Novel

While The Angel Riots is a fictional novel about a dysfunctional, Canadian art-rock collective, Toronto author Ibi Kaslik’s Broken Social Scene connection makes the origins of her characters particularly intriguing. Montreal ensemble the Angel Riots preach revolution but ultimately fall into the trappings of music industry success. Nobodies at home, shrewd management helps the Riots explode in America, where they’re critics’ darlings. Touring overwhelms Rize, who starts a drug habit and cheats on his lover Kit, with her friend and his band-mate/BFF Jules’ wife, Margo. Rize’s regret draws him closer to teenaged music prodigy Jim, who’s wrestling with her own loss and demons. Kaslik’s artful prose and narrative devices make The Angel Riots’ harsh take on impassioned indie-rock, self-absorption, and relationships captivating and perhaps even illuminating.