The Age of Anxiety

A Novel

By: Pete Townshend

Narrated by: Michael Jayston

In his debut novel, rock legend Pete Townshend explores the anxiety of modern life and madness in a story that stretches across two generations of a London family, their lovers, collaborators, and friends.
A former rock star disappears on the Cumberland moors. When his wife finds him, she discovers he has become a hermit and a painter of apocalyptic visions.
An art dealer has drug-induced visions of demonic faces swirling in a bedstead and soon his wife disappears, nowhere to be found.
A beautiful Irish girl who has stabbed her father to death is determined to seduce her best friend's husband.
A young composer begins to experience aural hallucinations, expressions of the fear and anxiety of the people of London. He constructs a maze in his back garden.
Driven by passion and musical ambition, events spiral out of control -- good drugs and bad drugs, loves lost and found, families broken apart and reunited. Conceived jointly as an opera, The Age of Anxiety deals with mythic and operatic themes. Hallucinations and soundscapes haunt this novel in an extended meditation on manic genius and the dark art of creativity.

Critic reviews

"A cracking story about sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll."—Mail on Sunday EVENT

"A dazzling whirligig of a novel, featuring reclusive rock stars-turned-seers, visions of heaven and hell, young musical pretenders, artists and groupies."—Daily Express

"Setting his novel in the milieu he knows in all its excess, Townshend directs a cast of memorable characters while examining themes of creativity, genius, music, and love."—Daily Mail

"The scope of The Age of Anxiety is broader than first appears: this modern-day fable dwells on creativity and madness."—Radio Times

Excellent Look in the London Art/Music world

Pete Townshend (yes, THAT Pete Townshend) has created an excellent study of the characters of several fascinating fictional but very real characters. set in the music and visual art world in London, which Townshend knows well, it follows the lives of a group of young and middle-aged people over a 20-year period. Each of these people is a fascinating and fully rounded human being. Each is distinct, and any of them alone could have carried a novel. Their interaction and development over time is fascinating and is the core of the book. This is not the heavily plotted typical 21st Century novel. it a book about character and insight. Michael Jayston does an excellent job of narrating the story. Listen to this, it is well worth your time and book credit. And Mr. Townshend, please write another for us all.

A good and flavorful listen

The narrator Michael Jayston kept my attention with his reading of the intense dialogue, poetic musings and everything else Pete Townsend expressed in this novel. Not entirely a thick plot by my estimations, but still an interesting and worthwhile listen with the tangible plot that it does have. There’s a lot of of engaging ideas, conversations and perspectives to be heard here. Recommended if you are intrigued by music, psychology, philosophy and/or he-said she-said dynamics.

A Multifaceted Story

The world of rock music is intertwined with magic and family affairs in this novel. The story grabs our attention from the start and stays interesting throughout. There are a couple of odd chapters near the end, but they don't detract from the book's good. The characters are interesting, and even though there are several of them, the author makes it easy to tell them apart. I enjoyed listening to the book. The reader did a great job.

Pete Townshend, Who Are You?

In a story replete with more improbable coincidences than “Candide”, it is no coincidence that Louis Doxstader, the protagonist in this novel, is cast as a dealer in outsider art. This book is the literary equivalent. Although Pete Townshend’s writing craft does not rise to the level of a Kazuo Ishiguro or a Salman Rushdie, it is still impressive. Possibly even more so because of his outsider status. When Michael Jordan left basketball in 1994 to try his hand at baseball, no one expected him to be a hall-of-famer. But his performance, especially off the field, was remarkable. The same can be said for Townshend’s entry into the field of creative writing, particularly when one considers that this story was conceived jointly as a novel and an opera. Evidently, there are plans to turn it into an “opera art installation”. Is it possible that creativity, like energy, cannot be created or destroyed? Does it simply shift from one form to another? This venture by a 75-year-old rock star suggests that it does. “The Age of Anxiety” is an amazingly creative endeavor by an amazingly talented individual. This book/future opera art installation is a remarkable achievement for someone who, by all rights, should be well past his creative prime. Pete Townshend, Who Are You?

Fascinating

Pete Townshend is truly a gifted and imaginative artist who once again creates a unique story with great depth and complexity. Having followed his music, I was aware of his being a gifted story-teller and this selection is another example of his creative artistry. Read the book and listen to The Who's new album, maybe we'll see it on Broadway?