Time Won't Let Me

by Bill Scheft

In Bill Scheft's hilarious second novel, a finalist for the 2006 Thurber Prize for American Humor, five former members of a rock band, fast approaching age fifty, try to overcome their petty feuds and failed (and failing) marriages to recapture the fading yet distinct tone of their music and friendships. In 1967, while students at Chase Academy, the prep-school garage band known as the Truants recorded a vanity album, Out of Site . Thirty years later, they discover that a record collector has paid $10,000 for a rare copy of the disk, and an avid fan-turned-promoter convinces them to reunite and cash in. But miles from the horizon of youth, weighted down by shortsighted choices and mortgaged ambitions, they find that's not so simple. Richie, a divorce lawyer, must stop seducing clients with karaoke. John, a dermatologist, needs to escape the would-be patients who corner him at parties, sleeves rolled up—or worse. Tim must introduce his wife to his drum set, hidden in the attic the way most guys hide porn. Brian has to desert the thesis he's been "completing" for twenty-five years. And somebody, somehow, has to track down Jerry, a hopeless gambler/Equal addict last seen flying to the Caymans with $1 million taped to his body. Along the way they encounter a delusional sister, an anatomically blessed baker, Les Paul, and former J. Geils Band lead singer Peter Wolf. With his trademark relentless humor, light and dark, and his compassion for the second acts of the baby boomer experience, Bill Scheft follows up his critically acclaimed debut novel, The Ringer , with another hysterical, touching look at chaotic lives in search of harmony.

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Friendship

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another book about a garage band written by David Letterman's punch-line machine. The book is not quippy at all although it starts off amusing enough with real characters: the reuniting Truants, a prep-school garage band whose specialty was playing "Michael Row the Boat Ashore" as a 10-minute make-out drone at co-ed socials.

After a nice opening set at a prep school, New England, 1967, the novel sags as it leapfrogs 30 years to the unlikely reunion. The Truants have not exactly shattered on the shoals, but their lives are certainly foundering in dead marriages, shuckster or dead-end careers, unfinished dissertations, unacknowledged gay-ness, and in one case a slightly amusing addiction to Equal and gambling.

Scheft's writing is choppy--he has a weakness for dropping you into a scene with no context, which sends you re-reading to get oriented--and an unfortunately propensity for seeking salvation for every character and their relationshiops. If only it all turned out so tidily.

I'm a sucker for novels about garage bands, but "The Wishbones," by Tom Perrotta, is much better. I give Scheft points for knowing his musical arcana and also for working both Peter Wolf and the legendary Beatles-opening New England band Barry and the Remains into the plot. NB Barry and the Remains just reunited for an 18-hour garage band/one-hit wonder celebration at the New Orleans jazz festival.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very enjoyable baby boomer mid-life crisis story about a group of male, east coast boarding school classmates--not quite friends--who had a brief run as a garage band in the early 1960s, and who get a chance for a reunion performance thirty years later. There are also some good female characters--a couple of wives and a semi-clean and sober sister who used to have a crush on one of the guys. I found it compulsively readable--it's interesting learning what they've all been doing since their high school days, the messes that they've made of their lives and how they believe that reliving their early glory days might redeem them to an extent. There's a lot of humor, and the squabbles and inside jokes that they've had since childhood seemed very realistic. Extra interest for those knowledgeable about 60's pop.

[L · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great book - I truly enjoyed this one. It's funny and original and always interesting. After sneaking away to read it at the bookstore on my lunch break for a few days (afraid to buy it because of the negative reviews on Goodreads), I finally broke down and bought it, finishing the rest of it in a day and a half because I could not put it down. Now to check out Bill Scheft's other books....

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I agree with lots of other reviewers re: the choppy writing (lots of flipping back, wait, which one was Brian again?), but I have a weakness for '60s rock & roll so I was going with it. Till the author told me three times in three pages that Virginia Tech is Lynchburg. Sorry, dude. This Hokie had to knock you down a star for that.

But for the most part, a fun weekend read.

[Nooktastic37 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes, with books and songs, it all about the timing. A song, that in retrospect may not be great, can always hold a special place in your heart if you hear it at the right time. I read this book at the right time. I rooted for the guys in the band to pull it off and enjoyed the weirdness of growing up, growing old and growing apart. Fun fluff - like a summer pop song.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay but I kept feeling like I should be finding it funnier than I did.

[Billy Maise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. Ok. Some humorous parts but I ended up losing the book halfway through and didn't finish it. It was a library book, so now I have to pay for it and it wasn't even that entertaining.

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

In many ways, Bill Scheft’s prose reminds me of the writings of the late Jack Douglas who, like Scheft himself, was a top-tier, late-night monologue writer (and drummer) who successfully turned his considerable joke-writing talents to long-form fiction. Unlike Douglas, however, Bill Scheft’s wit, while hilarious, is not an end in itself but instead serves as the sharpest, most entertaining means of making a good point. Scheft’s cast of characters exist as more than just handy frameworks on which to hang jokes. Scheft’s players come to life as fully fleshed-out people, as real as they are funny. And they are very, very funny.

Time Won’t Let Me starts out in a nice easy speed, setting up the origin of a 60’s college party band called The Truants. The tuneful narrative quickly picks up tempo and skips ahead several decades to the present-day where we are treated to hilarious updates and further adventures of these now-middle-aged college pals who have been persuaded to re-form the band for a reunion gig. As a baby-boomer musician myself, I couldn’t help but identify with the players, the situations, and Scheft’s pitch-perfect insights into the wild, often-touching, mix. But don’t get me wrong. You won’t need a musical background to enjoy Time Won’t Let Me. All you’ll need is a keen ear for well-tuned, masterful storytelling.

[Deborah Zumbrun · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't finish it. I didn't care for the characters, it was hard to follow, and the story line didn't appear to be going anywhere soon.

[Rick · Rating 2 out of 5]

The man gets good blurbs!
This time John Kerry and Paul Shaffer give props.
Prep school band reunion plot has hip references
and rock 'n' roll info aplenty but it's not as funny
as Scheft's Letterman monologue writing.

[Gregory Andis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as his first offering but Bill Scheft is the comical voice of his generation. No wonder I prefer Letterman to Leno.

[AS · Rating 3 out of 5]

It started off strong, but ended up being disappointing.