blackpool if they were lucky. And you knew it would rain the whole time they were there. And you knew Peter from Wilmslow was secretly gay so he'd have to take Beryl, his arthritic nan, instead of Rita, his imaginary wife. And you knew he wouldn't be able to go backstage and have his picture taken with the Nolan Sisters after all, because he'd have to be back at the Grand Palace B&B before the ten o'clock curfew.

Thanks, Tarby. Thanks very much.

I mean, what a con. Talk about massaging the truth. It should have been called Loser Takes All. It should have been called No-Hope-Rubbish-Hair-Crap-Job-No-Prospects-Lousy-Boyfriend-Loser Takes All.

I can't help thinking I would have done rather well.

My name is Steve McQueen and I'm a very bitter man. What on earth were they thinking of, calling me Steve? Didn't they realise it would ruin me? Didn't they know I'd be tortured? Didn't they understand it would be impossible for me to live up to? Did they hell. It was my mum's fault, of course, she was obsessed with him. The only reason she married my dad in the first place was because of the name. It didn't matter that he was a geography teacher. It didn't matter that he was bald at the age of eighteen, fat at the age of twenty-two, and dead at the age of thirty-three and a half. Mum had what she'd always wanted. She'd married herself a genuine McQueen.

I was three years old when my father died -- he had a heart attack on a field trip to an ox-bow lake -- and for a long time I actually thought Steve McQueen was my real dad. I remember my mum sitting me down to watch The Towering Inferno when I was five -- spooning down my second helping of Heinz spaghetti hoops -- and feeling really proud. We both clapped at the end. What a guy. He'd even managed to save Fred Astaire and the cat. What a guy. What a dad.

There were pictures of him all over the house. Steve driving his Porsche 917 from Le Mans, Steve flying through the air in his 1968 Mustang from Bullitt, Steve being chased by Nazis in The Great Escape, and a giant scrapbook filled with press cuttings that she kept in a bruised leather suitcase under her bed.

"Who's this?" I said, flicking through her scrapbook one afternoon. "Who is this?"

"It's Ali MacGraw, the lady out of Love Story."

"What's Love Story?"

"Oh, it's so sad. Oh, I don't think I can talk about it. Not without crying."

And off she went, off to fetch a hankie from the dressingtable drawer, and all I could think was, Why is Dad doing that? What is Dad doing kissing Ali MacGraw?

I suppose things were okay to begin with. I was a great-looking child. I looked like the Milky Bar Kid only cuter: white blond hair, wire-rimmed spectacles, and the cheekiest, wide-mouthed, gap-toothed grin you've ever seen.

She was dead proud of me. I could tell she thought there was hope: that I might grow up to be a movie star or a Formula 1 driver or a teenage multimillionaire, and for a few precious years (apart from finding out that my dad was a dead geography teacher instead of an A-list Hollywood star) I was blissfully happy.

I brought home crayon drawings of racing cars and Mum stuck them on the fridge next to her collection of Steve McQueen quotes. I built models of doomed Apollo rockets out of cornflake packets and Mum put them on the sideboard next to her picture of Steve McQueen's house: 27 Oakmont Drive, Brentwood, California-- we knew the address by heart. I collected model motorcycles, built planes out of balsa wood and elastic bands, and I even went to martial arts classes on account of my namesake being a thirddan black belt in karate. I was rather good at it. I won the club's under-tens trophy in 1979. It was a great year. The same year I won a Blue Peter badge for my papier-mâché Shep.

And then it all went wrong.

"What's this?" I said, pointing to an angry red lump on my forehead. "What is this?"

"Acne."

"What's acne?"

"Oh. It's so awful. I don't think I can talk about it. Have you been masturbating, Steve McQueen?"

Of course I'd been masturbating. I was thirteen years old. My life was one long shower. I was the cleanest teenager in the whole of Woodford Wells. I masturbated so much I worried that my cock would spontaneously combust from all the friction (spontaneous combustion was very big in the eighties), and anyway it was supposed to make you go blind, not cover your face in deep-pile acne vulgaris. I didn't wank again for almost three years. I didn't dare.

I tried everything I could think of. I gave up chocolate, stopped drinking milk, painted my skin with foul-smelling potions that made my skin peel like a sun-baked onion, but nothing did any good. Every morning I'd wake up in a pool of nocturnal emissions, half my face stuck to the brushed-nylon pillowcase, desperate for a wank and a bowl of Coco Pops ...

