In 1977 Levin is a young Melbourne tram conductor dreaming of starting a band.  When he gets fired he chases the dream and slowly things fall into place: the record deal, the beautiful woman, fame.  Success proves a surreal ride.  With the adoration of strangers, the drugs and sex, and a life shaped by desire, Levin is supremely selfish.  He hates the words 'love' and 'God' because he fears what they might mean.  And something still bothers him, the feeling that there might be more to life.  When he pushes his best friend away and loses his girlfriend to addiction, the tissue of his world begins to tear.  He quits the band, self destructs and eventually escapes the disaster of his life to Thailand, where he reaches a sort of equilibrium meditating in a monastery.  Similar in tone to Shantaram, but neither as plot-driven nor as long, Levin's God will appeal to young people.  The search for the 'meaning of it all' is the thread that runs throughout, making it the kind of book that deserves to find itself in a lot of backpacks.  A wonderful rock 'n' roll bildungsroman, equal parts Kerouac, The Beach and Siddartha, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Lachlan Jobbins is a freelance reviewer and bookseller at UNSW Bookshop

Tags: roger wells