Here's the premise of Liverpool Fantasy-in November 1962, John Lennon, along with George Harrison and Ringo Starr, walked out of a recording session because Parlophone Records wanted to release 'Till There Was You' as a single instead of 'Please Please Me.' The group fell apart and the phenomenon that was the Beatles never happened.
The rest of the novel occurs twenty-five years later. Paul McCartney has gone Las Vegas and changed his name to Paul Montana. Though a star entertainer, he finds his life empty. John, still dedicated to playing real rock n' roll, is on the dole in Liverpool and playing for beer money. Ringo is living off his wife's chain of beauty salons. George is a Jesuit priest who has reached the end of his spiritual rope. All of them come together for a reunion in an apocalyptic Liverpool, where fascism is on the rise and gangs have the run of the streets, firebombing cars, beating up people who oppose them, and preying on foreign immigrants. We find, along the way, that Paul has had three wives, including Nancy Sinatra and Cher. There is a President Agnew (Spiro?) in America, and Queen Di rules Buckingham Palace. The author Larry Kirwan seems to have combined 'Meet the Beatles' with '1984' and 'Back to the Future II.'
The book could have tried to be cute, working in references to a lot of what would have been unwritten Beatle songs. This is done sparingly and there is mention of John Lennon having written a song about walruses, that everyone thinks is strange, and at another point, a drunken Lennon keeps yelling 'All I need is luv.' Liverpool Fantasy successfully explores a number of points-what would have happened to John, Paul, George and Ringo (the names almost always appeared in that order), if they had not become the Beatles; their relationships with each other; and their relationships with their families and people outside the group. The book even makes us consider what we would be like today without the Beatles. In the novel, John says, 'What's eatin' me is that we could have turned the whole world on its ear.' And we know he's right. They changed music, and perhaps they changed us-at least for a little while. We also know that the remnants of the sixties are bittersweet. As Stephen King has noted, that generation had a chance to change society, and instead chose the Home Shopping Network.
This sad and funny book pulled me in and held tight. I kept thinking that at least John didn't die in 1980. Liverpool Fantasy is for Beatle fans of all ages.
William Keogan
Liverpool Fantasy
Here's the premise of Liverpool Fantasy-in November 1962, John Lennon, along with George Harrison and Ringo Starr, walked out of a recording session because Parlophone Records wanted to release 'Till There Was You' as a single instead of 'Please Please Me.' The group fell apart and the phenomenon that was the Beatles never happened.
The rest of the novel occurs twenty-five years later. Paul McCartney has gone Las Vegas and changed his name to Paul Montana. Though a star entertainer, he finds his life empty. John, still dedicated to playing real rock n' roll, is on the dole in Liverpool and playing for beer money. Ringo is living off his wife's chain of beauty salons. George is a Jesuit priest who has reached the end of his spiritual rope. All of them come together for a reunion in an apocalyptic Liverpool, where fascism is on the rise and gangs have the run of the streets, firebombing cars, beating up people who oppose them, and preying on foreign immigrants. We find, along the way, that Paul has had three wives, including Nancy Sinatra and Cher. There is a President Agnew (Spiro?) in America, and Queen Di rules Buckingham Palace. The author Larry Kirwan seems to have combined 'Meet the Beatles' with '1984' and 'Back to the Future II.'
The book could have tried to be cute, working in references to a lot of what would have been unwritten Beatle songs. This is done sparingly and there is mention of John Lennon having written a song about walruses, that everyone thinks is strange, and at another point, a drunken Lennon keeps yelling 'All I need is luv.' Liverpool Fantasy successfully explores a number of points-what would have happened to John, Paul, George and Ringo (the names almost always appeared in that order), if they had not become the Beatles; their relationships with each other; and their relationships with their families and people outside the group. The book even makes us consider what we would be like today without the Beatles. In the novel, John says, 'What's eatin' me is that we could have turned the whole world on its ear.' And we know he's right. They changed music, and perhaps they changed us-at least for a little while. We also know that the remnants of the sixties are bittersweet. As Stephen King has noted, that generation had a chance to change society, and instead chose the Home Shopping Network.
This sad and funny book pulled me in and held tight. I kept thinking that at least John didn't die in 1980. Liverpool Fantasy is for Beatle fans of all ages.
