Sorta Like a Rock Star

I found this story of a quirky, amazing girl, Amber Appleton, so touching. Amber is homeless at the beginning of the story, she and her mom are living on a school bus. But Amber is a giver, she's an advocate for her group of friends, The Freak Five, teaches Korean women English through a Catholic R & B choir, visits old folks in a nursing home on Wednesdays, and befriends a Vietnam Vet. The voice of the novel is all Amber's irreverant and raw. Tragedy strikes, and after nearly loosing her optimism, Amber finds herself on the receiving end of all the good karma she's created. I really liked this book!

If I had a dollar for every time I teared up or started crying in this book I could have just bought the damn thing instead of borrowing it from the library. That being said, this was a fabulous read. As such author, Matthew Quick, is now in my all time favorite authors category.

This story opens up with Amber Appleton, an extraordinary girl who never thinks of herself first. Her four best friends are the high school rejects, the autistic kid, the only black kid in the county, the kid in the wheel chair and the kid with the stutter. Together they are Frank's Freak Force Federation (in honor of their favorite teacher). Amber's sunny optimism also gives her a unique group of friends outside of school. She volunteers as an English teacher show more to a bunch of Korean immigrants and helped them form Korean Diva's for Christ (Amber teaches the language through old soul music), she spends time with the old folks and debates with Joan of Old for laughs, and she writes haikus with a lonely Vietnam vet. She does all these things for the benefit of her community and she does all of this even though she's homeless and living in a school bus with her mom.

Despite all of her optimism something horrible happens, something life shattering, and it's up to the community to make Amber see that she's still important and that she's needed. Bad things happen to good people all the time and she needs to turn her sunny optimism back on herself. She has made such an impact on everyone and no one wants her to forget all the good she's accomplished.

Outstanding! show less

Quick has created one of the toughest and most appealing female characters in YA literature—Amber Appleton, an optimistic Catholic convert who lives in the bus her mother drives, essentially carries the world on her shoulders and also finds time to volunteer as a rockin’ chorus leader at a church made up of Korean parishioners in a Philadelphia suburb. A horrific tragedy tests Amber’s faith and ability to cope, but neither she nor Quick fall into easy cant about everything being for a reason or God is just testing you or any of that claptrap so insulting to those who have really suffered. An altogether astonishing, richly layered work, this novel should have a place in the YA canon (if such a canon exists).

Amber Appleton is an unyielding optimist. Even though she, her mom, and her dog - Bobby Big Boy - live on a school bus, and her mom sort of sucks at being a mom, and Amber's starting to feel like the walls are closing in, she still maintains a positive outlook on life. Amber volunteers at a local nursing home, helps teaching English at a nearby Korean church, and fights to keep her favorite teacher from losing his job. But when a fatal tragedy destroys Amber's life, she loses it. She is just a shell of her former self, and it's up to the people she's always cared for to help Amber.

It's almost impossible not to like Amber. As a character, her voice is strong, unique, and realistic. Great attention is paid to the surrounding cast of show more characters, making everyone - even the jerky jocks - realistic. Quick weaves together a story that involves poetry, religion, disability, and depression, without it ever becoming too overwhelming or preachy. I highly recommend this book! show less

Why isn't this book more popular? The only reason I know about it is because one day I was browsing my GR friends' shelves looking for a book written by an author whose name starts with "Q" for a reading challenge. How sad is that? Sorta Like a Rock Star deserves better.

Amber Appleton is a peculiar sort of girl. If you have seen Happy-Go-Lucky, Amber is pretty much a younger version of Poppy, an incorrigible optimist. She is the life of the party, she stands up for the weak, cheers up elderly, saves stray dogs, all with never-ending enthusiasm and positivity. Only, as you can expect, such approach to life is not necessarily healthy. It is too much of a burden to hold up so many people. One day, after a particularly devastating event, show more Amber can't take it any longer and succumbs to depression. Will she be able to pull through?

In an ocean of conventional YA books with recycled plots and characters, Sorta Like a Rock Star stands out. Amber's story is heartbreaking and inspiring. As for the characters, I do not know which one of them I liked the most - Amber, upbeat, hopeful, improper and pushy; or her best doggy friend Thrice B who never fails to hump his canine lady friend even with fresh stitches in his belly; or maybe Private Jackson, a Vietnam vet who copes with his war memories by writing haikus and drinking green tea. I just can't decide...

Speaking of haikus. Can't say I knew much about this poetry form before reading this book, but haikus here had quite an effect on me, meaning, they made me bawl like a baby. show less

I'm sorry if this review is on the sucky side, I really want it to be good but I'm writing it at the same time as writing a 2000-word research report on quantitative data analysis (kill me, just kill me now) so I can't make any promises. Plus, it's one of those really good books that I tend to waffle about and write things that don't actually mean anything... perhaps it's destined to fail.

Anyway! Let me just say that this book needs readers. About five hundred people have listed this book as "read" on goodreads, and come on guys, this isn't good enough. [b:Sorta Like a Rock Star|6763730|Sorta Like a Rock Star|Matthew Quick|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1263329051s/6763730.jpg|6961579] is one of those beautiful and rare gems of show more realistic fiction that just gets it in every way. It's funny, it's sad, it's poignant. There's all these amazing characters - some like none I've ever read before in my life - and there's possibly the coolest dog ever.

By the way, this book has somewhere between very little and nothing to do with music. I'm always a little put off by books with creative/musical protagonists, sometimes it's done right like in [b:If I Stay|4374400|If I Stay (If I Stay, #1)|Gayle Forman|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1221604709s/4374400.jpg|4422413] but more often than not, I find I just don't care how well a character plays guitar or writes poetry. There is some pretty use of Haikus here (a style of poem I've never cared for before I read this novel) but mostly, the whole "rock star" thing in the title is about Amber sorting her life out and discovering her inner rock star, the girl who has the ability to make a difference, influence people's lives and fulfill her dreams. I think I may have made that sound so cheesy... but, it's not, trust me.

In fact, parts of this book are horrible. It deals with death and alcoholism in quite a brutally honest way - but I guess that's the way I like it dealt with. There's so so much in this story, it's very rich and full to the brim with interesting questions about life, about faith and about hope. There are many people on my friend's list here who I know would love this story, I just hope this review will encourage some of you to read it. show less

Another great story from Matthew (Silver Linings Playbook) who demonstrates that hope is what's possible and necessary in life. Amber Appleton is a teen who in spite of her mother's choices inspires everyone she interacts with regardless of age, sex or mindset. A member of a group of dysfunctional high school friends, her wit, passion and energy is contagious. Of the five members, Ricky, an autistic math wiz is her sidekick, his mother Donna, an attorney who supports Amber in ways unimaginable. Guided by Father Chee, priest at a Korean Catholic church and an introverted Vietnam veteran, her circle is unique, supportive and diverse. Having to live in a school bus would hamper most, but Amber and her dog, Bobby Big Boy, are filled with show more joy, hope and expectation. Inspired, heart warming and paced to perfection, this is a terrific story worth reading. As a film buff and writer, I deeply disappointed in the Netflix adaptation so my recommendation is to read rather than view. show less