Rate this book

Ghosted (2010)

by Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall(Favorite Author)

3.73 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0679314520 (ISBN13: 9780679314523)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Random House Canada

review 1: Wow. I was not expecting to like this book - right now, after finishing it, I'm still not sure if I do like it. There's some gritty, disturbing stuff in there - some of which makes sense because of the subject matter, some of which just feels gratuitous, existing only for Edginess or something. The main character is hard to like at first - but, either because or in spite of the fact that you spend the whole story with him... he becomes someone you're rooting for. Maybe it's because there's no villain for most of the book - unless you count the bad sides of human nature, and the partly-metaphorical ghosts of unlived lives. During that part, the protagonist Mason seems to fade into the background - living as neither the hero or antihero he wants to be, self-consciously stoop... moreed to the dregs of life around him. But when the villain emerges - and I've rarely met one I've hated more (though his main villainous act is another gratuitous - Mason stands in sharp relief against him, someone who wants to save instead of destroy, even if the saving and destroying is sometimes hopelessly muddled and the very nature of free will called into question. Some parts of the book feel manipulative, but they're probably meant to be - I mean, this is a book partly about how words can resculpt/redefine lives, make a sad life noble (or, rather, reveal the nobility that was there all along). It's those moments, the ones that show the power of story and belie humanity's baser parts with hints of something transcendent in the human soul - those make me like this book. I'm still conflicted - but I think the reader's meant to be.
review 2: Interesting character and bizarre career he stummbled upon. Who could come up with this stuff? SUMMARY: At thirty Mason Dubisee must face the truth that he is a drug-addled drifter, an aspiring novelist unable to move beyond lists of titles and themes. But he stumbles into a shadow career of ghostwriting suicide notes for the despondent, a gig that helps him cover his gambling debts but takes an emotional toll since he is hardwired to rescue people. less

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