I’m Johnny and I Don’t Give a Fuck #4
by Andy
Andy doesn’t give his last name. This book has no publisher. All of the words are hand-written (though it is a nicely put together, perfect-bound book), and with a title like I’m Johnny and I Don’t Give a Fuck, I wasn’t expecting too much. But reading this book, I was amazed. Blown away, really.
I’m Johnny and I Don’t Give a Fuck starts out as a first person narrative about a Canadian band going on tour. They leave in the middle of a snowstorm, in a road-weary van, and with the moon out to get them. One of the members of the band is reading a novel about a bike messenger, Henry O’Merin, who suffers a head injury that leaves him with the bizarre and alienating ailment of saying whatever comes to his mind as soon as it comes to his mind. The rest of I’m Johnny… follows the seemingly unrelated but diverging paths of the touring band and Henry O’Merin. The moon continues to torment the band, the van leaves them in all kinds of predicaments, and Henry O’Merin gets in all the trouble that you’d get in if you started saying what you really thought. Eventually, Henry runs into the alter ego of Andy, who is the bass player of the band and presumably the author, though the author shows up in a third story line. It’s not as complex as it sounds, but it’s a sophisticated blurring of the line between fact and fiction. It’s also funny and thoughtful, with fully developed characters that bring uniquely intelligent perspectives to everyday situations. Andy (the author) is like what Kurt Vonnegut could’ve become had he joined a punk rock band instead of going to Harvard. I highly recommend this book. It’s the kind of book that will make you skip work and forego eating just so that you can have more time to read it. It even has cool pictures in it.
The only way I know of to obtain it, though, is to send seven well-concealed American dollars to Andy, PO Box 21533, 1850 Commercial Dr., Vancouver, B.C., V5N 4A0, Canada.
