Book Review: The Bow Tie Gang

Upon learning of this phantom novel in our midst, we asked Ben about it. Our conversation went something like this (mild to bold paraphrasing):

AUSTINIST: So, you wrote a book? Like, a novel?

BEN: Yes, indeed I did. It happens sometimes.

AUSTINIST: Is it any good? Or did you fuck it all up?

BEN: I’m not the judge of that. I just tell the story I have. You should be the judge, not me.

AUSTINIST: Right. If I read it, like it, and review it, will you give me free vodka?

BEN: No.

AUSTINIST: …

BEN: …

AUSTINIST: That’s it? “No.” I mean, you didn’t even pause on that.

BEN: Nope.

AUSTINIST: Since when do bartenders have morals and shit?

Even though we were disenchanted, we staggered down to Book People and picked up the second-to-last copy of said novel off the shelf, while feeling a tad dubious as to whether or not it would be worth the time required to read it. We should have had more faith. The Bow Tie Gang had us in its grips. It only took three days to finish this puppy, and it would have been much, much quicker if it were not for the poor state of affairs we call “Texas public schooling during the 90’s”. It’s like, a total wonder that we can do maths kinda good sometimes and stuff. Maybe.

Back to the book.

The short, breeze-read description of this story would fly as follows:

Five late-to-post high school guys, good friends, in an early-1960’s drag racing gang, living in Alameda, CA. Irish Greasers, the lot of them, push through the story fighting with everyone (including each other), almost constantly drinking, and womanizing (sometimes thoughtfully so) at their convenience. Their collective dirty fantasy-lives persist until death, pregnancy, infidelity, and disparate opinions on where they all want to be individually (in life), breaks the dynamic forever. Fin.

Alternatively, there is the official, back-cover summary:

When seventeen year-old Wil discovers his girlfriend Katherine is pregnant, he thinks his world is about to end. It’s only a week before his graduation from high school, and he’s still running around with a hot rod gang of small-town Irish-American kids known as the Bow Ties. He sees his sudden collision with responsibility as a premature banishment into family life banality. When Will discovers Kat’s wealthy father facilitated an illegal abortion, he is relieved. Momentarily. It isn’t long before guilt and confusion engulf him, threatening to sever the bond between his post-pubescent soul and his sanity. Set in the hot rod culture of Northern California in 1961, Wil and the rest of the gang are forced to cope with love, lust,, death, betrayal, madness and teenage sex already devoid of its innocence.

Much more eloquent than the breeze-read description, but still not satisfying considering what one can pull from this book.

There is an almost knee-jerk reaction to label a novel that follows the type of plot line penned by Reed in The Bow Tie Gang as a coming of age story. Cliches are cool, have you heard? Sure, it has all the standard elements one would expect to find for that categorization: a young protagonist amongst young antagonists acts on poor and then poorer judgment, which leads him to almost sure disaster, only to have a reversion of events, which ends in favor of the protagonist. Lessons are learned and everyone walks away clapping, all brilliantly better and shit.

But that would be an unfortunately short-sighted interpretation of all that this story actually offers even the most casual reader.

What this story is actually about [self-righteous opinion], is the way in which most people tend to box themselves into a cocoon of comfort by not bothering to see beyond where they are, or where they are capable of going. Usually, we as people, do not realize that we have been short-selling ourselves until it is too late. Laziness and predictability become mantra. We see change as “potential disaster” rather than “potential progress”. Eventually, things prove to be as boring as they always were, and a-lot of “coulda-shoulda-woulda” flows forth during some pathetic midlife crisis or something similar. It is an unfortunate malaise that almost everyone falls victim to.

This story is a broad yet brief (yes, that fits) metaphor for the process of entering, recognizing and successfully busting out of that self-destructive cocoon.

The Bow Tie Gang is about one individual’s fight against squandering his own potential, and how his environment continually sends him mixed signals on how or why he should change his course in life.

The story covers the week before high school graduation for a fellow named Wil, as he dicks around with his buddies, laments over a disastrous/poisonous relationship, and sporadically wonders whether his life has already plateaued or has yet to even begin. Generally, he enjoys being who he is, as simple as it may be. Between brawls, street races, fits of jealous/depressed rage, advice sessions with father-figures, and drinking beer with the Bow Ties, Wil actively fights to continue living that way. However, subconsciously, he knows that he is meant for so much more. But it takes a change in his environment, flips of situation, and the destruction of The Bow Ties' group dynamic for him to see this clearly. He ends up being pushed toward fulfilling his potential as a person by having his fantasy life sullied by back-stabbing, death, and the crushing of his heart by a wily chicken-head.

Yes, the character is a chicken-head. No, Reed does not refer to her as such (he does well to keep the language of that period).

This story is one, massive, overriding metaphor. A fantastic metaphor for every stick and slump in any person’s life, where they felt that “if things would just stop moving around so much, and stay the same, I would be perfect,” when in actuality, that comfort cocoon was little more than a crap-rut that desperately needed to be jumped. Applicable to anyone, anywhere, who is willing to heed the warning signs and buck up to buck out.

We hope you check out this novel. At this time, it can be purchased from Book People as well as Amazon. It appears to be in limited print, so if anyone wants to borrow our copy, just let us know!

Anyone want to start a book sharing club? Let us know. Many of the books we like are in limited (or out of) print.

Are you a local Austin writer with a novel we might like? Let us know. We’ll try anything twice (that does not kill us the first time).

Review: fin.