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jodiwilldare's review against another edition
2.0
When you tell people you’re spending a majority of your summer reading Rock & Roll novels they immediately tell you to read Stone Arabia by Dana Spiotta. Because it was a Rock & Roll novel written by a woman, I jumped right one it. Plus, Christa reviewed it last year and she liked it.
I can’t say the same thing.
The premise is fascinating — middle-aged LA siblings trudging through life when all their dreams don’t come true. Nik is the wannabe rockstar who gets close to the edge of fame but then plummets into a life of tending bar and creating a faux-autobiography called the “Chronicles” which, well, chronicle the life he could have had. The “Chronicles” are amazing and include fake obituaries, fake reviews, and very real albums that Nik makes in his garage studio.
Read more.
I can’t say the same thing.
The premise is fascinating — middle-aged LA siblings trudging through life when all their dreams don’t come true. Nik is the wannabe rockstar who gets close to the edge of fame but then plummets into a life of tending bar and creating a faux-autobiography called the “Chronicles” which, well, chronicle the life he could have had. The “Chronicles” are amazing and include fake obituaries, fake reviews, and very real albums that Nik makes in his garage studio.
Read more.
dc12's review against another edition
5.0
this does what "a visit from the goon squad" did, but better.
dee9401's review against another edition
1.0
I bought this book based on a two-sentence review in an end of year list of best books by the Washington Post. I hadn't looked up the full review by Ron Charles (25 July 2011). If I had, I would have passed on the book. He gave it a good review, but in doing so, showed me that I wouldn't have enjoyed it.
I didn't like the pacing, the story seemed to drag then lurch without reason. I never felt any attachment to the characters in the present time or in the flashbacks to the 1970s. When I read the author's info at the end of the book, I found part of my answer. She teaches at an MFA program and she's a fan of Don DeLillo, one of my least favorite, though widely lauded, authors. The book seemed more of an exercise, in technique, coolness, or whatnot, without really telling a story.
Having said this, I thoroughly enjoy her thoughts on memories. I especially liked when she focused on how photographs and the internet can never replace the way we remember how someone smells, or what a caress feels like, or how we felt seeing a particular sunset or moment. That they are staged, or somewhat removed from the reality of the situation. They serve a purpose, but not the one we often ascribe to them.
I didn't like the pacing, the story seemed to drag then lurch without reason. I never felt any attachment to the characters in the present time or in the flashbacks to the 1970s. When I read the author's info at the end of the book, I found part of my answer. She teaches at an MFA program and she's a fan of Don DeLillo, one of my least favorite, though widely lauded, authors. The book seemed more of an exercise, in technique, coolness, or whatnot, without really telling a story.
Having said this, I thoroughly enjoy her thoughts on memories. I especially liked when she focused on how photographs and the internet can never replace the way we remember how someone smells, or what a caress feels like, or how we felt seeing a particular sunset or moment. That they are staged, or somewhat removed from the reality of the situation. They serve a purpose, but not the one we often ascribe to them.
laffingllamas's review against another edition
5.0
Awesome story. Spiotta is an incredible author and really sucks you in with her amazing characters.
ianthereader0's review against another edition
4.0
4.5⭐️
Featured in my Blind Date with a Book Reading Vlog:
https://youtu.be/0qnmWKYZois
Featured in my Blind Date with a Book Reading Vlog:
https://youtu.be/0qnmWKYZois
thatabbygirl's review against another edition
4.0
probably more enjoyable if you know LA or the punk/glam music scene. interesting story about how we create and maintain our own identities. perhaps a bit slight.
rrrachel's review against another edition
3.0
I was drawn in early on, partly because the era and scene of the lead characters somewhat paralleled my own, but I ultimately found the story a bit anti climactic and a little clunky. As other reviewers pointed out, it was odd the way Spiotta seemed to jump from first person to third with no evident purpose.
sjbozich's review against another edition
3.0
A lot of contemporary writers who I admire mention Spiotta when asked who they read - so I figured I'd give her a try.
This was OK, I liked the music and LA setting, but I'm not sure that the changing POV/narrator added much. And at times I felt like the structure was a bit too all-over-the-place. But, overall a good write on memory and defining one's self.
I'll more than likely read another of her books.
What is interesting, is in the Acknowledgements she states that the character of Nik is based on her step-father, Richard Frasca, who had a made-up-life as a rock star. He did have a moment of fame early on, as part of The Whores, whose song "Bi-School" was included in Cheech and Chong's "Up in Smoke". He did some other appearances later in his life, thanks to the publication of this novel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9r5vV0L3AA
This was OK, I liked the music and LA setting, but I'm not sure that the changing POV/narrator added much. And at times I felt like the structure was a bit too all-over-the-place. But, overall a good write on memory and defining one's self.
I'll more than likely read another of her books.
What is interesting, is in the Acknowledgements she states that the character of Nik is based on her step-father, Richard Frasca, who had a made-up-life as a rock star. He did have a moment of fame early on, as part of The Whores, whose song "Bi-School" was included in Cheech and Chong's "Up in Smoke". He did some other appearances later in his life, thanks to the publication of this novel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9r5vV0L3AA
juliehirt's review against another edition
2.0
I had a hard time getting into this book. Seemed to go in about nothingness in people's lives and I guess, right now, i wasn't into it.
mondyboy's review against another edition
5.0
There's a moment about a quarter of the way through Dana Spiotta's Stone Arabia where the main character has a thought so obvious and yet so profound that I had to take a time-out to digest what I had just read. Our main character, Denise, coming to terms with her mother's gradual memory loss, recognises that she will one day witness her own daughter growing old. This simple observation has never occurred to me. Cleary I'm aware that my kids will get older, racing through clothes and moods quicker than my budget and patience can keep up, but I've never internalised the fact that if I live long enough they will be as old as I am now. As Spiotta puts it "I would live to see her get crow’s-feet and gray hair and hands that showed veins. I would see her feet and her neck change. I would see the perfection of her body be undone by time... The privilege of a long life is you live long enough to see your perfect child also submit to time and aging." Stone Arabia is full of these insights, reflections on middle age and family and parenthood and, as I will discuss in a sec, memory, that force you to pause, just for a moment, so you can absorb the deeper truth.
The main driver of this extraordinary novel - a novel James Bradley has been suggesting I read for a number of years - is how memory informs a person's identity. Spiotta deals with this in a number of ways. As noted above Denise's mother is suffering from a form of dementia that's causing her to not only forget but also become paranoid (and increasingly racist) about those around her. Denise is also doubting her own memories or at least her capacity to retrieve information about the most mundane of things. There's a great moment where she struggles to recall the American actress with the large chest who was decapitated in a horrible accident in the 1960s. Now I knew who Denise was referring too, and I'm sure so do you, but what was both funny and discomforting is that as I read the scene I completely forgot Jayne Mansfield's name. Denise's momentary memory-loss became my own.
But where the theme of memory and identity is treated with a great deal of originality and brilliance is in regard to Denise's brother Nik Karanis and his 30-year project to chronicle an alternate existence where his talent as a songwriter and musician is recognised. Now most of us - well me anyway - fantasise what our lives may have been like if we'd become a famous writer, actor or, in my case, Chef. It's one thing to have these idle thoughts it's another to actually create that alternative through multi-volume journals describing that life, fake clippings of reviews and articles about your artistic genius, including negative criticism and sneers, and the creation of album covers and all manner of one-off merchandise - and yes the music as well - to the extent that if archaeologists were to uncover all this many years from now they would be justified into thinking that Nik Karanis was a famous, much respected, sometimes loathed musician. Throughout the novel we are exposed to snippets of this other life, these memories that only have a tangential connection to reality, this extraordinary intricate alter-ego. Nik's project is so utterly insane and yet, somehow, absolutely authentic. We know it's artifice, Denise knows it's artifice, but we come to believe in the Nik that never existed.
