Baroque-a-nova

the long version

"Meet Saul St. Pierre, teenage son of the once famous St. Pierres, a forgotten seventies folk sensation enjoying a revival thanks to a German techno group's remake of their hit song "Bushmills Threnody." It's not the best week of Saul's life - he just learned that his long-absent mother has committed suicide fifteen time zones away. And because Helena St. Pierre's death occurs just as the St. Pierre's are experiencing a resurgence in popularity, Saul's town is flooded by journalists, film-makers, game-show hosts, and assorted oddballs fueled by the nostalgia boom - all hungry for a glimpse of tragic celebrity.". "It doesn't help matters that Saul's step-mother, Jana, the only reliable adult he's ever known, is dating a cop who wants to marry her. Saul's relationship with his girlfriend is on the fritz. Then there is the arrival of the two young women from New York who come to worship at the feet of his father, an alcohol-guzzling musical has-been. Saul and his friend Navi are suspended from school for staging a demonstration against censorship. And during all this, during the week leading up to his mother's funeral, Saul struggles to understand her reasons for taking her own life - and for abandoning him years before."--BOOK JACKET.