Goodnight Steve McQueen
A Novel. Copyright © by Louise Wener. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

Reading Group Guide

Introduction

Danny McQueen has dreamed of being a pop star since he was 13 years old. Now he's 29 and still dreaming. But he faces a dilemma: his girlfriend Alison wants him to sort his life out. She's given him an ultimatum: find a record deal by the end of the year or find a new girlfriend. When is it time to give up on your childhood ambitions? When is it time to stop watching Columbo in your underpants and get a proper job? Is six months long enough for one last assault on the big time? Is friendship ever more important than love? Is it just your imagination or can your girlfriend always tell when you've been looking at internet porn? With the help of his boss Kostas, his two best friends and an 80 year old Kung Fu enthusiast called Sheila, Danny McQueen is about to find out.

Questions for Discussion

1. "Ambition is the worst thing to give a kid. They'll always be disappointed," mused Danny over his inability to give up his dreams -- despite his ambivalent attitude about trying to fulfill them. How did Danny's mother's own "unfulfilled ambitions" and her hopes for Danny to "grow up rich and famous" prompt his twenty-something malaise? On the contrary, what positive parenting influences did Danny's mother have on him?


2. In every romantic relationship there are unspoken deal breakers. What were Alison's deal breakers? What were Danny's? In Goodnight Steve McQueen, how does honest communication affect relationships? Can it save romantic relationships?


3. Louise Wener writes from the first person perspective of her protagonist, Danny McQueen. Did you find her portrayal of "blokedom" to be accurate? What challenges do you think a writer faces when they are trying to write seamlessly from the perspective of the opposite sex?


4. In the United Kingdom, Louise Wener is famous for having been the lead singer of a band that topped the British charts in the 1990s. Do you think that the experience of reading fiction can be changed when readers are familiar with the writer as a public figure? Do you think that critics consider celebrities to be real writers?


5. Ike, of Scarface, is a musician who "can't sing ... can't play" and "doesn't write any of his own songs," but who has achieved rock-star status despite these shortcomings. Discuss Wener's portrayal of the music industry: of who succeeds and who is overlooked, and why. Why does packaging and image often triumph over talent? What band do you think Wener's group Sleeper might have had more similarities with: Scarface or Dakota?


6. In an interview with the newspaper the Scotsman, Louise Wener stated that: "Men are great at being friends -- much better than women." Discuss the depictions of friendship in Goodnight Steve McQueen. Do you think that Wener remains true to her statement to the Scotsman? In what ways do the emotional currencies of female friendships differ from the easy camaraderie depicted between Matty, Vince, and Danny?


7. Though the members of Dakota all agree to take one last shot at the big-time before giving up their dreams and becoming "minicab drivers," they more often than not find themselves hitting the pub instead of figuring out "the touring, transport, and trousers." Discuss examples of self-defeating behaviors that they have engaged in pursuing their personal ambitions. Do you think that there were similar forces at work when the band chose slacking off over practicing?


8. What role did jealousy play in the novel? What role did fear play? How do these emotions impact the relationship between Alison and Danny? How do they impact the relationship between Ike and Danny's band Dakota?


9. What did Danny ultimately learn from Sheila and her daughter Grace that allowed him to finally understand his own complex relationship with his mother? Why do you think that Sheila chose to leave Danny something in her will? What did Danny bring to Sheila's life that caused her to speak about him "all of the time"?


10. Goodnight Steve McQueen is narrated entirely through Danny's voice. How would the story change if it were told through Alison's point of view? If you were re-envisioning the novel for Wener, what other narrative styles would you suggest to her, and why?

About the Author

Louise Wener was born and raised in Ilford, East London. In the mid-90s, after years of singing into hair brushes and working in dead end jobs, she found fame as the lead singer of the pop band Sleeper and went on to record three top-ten albums and eight top-40 singles. She is also the author of the novel The Perfect Play.

Editorial Reviews

Thoroughly enjoyable.... [Like] Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity and Tom Perrotta’s The Wishbones..., it is a sweet and funny read. — Booklist

From the Publisher

Thoroughly enjoyable.... [Like] Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity and Tom Perrotta’s The Wishbones..., it is a sweet and funny read.

Booklist

Thoroughly enjoyable.... [Like] Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity and Tom Perrotta’s The Wishbones..., it is a sweet and funny read.