Although Denise fears ending up like her mother, it's her written account that not only provides insight into the 'real' Nik but offers us a portrait of a woman who dearly loves her mother, daughter and brother but isn't entirely convinced she's made the most of her own life. Clearly her diary entries are a response to her brother's fantasy version of himself, but not to undermine or necessarily to set the record straight but as an attempt to understand how she got here - how we all got here. And, of course, they are a repository of her memories, things she's willing to admit to and other things she only hints at. As she says later in the novel sometimes the only way to keep a family together is to submit willingly to a form of shared delusion, the editing and deliberate deleting of certain memories. Not to say that this is a novel where dark secrets are hidden between the sentences, but rather an acknowledgment of what most of us do.
Stone Arabia is an emotional and inventive look at memory and identity. It's also a fantastic family novel that replaces artificial drama with the close bond between a brother and sister. I'll admit I may have shed a tear when Nik admitted to Denise's daughter, Ada, that he saw his sister as an extension of himself. The true keeper of his and his families history.
The main driver of this extraordinary novel - a novel James Bradley has been suggesting I read for a number of years - is how memory informs a person's identity. Spiotta deals with this in a number of ways. As noted above Denise's mother is suffering from a form of dementia that's causing her to not only forget but also become paranoid (and increasingly racist) about those around her. Denise is also doubting her own memories or at least her capacity to retrieve information about the most mundane of things. There's a great moment where she struggles to recall the American actress with the large chest who was decapitated in a horrible accident in the 1960s. Now I knew who Denise was referring too, and I'm sure so do you, but what was both funny and discomforting is that as I read the scene I completely forgot Jayne Mansfield's name. Denise's momentary memory-loss became my own.
But where the theme of memory and identity is treated with a great deal of originality and brilliance is in regard to Denise's brother Nik Karanis and his 30-year project to chronicle an alternate existence where his talent as a songwriter and musician is recognised. Now most of us - well me anyway - fantasise what our lives may have been like if we'd become a famous writer, actor or, in my case, Chef. It's one thing to have these idle thoughts it's another to actually create that alternative through multi-volume journals describing that life, fake clippings of reviews and articles about your artistic genius, including negative criticism and sneers, and the creation of album covers and all manner of one-off merchandise - and yes the music as well - to the extent that if archaeologists were to uncover all this many years from now they would be justified into thinking that Nik Karanis was a famous, much respected, sometimes loathed musician. Throughout the novel we are exposed to snippets of this other life, these memories that only have a tangential connection to reality, this extraordinary intricate alter-ego. Nik's project is so utterly insane and yet, somehow, absolutely authentic. We know it's artifice, Denise knows it's artifice, but we come to believe in the Nik that never existed.
Although Denise fears ending up like her mother, it's her written account that not only provides insight into the 'real' Nik but offers us a portrait of a woman who dearly loves her mother, daughter and brother but isn't entirely convinced she's made the most of her own life. Clearly her diary entries are a response to her brother's fantasy version of himself, but not to undermine or necessarily to set the record straight but as an attempt to understand how she got here - how we all got here. And, of course, they are a repository of her memories, things she's willing to admit to and other things she only hints at. As she says later in the novel sometimes the only way to keep a family together is to submit willingly to a form of shared delusion, the editing and deliberate deleting of certain memories. Not to say that this is a novel where dark secrets are hidden between the sentences, but rather an acknowledgment of what most of us do.
Stone Arabia is an emotional and inventive look at memory and identity. It's also a fantastic family novel that replaces artificial drama with the close bond between a brother and sister. I'll admit I may have shed a tear when Nik admitted to Denise's daughter, Ada, that he saw his sister as an extension of himself. The true keeper of his and his families history.