Reviews of “Cigar Box Banjo”
 Cigar Box Banjo"The book Paul Quarrington produced as a last gift to his many fans is in a category of its own, a layered, rambling, deceptively casual mixture of music history, coming-of-age narrative and reflection on mortality." Globe & Mail Top 100 for 2010, Nov 27, 2010 Read more >>Read more about Cigar Box Banjo >> |
Cigar Box Banjo“An enthralling read, a wonderful mingling of musicological musing and personal memoir, made more poignant as we are aware of the ending before we begin.” Wholenote, Sep 1, 2010 Read more >>Read more about Cigar Box Banjo >> |
Cigar Box Banjo“Cigar Box Banjo: Notes on Music and Life...is a celebration of those things [Quarrington] valued most: music, friends, food, travel, and writing. While etched with sadness, it is nonetheless a joy to read...Cigar Box Banjo is the perfect testament to the man, and to his work. He will be missed.” The Georgia Straight, Jun 28, 2010 Read more >>Read more about Cigar Box Banjo >> |
Cigar Box Banjo“[Paul Quarrington] focuses on his subject (music) without wavering, even though death’s waving at him through the peephole. He writes an unabashed, unsentimental and beautiful treatise on how a life spent dabbling, experimenting is still a life spent in study and devotion, a life well lived.” The Coast, Jun 24, 2010 Read more >>Read more about Cigar Box Banjo >> |
Cigar Box Banjo“It’s doubtful we will see a better memoir this year than Paul Quarrington’s Cigar Box Banjo...He didn’t shy away exploring in detail his own dark journey toward death, but the path is illumined with humour, courage, [and] generosity...This is not a book about dying and death, it is about living and life... You can’t read Cigar Box Banjo without being punched in the emotional solar plexus by the force of our loss...it is comforting to know this ‘remarkable’ artist spent his final months on earth singing his way into his own song.” Waterloo Region Record, Jun 19, 2010 Read more >>Read more about Cigar Box Banjo >> |
Cigar Box Banjo“Cigar Box Banjo is the work of passion, of a writer trying to defy the odds of time to make one last trip to the well...It’s a rollicking ride across musical genres and time, one that shows its author trying to squeeze every ounce of life onto its pages. One couldn’t have asked for a nicer ending...for a guy who was seemingly as nice as Paul Quarrington.” Popmatters.com, Jun 17, 2010 Read more >>Read more about Cigar Box Banjo >> |
Cigar Box Banjo“[Cigar Box Banjo] is a book almost utterly free of sentiment, regret or anger. First and foremost, it is funny, perceptive and sometimes, oftentimes, blushingly self-deprecating. In this it is Quarrington...at his essential, bull-free best.”— Toronto Star, Jun 6, 2010 Read more >>Read more about Cigar Box Banjo >> |
Cigar Box Banjo“The ‘Life’ sections of the book...explode with Quarrington's personality and include road stories as he travels from one gig to another.” Ottawa Citizen, May 30, 2010 Read more >>Read more about Cigar Box Banjo >> |
Cigar Box Banjo“[Cigar Box Banjo] is full of those qualities that aroused such love for [Quarrington]—the good humour, the lack of pretentiousness, the warmth, the generosity, the grit he demonstrated in pursuing his art.” National Post, May 29, 2010 Read more >>Read more about Cigar Box Banjo >> |
Cigar Box Banjo“[Cigar Box Banjo], the book [Quarrington] produced as a last gift to his many fans is in a category of its own, a layered, rambling, deceptively casual mixture of music history, coming-of-age narrative and reflection on mortality...Sad, funny and wise—the writer's trifecta...Quarrington's description of how he reacted to his diagnosis will double as an account of what reading this book feels like: ‘The truest thing to say would be that it wasn't a single emotion, it was quite a few of them stumbling into each other to get out, like drunkards in a doorway.’ Yes, exactly.” Globe & Mail, May 29, 2010 Read more >>Read more about Cigar Box Banjo >> |