A review by blevins
Stone Arabia by Dana Spiotta

3.0

Terribly titled novel set in Los Angeles and based around a brother and sister who are in their 40s as they take stock in their mostly unfulfilled lives. Brother is a musician who is lost in creating his own mythology that consumes him. Sister is the lifelong supporter who is wrapped up in his life while also wanting to be apart of her daughter's life as well. I didn't care for STONE ARABIA early on, but it kind of grew on me as it ebbed on. There's something appealing to "Nick" and his refusal to even attempt to make his creations public--he's satisfied with the intimate world he's manufactured for himself and to him, that's enough. That's an idea that all people who create have to contemplate whether you are a writer, musician, photographer, painter, whatever. Most of us do those things in absolute secrecy for our own pleasures. For some of us, that's okay, for others, not so okay. At times, Spiotta veers off-track unfortunately by bringing in outside events into the characters lives [droning on and on about Gulf War prison torture for one thing] that just felt out of place. Luckily this isn't that long a novel, so it's not too meandering when it goes away from the main characters. Some interesting ideas at work here, but it just didn't hit on all cylinders for me.