The good news: Kevin Chong’s memoir Neil Young Nation, one of Greystone/Douglas & McIntyre’s big fall titles, snagged a plum spot in The New York Times Book Review on the weekend. The bad news: the review, by Salon executive editor Gary Kamiya, is none too flattering.

“Chong comes across as nice enough, unpretentious, a decent writer,” writes Kamiya. “So you want him to somehow rise up above his vague and pointless quest, blast like Kerouac through sad neon streets, Humbert Humbert his way to the horny heart of lost motels, do anything to break out of his increasingly tedious journey.”

On the bright side, the barrage of media coverage attending Neil Young’s 60th birthday (it was November 12) shows that D&M timed the publication of Chong’s book very well indeed.

Related links:
Click here for the New York Times review of Neil Young Nation
Click here for the October 2005 Q&Q profile of Chong