God Save My Queen: a Tribute

by Daniel Nester. 132 pages. Soft Skull Press, 71 Bond Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217. www.softskull.com

Book Review by Michael Basinski

Hey Queen Fans. Hello QUEEN, QUEEN fans! Hey, Nester WILL ROCK YOU! He’s a KILLER QUEEN! Well, I don’t know about hat. He knows the words! Each section of the book has the title of a Queen album (as they were released) and each short prosy entry in each section has the title of a Queen song, as they appear on the albums. This is one of the neat things about this book: literary art weavered with the material of pop music, history and youth culture. If you are a Queen fan or addict. Oh yeah. You gotta have this one. To define: Nester writes a hybrid form ’ part prose, prose poem, diary (personal memoir), recorded memory, imaginary memory, dream and Queen fact. It is a private world, with QUEEN at center that he creates. It is the private world of teen memories tempered with time. It is imagination and juxtaposed image assembled as a collage that invites you (as reader) into the composition. Life and art! Art and culture! This book, this form, serves a delicious plate that really succinctly defines a context in which we all in Americana culture reside. Find yourself. Here’s a key via writing.