Sunday, December 17, 2006

The Life History of a Star, by Kelly Easton

Kristin Folger is dealing with Nixon, Vietnam, our "ghost" upstairs, her best friend Simon who keeps trying to get in her jeans, and her own body betraying her as she hits puberty. It's the 70s and everything you've forgotten (or didn't know because you weren't alive then!) is out with a vengeance. Told in diary form, Kristin relates the pain of a family who don't get along, parents who are separating, and a lost brother (physically present, but emotionally destroyed) who lives upstairs in their home -- a victim of Vietnam.

So very much potential here and so many vivid characters, but absolutely no story line to speak of. For folks who like the modern adult novel where everything is experienced but no story is actually told, this is a fantastic book, but I don't read for art -- I read for a story. There's some lovely details about the era (god help me, I'd completely forgotten about the game Masterpiece!), but it's not enough to save this meandering mess!

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