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Arfur: Teenage Pinball Queen
"Having earned a certain notoriety as an influential critic, Cohn captured a footnote in rock history as the inspiration (well, precipitating factor) for the Who's 'Pinball Wizard.' Legend has it that Pete Townshend played an early, rough mix of Tommy for Cohn, who was duly unimpressed. On the spur of the moment, Townshend - who knew Cohn to be a pinball fanatic (later evidenced in his 1970 novella, Arfur Teenage Pinball Queen) - proposed the new song. 'It'll be a masterpiece,' Cohn enthused, prompting Townshend to incorporate pinball as a central theme for the entire rock opera"
184 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1970
31 people want to read
About the author
Nik Cohn
33 books32 followersCohn is considered by some critics to be a father of rock criticism, thanks to his time on The Observer's early rock column entitled The Brief and his first major book Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom, first published in 1969. Cohn has since published articles, novels and music books regularly.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 19, 2022
The most interesting thing about this book is not the book itself.
Nik Cohn was a rock and roll journalist in 1960's England. The story goes that he was hanging around with Pete Townsend of the Who as he was working on Tommy. Nik was deeply into pinball at the time, and suggested that if Pete included a song about pinball on the album he would give it a good review in the magazine.
After Tommy came out, with the hit song Pinball Wizard, it seems that Nik Cohn decided to cash in on that popularity by writing this novel. I'm basing this theory on the fact that the novel's publication date is after the release of Tommy.
The novel itself is a rather scummy coming of age story for young Arfur, Teenage Pinball Queen. We first meet 10 year old Arfur when she loses herself in a funhouse full of mirrors and takes up with Lim Fan, ancient Chinese sage and bartender. She stays with him a few years, before going off with Willie the Pleaser, an itinerant cardsharp. When he is killed by a fellow gambler, she goes off with Porky Lamotta and lands in the town of El Gris where she discovers the allure of pinball. She hones her skills under the guidance of Don Pedro Sanchez before becoming bored and going off with a quartet of bandits and their gang. When they are all killed by the Federales, she joins up with rock and roll star Johnny Angelo. She eventually leaves him and returns to pinball and becomes acclaimed, and finally matches wits with the legendary Pinball Phantom. By the end of the novel, she is 15 or 16 and jaded beyond her years.
The writing is not that good, the characters are flat and the settings are a surreal mishmash of many different cities and countries. One odd conceit is that sometimes the voice of the main character is written in first person, and then when something icky happens it shifts to speaking of Arfur in the 3rd person.
Nik Cohn was a rock and roll journalist in 1960's England. The story goes that he was hanging around with Pete Townsend of the Who as he was working on Tommy. Nik was deeply into pinball at the time, and suggested that if Pete included a song about pinball on the album he would give it a good review in the magazine.
After Tommy came out, with the hit song Pinball Wizard, it seems that Nik Cohn decided to cash in on that popularity by writing this novel. I'm basing this theory on the fact that the novel's publication date is after the release of Tommy.
The novel itself is a rather scummy coming of age story for young Arfur, Teenage Pinball Queen. We first meet 10 year old Arfur when she loses herself in a funhouse full of mirrors and takes up with Lim Fan, ancient Chinese sage and bartender. She stays with him a few years, before going off with Willie the Pleaser, an itinerant cardsharp. When he is killed by a fellow gambler, she goes off with Porky Lamotta and lands in the town of El Gris where she discovers the allure of pinball. She hones her skills under the guidance of Don Pedro Sanchez before becoming bored and going off with a quartet of bandits and their gang. When they are all killed by the Federales, she joins up with rock and roll star Johnny Angelo. She eventually leaves him and returns to pinball and becomes acclaimed, and finally matches wits with the legendary Pinball Phantom. By the end of the novel, she is 15 or 16 and jaded beyond her years.
The writing is not that good, the characters are flat and the settings are a surreal mishmash of many different cities and countries. One odd conceit is that sometimes the voice of the main character is written in first person, and then when something icky happens it shifts to speaking of Arfur in the 3rd person.
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July 9, 2023best viewed i would say as an imaginary, orange-soda-fueled travelogue; most of the pleasure in reading came from the descrips of seedy bars, desolate ports, august mansions, etc etc, & the various weirdos w/whom arfur collides. in contrast the bildungsroman elements came across sorta half-hearted, but you gotta work the paddles if you wanna enjoy all the lights & buzzers & bleepy things right?
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews