Storage Stories
by Jim Bob

Vignettes from the other side of fame

Record Collector celebrates the permanence of the musical endeavour, rejoicing that, for each slab of vinyl – whether legendary or half-forgotten – there’s someone who cherishes it. Jim Bob, once of Carter USM, is here to remind us that, despite that permanence of deed, fame and success are essentially fleeting things.

The faded pop star narrating Jim’s first novel has been there and is back again, finding himself in the dreaded position of having to find a “proper job”. Managing a self-storage company and enduring the sporadic, “It’s you, isn’t it?” and occasional, “Didn’t you used to be…” he wanders through life with a sharp eye for the quirky story hiding behind his customers’ lives, while renting storage to a Michael Stipe (just not the Michael Stipe) and expounding his theories on where boy bands go when they reach self-awareness.

There’s something of Nick Hornby in the way that the author infuses his work with the 30- and 40-something pop culture references that makes this book such an engaging read. Really a collection of peculiar snapshots making up an overall narrative; there’s a wistfulness of loss at its core but around its edges lies a celebration in the diversity of human nature.

3 stars 3 stars 3 stars

Ten Forty Books

Reviewed by Ian Abrahams
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