I love to buy books but oftentimes I finish a novel and no longer feel the need to keep it on my shelf. There are only so many books that I want to reread and all of the others get passed along. “Nobodies Album” isn’t going anywhere! It is staking great realty on my shelves. While I can’t say it’s fantastic or a classic representative of the time, I can say that it’s narrative style is beyond intriguing. The storyline seems hackneyed at points and thrown together at others, but it’s integration into the novel as a whole is fascinating. You owe it to yourself to read this book, even if you don’t like it...it’s worth a reading.
Olivia Frost is a successful writer living in an affluent Boston suburb. For her most recent book, she has decided to rewrite all of the endings from her previous novels. While her editor is less than thrilled with this idea, Olivia believes that her reinterpretation of her body of work will be interesting to her readers and therapeutic for herself. While delivering the manuscript to her editor, she hears on the news that her rockstar son has been accused of murdering his own girlfriend. Olivia is sent into shock and decides to head out to San Francisco to try to help her estranged son during this tough time.
The novel alternates between Olivia’s present relationship with her son and the endings that she has changed in her novels. Between each traditional chapter, is a “final chapter” of each of her novels. These excerpts are like short stories and fantastic in their own right but are also very telling about the characters in the larger novel. In the hands of another author, this narrative style could have ruined the entire book. Fortunately, you are in very skilled hands and the quirky style only adds to the beauty of the novel. Do yourself a favor, pick up this book. And when you’re done...grab another by her.
-DLP
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