Slanted and Disenchanted

by Lisa Czarina Michaud

Overview

It's 2001. MTV stopped playing music videos. Boy bands and thongs are pop culture. And two college dropouts start a garage band.

When former classmates Carla and Pete run into each other, they learn that they're both looking for something beyond a suburban existence. Despite discovering comically conflicting tastes, they bond over vinyl-the meaning of those songs, the covers of those albums that make them who they are today-forging a secret connection that cuts deeper than the music. Before their greasy dive-bar cross-country tour, tragedy turns their world upside down, forcing them to decide if the band is just a teenage dream or a gateway to freedom... and maybe each other?

First in the series, Slanted and Disenchanted is an early-2000s coming-of-age story told in dual he-said/she-said POV with pop culture jabs and rock-nerd winks. Think High Fidelity meets Normal People, unraveling sexual tension in friendships, the chaos of adulting, family dysfunction, and the records that get us through it all.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781736944516
Publisher:	Barre Chord Press
Publication date:	09/21/2021
Series:	The Disenchanted , #1
Pages:	340
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.76(d)
Age Range:	16 - 18 Years

About the Author

Lisa Czarina Michaud is a New York novelist and translator based in France. She writes stories rich with pop-culture winks, a French touch while acknowledging her Italian-American roots. She resides in the French countryside with her husband, son, and cat Le Tigre. Slanted and Disenchanted is her first novel.

Editorial Reviews

"Lisa Czarina Michaud captures the sparkling highs and epic lows of young adulthood, as her characters feel the red-hot power of music striking like a lightning bolt to their hearts. With blistered fingers tearing through chords in stale basements, she channels the desperate need for connection and immobilizing self-doubt. But also reveals something deeper through its storytelling, something undeniable and impossible for her characters to yet understand." - Michelle Leon, Babes in Toyland and author of I Live Inside

"YA for Gex X...a journey through youth, second loves, and the power of connection through art." - Brett Sills, author of Shoveling Snow

"Slanted and Disenchanted crackles with the heart-pounding, meaning-seeking, garage rock energy of two young musicians. Carla and Pete are incredibly well-drawn, and their obsessive love of music is so palpable and real that you will hear every song and feel you're right there on stage with them, rooting for them to fall headlong into the great unknown. Michaud offers us a front-row ticket to an inspired, complex, and incredibly poignant live show. If you love a great story as much as I do, you won't be able to look away from the stage or to put this book down, until you reach the final song." - Jason Allen, author of The East End

"The most musically infused story I've ever had the pleasure of devouring." - Corny O'Connell, WFUV Fordham University On-Air Host

"Slanted and Disenchanted conjures up the wistful daydreams and perpetual uncertainty that inspires young people to climb onto dingy stages in dive bars to make a joyful racket hoping for acceptance, respect, love, and just maybe enough gas money to make it to the next show." - Chris Appelgren, The PeeChees and owner, Lookout! Records

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"Slanted and Disenchanted perfectly captures the way almost every young adult has ever felt: out of place, misunderstood, and desperate to find a home in someone else... Michaud infuses her branded humor into this nostalgic tale of young love, treating us to 90's references that Gen X'ers will appreciate, and those who "had to be there" will wish they had been a part of. This coming-of-age story is packed with passion, music, and a kind of hope that reminds you it's never too late to be who you truly want to be." - Cara Alwill, author of Girl On Fire and host of Style Your Mind podcast

From the Publisher