This novel about a twenty-nothing band exhibits some of Lethem’s trademark quirkiness - there’s a kangaroo kidnapping, for instance - but the characters never fully engaged me. The main character is a female bass player, barely employed by an artist to take complaint calls at a performance art installation, who has recently broken up with her boyfriend and becomes sexually enthralled by a man who makes his living off devising memetic phrases. The background characters - the drummer and guitar player/song writer of the band - were more real to me than the bassist-singer-older guy love triangle dynamic, but none of these kids drifting aimlessly through their lives were all that interesting to me.

I’m proud of Lethem for finally writing a novel on clearly his favorite subject, music. Kind of an odd story though, but worthwhile nonetheless.