Booklist

In this larkish first novel by former British pop star Wener, her second book to be published in the U.S. (after The Perfect Play, 2004), the author trains her razor-sharp wit on the transition between postadolescent drifting and adulthood. Inveterate loser Danny-formerly Steve-McQueen plays guitar in the rock 'n' roll outfit Dakota; though the band's big break has always been just around the corner, this time they may stumble upon fame. But Danny's girlfriend, Alison, has professional aspirations and isn't sure she can stay with a man who works in a video store in order to free up time for fruitless dream chasing. She once wanted to be Agatha Christie, but she traded in childhood fantasies for good old adult stability, and she thinks it's time Danny did, too. As the pair drift apart, she gives him six months to break into the music business before giving it up altogether, if he wants her in his life. The story doesn't range far from the High Fidelity template, but Wener paints a smart, funny picture of a man kicking and screaming his way into adulthood. Moreover, Wener crafts her tale of a guitar-playing Peter Pan with a kind eye that allows readers to see themselves in Danny, even as she takes an honest look at his self-absorption, irresponsibility and fears of growing old. Agent, Hannah Griffiths at Curtis Brown (U.K.). (Mar. 21) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Nick Hornby fans take note: there's another brilliant British writer at work channeling lovable slackers, and this one's a bona fide pop star. Wener (The Perfect Play) was the frontwoman for the 1990s Britpop group Sleeper. In this book, she introduces the eponymous Steve McQueen (he goes by Danny) who is now 29, a video store clerk and aspiring pop guitarist in a band. He's fairly content to down pints with Vince, who is his best mate and lead singer, and Matty, the band's drummer, while debating the merits of the perfect transitional shoe: "You can only wear trainers until you're thirty and then you start to look like a bit of a ponce." Then Danny's longtime love Alison takes a work assignment in Bruges, Belgium, and delivers an ultimatum: land a record deal in six months or call it quits. Tear-inducing hilarity ensues, involving a gig posing nude for an art class, a kebab van, 15 kinds of cheese, and spiteful handjobs from groupies. The gags are spot-on, the relationships touching. Wener scores another hit. Highly recommended for Gen-X audiences.-Christine Perkins, Burlington P.L., WA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Adult/High School-Danny McQueen and his girlfriend, Alison, are about to go through their quarter-life crisis in their own ways-she by taking a job with more responsibility in Belgium, he by giving his dream of rock stardom one last, aggressive push. After some trickery that gets his band, Dakota, a slot as an opener for the next big thing, it looks like Danny might actually be on the verge of the success that has so far eluded him, but now he has to decide if it's what he wants after all. Wener spent some time as a pop singer herself, and her knowledge of a small-time touring circuit is spot-on. The situation and resolution that Danny and his band go through are fraught with lucky coincidences, but it's all in the spirit of a tale with a happy ending. Some references are slightly dated (the characters play the video game FIFA '98 when FIFA '05 is actually on the shelves now), but none are too outrageous. The language is very British, but fans of Nick Hornby and Helen Fielding should feel right at home. In fact, the story has a sense of Louise Rennison's "Georgia Nicolson" and her Sex God, 10 years later.-Jamie Watson, Harford County Public Library, MD Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

A lame, long-winded tale from Wener, a former lead singer with the Brit pop band Sleeper. "Why is my girlfriend so fed up with me that she feels the need to go and live in a whole other country?" whines narrator Danny McQueen, whose mother was such a Steve McQueen fanatic that she married a man named McQueen. (Because you're a boring lout, readers who've persevered through the novel's first third to get to this point will reply.) After five years, marketing consultant Alison is fed up with 29 year-old Danny's rock-star fantasies. He and two mates, one of whom gives him a black eye for being a "self-absorbed, moaning little git," play for beer at friends' parties. He gets up at midday, eats his breakfast in front of Supermarket Sweep, and drinks all of Alison's Bacardi Breezes before she gets home from the office. He should shape up and get a job, says Alison, who's accepted a six-month reassignment from London to Bruges. Danny tells the band they have to get a recording contract or hang it up. He tracks down an obnoxious high-school buddy who is now the lead singer in a hot band called Scarface and bluffs his way into a contract to back them up on a tour. It's a vanity deal-his band has to pay $1,000 for the lowly 8-8:30 p.m. time slot-but it's a gig. By the end of the tour, a reviewer has called them "the next big thing," and the three have dipped into the life of champagne, cocaine, and groupies. A record deal may be in the works, but that doesn't make Danny's life with Alison any easier. Unfortunately, he's such a flat character it's hard to care what happens to him. Much inferior to The Perfect Play (2004), Wener's first and more mature novel to appear in the US before this fledglingeffort, which needn't have made the flight across the Atlantic. Agent: Hannah Griffiths/Curtis Brown UK

Kirkus Reviews