Aston Fachechi Fachechi itibaren Tunggulrejo, Gabus, Grobogan Regency, Central Java, Endonezya
This story starts right off in the head of the main character Brie. It’s a bit like working backwards at first, then the reader catches up to where Brie is in her own story and we ride it out with her. Since I wasn’t invested in the character yet, the first few chapters were not that interesting to me. Once the reader catches up to Brie and Patrick enters the picture, the book gets on a roll. The concept of the main character being dead and working her way through the stages of grief sounds depressing. However, this book is anything but. Each stage of grief brings about new revelations for Brie. Even though this is a fiction book, the events that unfold reminded me people’s lives are not always what we think they are. Everyone has secrets or things they didn’t know. Brie gets to see these hidden things from her life in the afterlife. All these things you think lead her to accept she’s dead. But that’s not the end goal. The book takes a twist that makes this book a much more romantic read than I originally expected. The two main characters, Brie and Patrick, end up quite likable. At first, Brie acts like the teenager she is, but by the end of the book I quite liked her. Patrick is a great guide in the afterlife and helps Brie through her stages of grief. There are complications in the story that add to the intrigue of what is really going on in Brie’s former life and current afterlife. Rothenberg does a nice job of interweaving these two aspects carrying the reader to the same conclusion Brie eventually comes to. The ending wraps up well except I do have one nagging thought. Brie does something in the end that leaves me to question her and Patrick’s ‘status’. This is a stand alone novel, so my main complaint is that not all was firmly explained to my satisfaction. In a stand alone I don’t like being left with any questions. Other than that, I enjoyed the book.
The beginning of this book was die laughing hilarious. Literally people were giving me weird looks and I wasn't even trying to hide the laughter. Near the end it got a little dry or at least that is how it felt when after the first third I thought I would never laugh so hard.
This was the book that introduced me to Sandlin. A favorite quote: "Let's get one thing straight right off the bat. I'm not crazy. Yes, there was a time when that may have been debateable, but the insanity play no longer washes. Everything I've accomplished was done with forethought and a healthy regard for the consequences." - Kelly Palamino
This is the ultimate "hood lit" novel, but Souljah does it with such style, not amateurism.
The track team. A band of naked guys running through Buffalo wearing only boots and hats during blizzards. Rampant alcoholism. That feeling they gave me when I first got here. All the Buffalo sights and sounds that make it specific. The billboard. The artist lofts. Let's play a game. I'm just going to describe an image and that's the game. Now you see it. Now two thugs are outside wanting to beat you up cause we are hanging out and I dated one of them for a week two years ago. The things people hold on to. This book was about a guy trying to find power and meaning in his life, being a 30 year old person making greeting card slogans, with a mom in a nursing home with alzheimers disease. He gives her a stuffed green frog. He walks around with other people holding their hands, and listening to their mumbling. What if as the days went by, the past didn't exist even the most recent moment? How terrifying would that be?