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Sorta Like A Rock Star (2010)

by Matthew Quick(Favorite Author)

3.94 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0316043524 (ISBN13: 9780316043526)

languge

English

genre

Humor

publisher

Little, Brown and Company

review 1: When I started this book I definitely wasn't expecting it to devastate me the way it did. The day I finished it I was going to read only a little bit, as I was really sick and tired and wanted to sleep, but then I got to the plot twist and oh my goodness, I couldn't put it down until I finished it. Needless to say it made me cry, like, ugly cry, with sobs and real tears and snot and all that gross stuff. It surprised me A LOT, and in an amazing way. Can't wait to read more from Matthew Quick!
review 2: Amber Appleton is a 17 year old girl who lives with her alcoholic mother on "Hello Yellow" - a school bus that her mother drives 4 hours a day. She has a group of friends who don't fit in (4 boys, two with disabilities - thus they are self-labeled "freaks"), a ... morenetwork of forgotten people she befriends and tends (old folks in a home, a group of Korean women learning English, a tightly controlled Vietnam vet) and a rescue dog she loves. The mother of one of her friends is a role model and lets her use her shower and leave her dog at the house during the day. Amber is a hopeful ray of sunshine for many. But when life deals her a crushing blow, Amber loses her own hope. Can she recover? So - there were things I liked about this book - a portrait of a teen with sincere faith in God that isn't restraining, warping, or a source of control from adults; a story for YA that wasn't about getting a boy; a story that though tragic, wasn't "typical" in its portrait of a child from the most broken of homes; a story of a girl surrounded by adults who though sometimes clueless, are good, supportive, and loving. What I hated: really? no one (particularly the woman whose house Amber uses as a place to shower and is supposed to be a top flight lawyer) notices the horror that Amber's home life has become?; Amber's verbal tics are silly and overdone ("True? True" and "Word." No one says "word" anymore); the story is manipulative and mawkish at times. OK, so that said - sometimes it is NICE to read something that is predictable, sentimental, and hopeful. So, read it if you want something hopeful - but don't if you hate books that are sometimes "precious." For a more realistic look at a girl in a precarious home but still a hopeful tone try "Eleanor and Park." This book is definitely NOT for kids under 9th grade or so given some language and a very violent death that though off-page, is not easy to read about. less

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