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Berlin-Warszawa Express

By (author): Eamon McGrath

Rollins’s Get in the Van meets Bidini’s On a Cold Road in an original fever dream

While touring Europe, Eamon McGrath wrestled with one of the biggest questions on the mind of any touring artist: should you suffer for your art? The pain and heartache that goes along with a working musician’s lifestyle must serve as a means to some kind of cathartic end, McGrath argues — otherwise that torment served no purpose. In Berlin-Warszawa Express, McGrath fictionalizes experiences from his life and the lives of his peers to seek out meaning and significance in the tumultuous and emotional experience of living on the road.

From boozy techno-fied weekends in Berlin, to punk squats in Prague, to the alleyways and barrooms of Vienna, McGrath chronicles the dramatic changes in emotion and culture occurring on both sides of the train window in this raucous debut.

AUTHOR

Eamon McGrath

Seven full-length records, multiple continent-spanning tours, and a critically acclaimed work of fiction lay in the wake of 31-year-old Eamon McGrath, whose fierce attitude and work ethic has led him to develop a career that could rival anyone 20 years his senior. He is based in Toronto, Ontario.

Reviews

“With all the redemptive, provocative and gritty poetry that flows so effortlessly through his songs, Eamon McGrath has turned his hand to the open page, where his notoriously old soul remains as inquisitive and outraged (and self-destructive) as ever. At once a profound, yearning love story to both the splendour and the dregs of old Europe, Berlin-Warszawa Express offers a booze-fueled, fly-on-the-wall assessment of the pitfalls and the triumphs of the perpetually touring musician, and the end result is simply a beautiful literary offering.” — Joel Thomas Hynes, author of Right Away Monday


“McGrath is not the kind of writer who tidies up after himself. This is a messy book about the messy life of a street-smart musician as he works his way across Europe. Expect broken teeth, blizzards, smashed vodka bottles and hangovers from hell. Beauty, too, in abundance. Whether he is looking inward to his own hopes and plans, or outward at the troubled Europe he is determined to comprehend, McGrath is a powerful observer. He tells the raw truth. An unforgettable read.” — Linda Goyette, award-winning author and journalist


“McGrath’s debut is a tight, vulnerable, trimmed-to-the-bone experience . . . a playlist of moments that define a life or story.” — Publishers Weekly


Berlin-Warszawa Express expertly captures the life and mind-set of the starving artist, offering convincing proof that they are more fulfilled than we could ever imagine.” — Exclaim.ca


“[A] booze-sweat, punk-lyrical train ride from the Berlin Wall to points east . . . Berlin-Warszawa Express goes beyond literary-ruin porn: a wrestle with the European ideal from a region where it is most strikingly new.” — Globe and Mail


Awards

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Excerpts & Samples ×

Rollins’s Get in the Van meets Bidini’s On a Cold Road in an original fever dream

While touring Europe, Eamon McGrath wrestled with one of the biggest questions on the mind of any touring artist: should you suffer for your art? The pain and heartache that goes along with a working musician’s lifestyle must serve as a means to some kind of cathartic end, McGrath argues — otherwise that torment served no purpose. In Berlin-Warszawa Express, McGrath fictionalizes experiences from his life and the lives of his peers to seek out meaning and significance in the tumultuous and emotional experience of living on the road.

From boozy techno-fied weekends in Berlin, to punk squats in Prague, to the alleyways and barrooms of Vienna, McGrath chronicles the dramatic changes in emotion and culture occurring on both sides of the train window in this raucous debut.

Reader Reviews

Details

Dimensions:

104 Pages
8.5in * 5.5in * 0.34in
0.41lb

Published:

May 09, 2017

City of Publication:

Toronto

Country of Publication:

CA

Publisher:

ECW Press

ISBN:

9781770413283

Book Subjects:

FICTION / Biographical

Featured In:

All Books

Language:

eng

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