Rating: 
Summary: A Gem
Review: I can't recall the last time I read a book that I enjoyed as much as The Wishbones. (Like many of my fellow Amazon denizens, I read quite a bit, so this is not an inconsiderable achievement.) Perrotta's characters are exceptionally well crafted, his dialog is pitch perfect, and his story-telling doesn't have an ounce of fat. Let me put it this way: Tom Perrotta is Nick Hornsby with chops. I'm not sure if The Wishbones is great literature or not (although it very well might be; Perrotta is reputed to teach creative writing at Harvard!), but it is exceptionally entertaining and well worth your time. My only complaint is that, as I writer, I occasionally found myself despairing as I worked through its pages, thinking, "I'll never be able to write this well." But that's my problem, not yours. The Wishbones is a terrific book and I promise you won't regret spending the money or taking the time to read it.
Rating:
Summary: Characters you know and (believe it or not!)love...
Review: I couldn't put this book down....If you've ever been a musician, or been friends with a musician, you know these guys! The author's of music is infectious, and you'll look at wedding bands with a new respect after reading this book. Full of wonderfully real moments, The Wishbones gets you into the head of a regular guy (and as a regular girl, I always enjoy such an opportunity)and will have you laughing every step of the way. Although Dave, the main character, is 32 years old, I would call this his coming-of-age story. After all, how many Americans really "come of age" in their teens or early twenties? Dave reluctantly lets go of a piece of his adolescence in this story. Will he ever completely let go? I hope not!
Rating: 
Summary: sigh
Review: i had high expectations of this book. after all, i'm a hugefan of election (the movie i mean). i would have read the novel,election, but i grew weary of reading the books movies are based on after i've seen the movie. so i decided, out of respect for tom perrotta and his assumed skill, i would read another novel of his. i chose the wishbones because someone or other compared it to high fidelity. this, i'm dissapointed to say, is no high fidelity. it has almost none of the insight. little of the humor. dave is far more pathetic and less sympathetic. just when i thought perrotta was going somewhere with dave's new love, gretchen, he decides to do nothing with it. nothing at all. dave falls in love, loses it, and then goes back to his fiancee, apparently deciding he's happy with her. he doesn't examine that in depth and gives no reason for his newfound satisfaction with his mundane life in new jersey. i continued reading the book to see how perrotta would resolve the seemingly unsolvable dellemma that dave faced, being engaged to one woman and in love with another. apparently perrotta got tired while writing this and elected to end the novel in the dullest, most formulaic way possible. as the wedding approached, i kept thinking something new was going to happen. but then i looked, and there were only about ten pages left to go... if you read this book, stop after gretchen dumps him. then make up your own ending. i'm quite sure it would be better than the actual one.
Rating:
Summary: Dead-on and hilarious
Review: I howled reading this painfully accurate story of a wedding-band musician trying to maintain his rock and roll dreams when he's entering the age of Relaxed Fit. I give it a 9 only because I found the ending disappointing, but I have to say the description of the JFK assassination musical is worth the price of the book alone.
Rating:
Summary: I wish i knew these guys!
Review: I loved this book! though its all about characters and the plot is fairly thin, i loved these guys and since i am originally from jersey, i think I know a few still like this. But the guys in the band are emminently likable and you just get involved in their lives. having met the love of my life at a wedding after a personal crisis, I can identify with Dave's indecision about the exotic lover or stable fiance. if you like character driven novels, this one can't be beat!
Rating: 
Summary: A Pleasant Surprise
Review: I was a little hesitant about reading the Wishbones, as I disliked Perrotta's "Election" immensely. This book seems like it was written by a different author altogether. A very easy read, but written well and creatively. It's a great book for everyone, but especially for folks in their late 20s and early 30s. Perrotta throws in a ton of past events that really take you back in time. And anyone who has ever wanted to be a rock star or have a career in music (as I once did) will feel like Perrotta has gotten into your head and heart. Highly recommend.
Rating:
Summary: Totally appealing characters
Review: I was disappointed when "The Wedding Singer" came out, because now if they ever make a movie of "The Wishbones," people will think "The Wishbones" unoriginal. (And I was hoping "The Wishbones" _would_ be a movie someday). This was a remarkably engaging read -- the rehearsal dinner and wedding scenes were especially sweet reminders of why your wedding can be the happiest day of your life. And there's one hilarious chapter involving neo-Nazis that had me on the floor. I didn't quite understand why Dave fell for Gretchen, but that turned out to be a surprisingly small flaw in a very fun story!
Rating:
Summary: Wedding Singer meets High Fidelity
Review: I was much more entertained by this story of a 30-year-old New Jersey wedding musician than I had anticipated being. It's sort of a The Wedding Singer meets Nick Hornby page-turner as we follow the professional and romantic progress of guitarist Dave over the course of a summer, as he attempts to resolve his love of being a musician with the reality of being an adult and living at home. The male characters are all interesting and well-drawn, and while the commitment issues are somewhat hackneyed, it's excellent in portraying the ambivalence some of us have to "settling down."
Rating:
Summary: Tuxedos and Trombones
Review: If you've seen the movie The Wedding Singer, you're already familiar with the idiom of Tom Perrotta's The Wishbones. This is the story of Dave, a musician in a wedding band in the New Jersey of the 1980's, and how his life changes as he approaches his own wedding to Julie. He has been dating Julie for fifteen years "on and off", and once he's proposed his problem becomes not so much unrequited love as love too much requited. Though Dave is seen by his band-mates as rock steady and by himself as an all-around nice guy, the approaching wedding looms ahead like the end of his freedom and challenges him to make some unusual choices in his last summer as a single man. Aside from Dave, the other characters in the band each have their own story arc, well-painted by Tom Perrotta. Though I didn't find The Wishbones as funny as Perrotta's later novel Joe College, there was something poignant and almost naïve about it that was missing in the other work. A definite must-read for those who came of age in the 80's.
Rating:
Summary: Tuxedos and Trombones
Review: If you've seen the movie The Wedding Singer, you're already familiar with the idiom of Tom Perrotta's The Wishbones. This is the story of Dave, a musician in a wedding band in the New Jersey of the 1980's, and how his life changes as he approaches his own wedding to Julie. He has been dating Julie for fifteen years "on and off", and once he's proposed his problem becomes not so much unrequited love as love too much requited. Though Dave is seen by his band-mates as rock steady and by himself as an all-around nice guy, the approaching wedding looms ahead like the end of his freedom and challenges him to make some unusual choices in his last summer as a single man. Aside from Dave, the other characters in the band each have their own story arc, well-painted by Tom Perrotta. Though I didn't find The Wishbones as funny as Perrotta's later novel Joe College, there was something poignant and almost naïve about it that was missing in the other work. A definite must-read for those who came of age in the 80's.
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