The Exes

by Pagan Kennedy

A week after Hank and Lily decide to break up, they start a band together and come up with a unique the band will be made up of ex-girlfriends and boyfriends. But as soon as THE EXES go on tour, the band finds out it's not so easy to share a motel room with your old flame. The novel is told from four different viewpoints as the characters try to cope with working together and examine the new emotions triggered by being on the road. Jealousies flare and intimacies renew as they discover each other's foibles, failings and fuck-ups.

Genres: Fiction, Music, Novels, High School

288 pages, Hardcover

Published August 3, 1998

About the author

Pagan Kennedy is a regular contributor to the New York Times and author of eleven books. A biography titled Black Livingstone made the NewYork Times Notable list and earned Massachusetts Book Award honors. She also has been the recipient of a Barnes and Noble Discover Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Fiction, and a Smithsonian Fellowship for science writing. Visit her online at www.pagankennedy.net.

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Reviews

[Smiley III · Rating 5 out of 5]

Given that the '90s are over, this is the only indie-rock band novel -- there wasn't enough raw material, there were only tour diaries, you'd be pretending to be Henry Rollins or the man himself. As such, to mulch what little there was into fiction grants Kennedy the "got there first" status that defines all latecomers. She takes you into the basement with the effects pedals ... pg 1, Hank's raving about Lily, she's the best thing that's ever happened to her; pg 3, she's driving him nuts with all her ideas; pg 8-9, there's the big blow-out, she stomps all over his 8-track collection with her army combat boots ("That was Kiss' Love Gun ... you know how many yard sales it took me to find that?"); pg 11, they're in an all-night diner, and she's chain-smoking cigarettes, and she says "You know, I think we're a couple, we're just not a romantic couple, we're a band couple." And so they find another couple, and make a band out of trust -- funnily enough, one may think of The White Stripes, Sleater-Kinney, Quasi, and Arcade Fire (although in that case, it was backwards; Win and Régine got married in the course of pursuing the band). What is it about that weird telepathy, that attunement that exists between couples? Something profound is going on here ...

PLUS: You realize Boston indie rock is a theme/variation situation. It's not like what little I'd gleaned living in Chicago, or heard about Olympia, or Austin, or Chapel Hill. It's similar, but different: a template that varies. What news!

ON TOP OF THAT: Each chapter, written as smooth as butter or as pleasurable as any music writing you've come across but with the "density" of fiction, plops down the backstory of each character while hopping ahead in the history of the band -- a unique and innovative approach that pays dividends; you "re-approach" the existence of the band with each new look.

QUOTABLE TRUE FACT: "I've read this book more times than any novel, including Neuromancer!"

FUN FACT: Richard Linklater (who, along with Douglas Coupland, were the sole two blurbers of Kennedy's book about the '70s, since nobody cared yet, and wanted to think of the whole decade as an embarrassing, mass-8th grade of the American psyche they'd just as soon forget) had an option on this novel. Alas, those things last a-year-or-two, and then they expire ... I think Jena Malone should play Lily! And the whole movie could be a silent film, with Pagan Kennedy reading it aloud over the soundtrack (except for the line where Lily's at the diner and says, "I think we should start a band and call it 'The Exes' ... ") and you just see all the music's effect on people in clubs and in the practice space but you never hear it, yourself! You just get that slice of the experience, leaning on the other senses for something that tends to overwhelm you with it's "all-at-once"-ness, usually. No music is heard! You just see the sweat, catch the vibrations of the crowd. What. A. Great. Idea. Pagan Kennedy and Richard Linklater, call my agent, I'll take a crack at the script.

(page numbers are from memory, and by "feel," not double-checked out of sheer laziness and some vague disinclination to be persnickety.)

[Georgina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this on a book recommendation list when I was searching for music themed novels, having enjoyed Jennifer Egan's "Welcome to the Goon Squad". This novel is similiarly enjoyable, being written by a female who deeply appreciates music and music culture and has woven these cultural details into a strongly plotted novel. The book is told in four parts, from the perspective of the four band members, sharing details of their inner lives and different history. I'd really like to read other fiction and non fiction by Pagan Kennedy, she has some smart things to say about zines, boston marriages, seventies culture as appreciated from the perspective of the nineties and romantic relationships.

