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Jessica Z Jessica Z Jessica Z (2008)

by Shawn Klomparens(Favorite Author)

3.51 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0440337909 (ISBN13: 9780440337904)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Delta

review 1: Contemporary romance is one of those genres that I tend to stay away from. I can only take so much fluff, and, yes, I realize they aren't all fluffy and cute. I like my romance to be real and gritty, and that is precisely what you get in Shawn Klomparens' debut novel Jessica Z. What Jess has in the beginning of the novel with Patrick is complicated, as many relationships are. Are they together? Is the timing right? How do they know if it's real? And then, before either of them know it, they've missed their chance. I loved and hated it, because occasionally, life just sucks that way.Jess has to start all over, and it's hard to watch her go down a road that leads her farther and farther away from the man she loves and into someone else's arms and then into his bed. But Jessi... moreca Z. isn't just about making your own choices and finding your way back to where you're supposed to be; it's about friendships and family and figuring out who you are. So when she finally realizes everything that has gone wrong, it is incredibly satisfying. Seeing the complete circle Jess makes breaks your heart before you get the ending you want.Shawn Komplarens has delivered a fantastically real debut, and I will certainly be keeping an eye on his work.
review 2: Jessica Z. is set in an alternative, post-9/11 future (a flash-sideways for all you Lost fans out there) where our security concerns are more than justified. You see, people are blowing up buses in San Francisco at regular intervals, shaking the world, and reshaping people’s lives in an instant.Against this tense background, we meet Jessica, a woman in her late twenties who’s struggling to find her place in the world. She’s involved in a dysfunctional way with her upstairs neighbor, Patrick. They are clearly desperately in love, but neither can come out and say it and both thinks the other is the reason things aren’t working out. So Jessica imposes a rule – no more sleeping together. And soon after, she meets Josh, a controlling and gifted artist. They become involved, almost against Jessica’s better judgment, and she becomes the focus of Josh’s next project – a map of the human body, hers.As the slow, and sometimes embarrassing, process of mapping her progresses, Jessica becomes increasingly concerned about Josh, and his influence over her. He is so certain about everything, it shuts out everything else, even her. She knows she needs to break free of him, but breaking up is hard to do. And then something literally knocks her sideways and she’s faced with a whole new set of problems and suspicions. Can she fix herself and find her way back to Patrick?I enjoyed this novel very much. Klomparens creates a realistic female voice in this first-person present narrative, so much so that I doubt you’ll remember a man wrote the book for much of it. It is by turns funny, poignant, interesting and touching. It made me laugh and, I admit, cry – it made me feel.Klomparens also weaves tension and suspicion throughout the story, particularly in the latter sections. Because the book just starts at a particular moment in Jessica’s life, no explanation is given for the state of the world, it just is. This creates some (intentionally, I think) disorientation, which keeps you on the edge of your seat and turning page after page.This book might be a little hard to categorize, genre-wise, but that’s not a problem for me. It’s just good. Read it. less

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