Synopsis

It’s 1967, the Summer of Love. When twenty-one-year-old guitarist Stephen Cane’s promising band falls apart, he is forced to move back home with his Christian mother. Unwilling to give up on his rock and roll dreams, however, Stephen flees to New York so he can patch things up with his former friend and bandmate, Dylan John, a pioneer of psychedelic rock whose band is on the verge of making it big. When Dylan unexpectedly quits Red Afternoon to be a civil rights activist, Stephen is handed the opportunity of a lifetime.

Lured into the trappings and pitfalls of celebrity and confronted with a dangerous secret, Stephen spirals into self-doubt and misplaced loyalties. Against the backdrop of a nation in turmoil, Stephen questions his dreams, his parents’ loyalties to a bygone era, his inability to choose wisely in love, and the unfortunate legacy of racial discrimination.

We Are All Together addresses a nation struggling with its mythological past and the effects it has had on the integrity of the individual. Does the artist owe the world anything? Does the ailing world need another rock star?

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Review

When I first started reading this book, I wasn’t sure that I was going to like it. I didn’t feel like I could relate since this all happened before I was born. I only know what I have seen or heard about music in the 60s and the peace, love, and drug lifestyle.

However, once I delved further into the book, I found that it was more than just the music scene, but also a look into civil rights as things were changing at that time. Some were against integration and treated those who didn’t believe the way they did as traitors.

The story does focus on a few main characters, but mostly Stephen Cane. He played with several bands and one Arthur Devane or Dylan John. Dylan was a musical genius, at least with his lyrics, but he seemed to enjoy theatrics a bit more. We know the 60s as the hippie era, and this book embodies that mentality and way of life – from drug use, alcohol, parties, clothing, and music. Stephen gets caught up in this despite trying to avoid getting hooked on drugs. While he has good intentions, he isn’t strong enough to say no or follow the path that he says he wants. He admits his weaknesses, and we know where he wants to go with his life, but how determined is he to get there?

I enjoyed the weaving of musicians, musical groups, and known people (Goldie Hawn is mentioned) into this story. It enabled me to be pulled more into the story and empathize with the characters and their life choices.

A surprisingly good book that we give 4 paws up.

About the Author

Richard Fulco’s first novel, There Is No End to This Slope (Wampus Multimedia), was published in 2014. His second novel, We Are All Together, will be published by Wampus Multimedia in October 2022. Richard received an MFA in playwriting from Brooklyn College, where he was the recipient of a MacArthur Scholarship. His plays have either been presented or developed at The New York International Fringe Festival, The Playwrights’ Center, The Flea, Here Arts Center, Chicago Dramatists, and The Dramatists Guild. Richard’s one-act play Swedish Fish was published by Heuer Publishing, and his stories, poetry, interviews, and reviews have appeared in The Brooklyn Rail, Failbetter, Across the Margin, Fiction Writers Review, and American Songwriter (among others). Richard is a member of the Pen American Center, where he is also a mentor in the Prison Writing Mentorship Program. For six years, he wrote about music on his blog, Riffraf. He teaches creative writing and English at an independent high school in New Jersey.

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