[Vansa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you read ‘Daisy Jones and the Six’ hundreds of times, and again just before the lovely TV
adaptation came out? Have you already watched the show multiple times too? Well, fill that hole in your heart with this delightful, poignant, and exuberant book. It’s the 90s, in Boston, that apparently has an extremely vibrant music scene that I never knew about ( though I guess it makes sense with so many students around?). Hank is a musician who knows all about music and is the perfect rock snob, but never seems to actually make it anywhere. He’s broken up with Lilly, who could be a manic pixie rocker girl, but is written with much more depth than that ( I’m sure Taylor Jenkins Reid has read this book). Lilly thinks they could be a great team, though, and in an age where the gimmick was starting to get more importance, comes up with the idea of forming a band of exes-the members had to have been in relationships with each other, like a prefab Fleetwood Mac. Lilly’s also a talented musician though, and Hank knows he has a better chance of getting a band together with her in it, and agrees, with the other two, Shaz and Walt joining the band. How the band works, how they navigate the world of indie performers and how they write their music forms the rest of the plot. It’s a wonderful insight into how this works-it’s a lot less remunerative, and bands had to rough it out a lot more than more conventional bands have to, because even if they’re successful, they’re still not going to sell out stadiums! You get chapters from each character’s perspective, and they’re all distinct and memorable. I read a lot of books on music, both fiction and nonfiction, and this book didn’t feel derivative at all. Kennedy ends the book on a perfect note- both with a tantalizing glimpse of the future for the band, but not too many details, so you can invent your own story for them. Or Kennedy could be really obliging and give us a sequel! By
the time I reached the end of the book, I was wholly involved with the characters and the milieu, and that sense of discovery you feel when there’s a new indie band you think only you’ve heard of.
Delightful, perfect for all fans of High Fidelity and Daisy Jones and the Six

[Daryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hank & Lilly break up after a year-long romantic and sexual relationship. Then they decide to form a band. Lilly names the band The Exes, and decides that the band needs to be made up of former lovers who get along with one another well enough to play together. They need a bass player and drummer who fit the category and find it easier than first thought to find them. This is a great novel about music, forming the band, break-throughs, success, and failure (and the fear of both). It's a wonderful, quick, easy, fun read. The four sections of the book take the viewpoints of the four band members (although in a third person limited perspective), giving the reader a little background on each while propelling the story forward. Quirky, but believable and likable characters. Beautifully done.

[Clint · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fiction work is the story of a rock band whose members are exes of someone else in the band. Novel is divided into quarters, each the story of one of the members of the band. Yet, each successive story moves the thin plot along. Gives one an idea of how much unknown bands would like to tour, and then find tours exhausting, and the dynamic of so many intersected lives thrown together for something as similarly intimate as a band. Music hounds might like it more than I did.

[Marta · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Exes (1998)

Mi è piaciuto il fatto che ogni capitolo sia raccontato attraverso il punto di vista di uno dei personaggi, ma la narrazione finisce sul più bello: non si sa se riusciranno a finire il tour o se daranno di matto (io propendo più per questa seconda ipotesi, visto come stavano già prima di partire).

[Natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book from 15 years ago that I should've just read when I bought it in my 20s because it probably would've been one of my faves back then! As it stands, I really enjoyed it. The only thing I hate is there are no chapters, per say.... Four sections, each representing one band member. But it made it hard when you read in spurts at night to find a good cut off point!

It was good though :)

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a quick read, relatively enjoyable. Parts are a bit rock cliche but the books maintains it's originality by having each character narrate part of the story. The ending is a bit too abrupt for me personally but doesn't ruin the book.

[Chesney Sharp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started off really strong and enjoyable until the ending where the "magic" sort of wore off..became boring.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 4.25 of 5

One of the things that has always interested me about the writing of fiction and the writing of music, is how similar the two are. I've heard authors talk about finding the 'music' in their characters and plot, and composers I've known talk about themes just as fiction writers do and I've been on a search for fiction that reads like music, and music that plays a story like fiction. The latter is easier to find.

Looking at it in this way, this book is a quartet in which each instrument carries the theme (and a solo) for one portion of the story.

Hank and Lilly were in a year-long relationship. After breaking up, they remain in touch each not quite finding fulfillment in successive partners, and they decide to form a band (though Lilly is not a musician, she is motivated). Lilly decides that they should be called The Exes, based on their previous relationship, and that everyone who joins the band should also have an 'ex' in the band. Hank knows of a drummer and a bassist who'd had a previous relationship, though the bassist is currently with a band that has achieved some fame and a recording contract. Fortunately for Hank and Lilly, Shazia "Shaz" Dohra isn't looking for this sort of fame ... she is looking to play music.

Shaz and her ex, Walt, join the band which starts as a fun pastime for the two, who enjoy playing music. For Hank and Lilly, it becomes a means of legitimizing the band and growing. Everyone is looking for something different, but their search brings them together in unusual ways.

Relationships, sex, music, and some very believable characters with their odd quirks makes this a really fun score read. It moves along quickly, and yet I felt that I had gotten a good history on the characters and knew them quite well. Though barely 200 pages long (and at that, broken in to four parts) we get what we need from the author, Pagan Kennedy. I've read 500 page books that don't reveal as much about the characters.

Looking for a good book? I recommend Pagan Kennedy's The Exes.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this, I've always wanted to be a groupie and in some ways this book gave the insight of following a fledgling band to the point of breakout star status. I loved the gritty descriptions of life on tour, and I loved how even though it's told in probably the least glamorous fashion, I still wanted to be with the group on the road, living the life of a rock star. My only problems with the book was that I thought it was very incomplete, it left many unanswered questions for me, and I hate when that happens. Also the whole concept of a gimmicky band rather bugged me, I don't think they needed a gimmick and I feel like the Author just added that in, the make a gimmicky title. The whole concept I feel really didn't add to the book, it's like it was just stuffed in. Oh we used to be in relationships with each other, so there's all this history... and there was, but it wasn't really that important, their personal histories were definitely way more relevant rather than their relationship history. But even with these issues, I still quite loved this book.

[Jodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love rock & roll. I adore Michael Schaub. I love to read. So last month when he listed his five favorite rock & roll novels, I tossed up some heavy metal fingers and shouted “fuck yeah” while I surfed up Amazon and promptly purchased a used copy of Pagan Kennedy’s The Exes.

If you thought throwing all those things I love into one book would be a rock&roll loving booknerd’s nirvana, you would be wrong. The Exes is one of those books that falls firmly in the middle of ‘it’s all right.” While I enjoyed reading it, I can already tell that it will not be one those books that sticks with me for very long.

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[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't normally like books that I can say, "that's me, at this point in my life" but I liked this one, and if only for the last section on the drummer. The book starts as a fairly stereotypical hipster account of an up and coming boston band, that hits on quasi stardom. What makes the book extraordinary is the telling of the last account of the story of a broken person, a manic depressive that you can see what makes a brain work and how we can get transformed from a normal happy person, to a pile of damaged goods.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book and finished it the same day. It was literally impossible for me to put this book down. The characters in the book are fully realized and I believed every one of them--I could see this band existing, partly because I feel like I know these people. And the way the story advanced through the different character narratives worked for this book--I think the only problem I really have with the book is a compliment: I want more. I want more from Shaz and Walt, especially. But overall--fantastic read. I cannot wait to re-read it!

[Bill Doughty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved this the first time I read it, liked it a lot the second time, and couldn't be bothered to finish the third. I suppose that's a pretty good chart of my path down the road from hoping to one day be cool to realizing it ain't gonna happen, since the hipness seemed so very, very forced this time around. Still, Pagan Kennedy writes her characters pretty well, so I still retain some affection for it. Not that that'll keep me from listing my copy on Bookmooch, but still.

[Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice little rock and roll novel. It's about the relationships as much as the music and the scene, and really shines when it's focused on how it feels to make music with others, and what it feels like when you start to see success in the distance. Each of the four sections in the books is from the perspective of one of the Exes, and the first two are markedly better than the latter two, but still, overall, a satisfying book.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read about Lily in the Seventeen exert "Lily Majors almost famous rock star" I love here in that piece, but much like real people she becomes tiresome and annoying in the book.

********
It was weird rereading this as an adult. More weird to think I read this book for the first time about 15 years ago. I feel that I got a lot more of everyone's life sucks vibe this time and back then it as more of the I want to grow up and move to Boston and be a cool indie chick.

[Care · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent change of pace from what I've been reading lately - this is fresh, hip, set in Boston, about wannabe rock stars. Character driven and well-played against each other, this novel progresses in plot via 4 case studies of each member of a new band. It was fun to be in their heads and see the different viewpoints, share their fears and dreams.

[C.I. DeMann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the writing style of this book. Four very distinct, very interesting voices. Their individual stories were excellent as well. The overall story line, however, was a tiny bit disappointing, giving the reader something of a non-climax, a non-ending. This took it from being a great book to just very good.

[Allisonv · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good characters and relationships. Good depiction of the low-rent live music/touring band world. I like that she has a lot of variety in both male and female characters. Tries a little to hard in the dropping hip references arena. Simultaneously fun and a little sad.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome book...about four band-mates, who have all gone out with someone else in the band at one time or another. Goes into each person's back story in detail while still progressing the story of the band itself. It's a really quick read, and it's got some pretty poignant quotes throughout.

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read. Anyone thats ever been in a rock band can relate to one of the four main characters - particularly if you had ever dated your sexy but neurotic lead singer/guitarist and watched that whole cluster fuck blow up in the most spectacularly anticlimactic fashion possible.

[Kacie]

During the first few pages I was really worried that this was going to be some awful, crude book. It turned out to be a great story about an indie band trying to make it big. Loved every minute of it.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read about the music scene in Boston in the 90s. It is split into four sections with each one written from the perspective of one of the band members. Their storylines overlap so by the end you have a pretty complete picture.

[Sira · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've always wanted to like Pagan Kennedy more than I actually do.

[Golda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great novel of a 90s indie band, from each memeber's point of view.

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short, totally hip and hilariously funny book about a haphazard band consisting of two ailing, haphazard couples. Grimy, endearing, so '90s and totally delicious.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you grew up punk rock in the 80s, you'll adore this book. Even if you didn't, you'll probably like it tons. She's a great writer and I'm glad I read it.

[Angie]

Fun for a beach-type read.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a novel about a band. It sticks in my mind because the characters were very well made so they come back to me.
It's kind of like chick lit for chicks who don't care about Prada.