Book Review: How to Kill a Rock Star

How to kill a rock starTiffanie DeBartolo; Sourcebooks 2005WorldCat•LibraryThing•Google Books•BookFinder ★★★★★

I took a journalism course last semester and one of my assignments to write a review. I did and my instructor’s main hiccup with my piece was that my review didn’t hold an overall tone as to whether I liked what I was reviewing… so without further ado… I didn’t love it.

I say that I didn’t love it because it seems that everyone who has read this books thinks it is out of this world. But not me.It’s supposed to be raw and edgy and tear apart your emotions. Well, here I am… and I’m really not torn apart. Actually, I would love to give you guys a HUGE spoiler just to tell you what really made me unhappy with this book but I’ll resist.

Before I get too ahead of myself, here is a brief synopsis courtesy of Barnes & Noble:

Written in her wonderfully honest, edgy, passionate and often hilarious voice, Tiffanie DeBartolo tells the story of Eliza Caelum, a young music journalist, and Paul Hudson, a talented songwriter and lead singer of the band Bananafish. Eliza’s reverence for rock is equaled only by Paul’s, and the two fall wildly in love.

When Bananafish is signed by a big corporate label, and Paul is on his way to becoming a major rock star, Eliza must make a heartbreaking decision that leads to Paul’s sudden disappearance and a surprise knock-your-socks-off ending.

Alright, so there you go. Boy meets girl. Boy and girl are both wacked out people with irrational fear of planes, subways, and selling out to the ‘heathens and pagans’.  They both have a high level of respect for rock n’ roll music. They both claim that it saved their lives in one way or another and the irony is that it also ruined their lives. But I’ll let you read about that.

I’m not a huge fan of rock n’ roll music. I don’t personally connect with it the way Eliza and Paul did so maybe that was part of why I only gave this book a 3 out of 5 rating.

When I read a book I focus on the author’s writing. DeBartolo is a good author. Not amazing, not groundbreaking and “knock your socks off” good, just good. My problem with this book was that I never felt a real connection with Paul or Eliza. I’ve read other reviews of this book where people said that they felt that the other characters of this book were more fleshed out but I disagree.

My favorite character was actually Loring, the son of Paul and Eliza’s hero Doug Blackman. Loring becomes a vital part of the book in Part II through the end. I felt his emotions. I felt his connected to him and I rooted for him the whole time. I never felt connected to Paul or Eliza and I didn’t particularly like them. I found them both difficult to like. Eliza made a dumb decision and let it carry on for too long. But it made sense for two irrational people to make a bunch of irrational decisions.

Now, the twist. Everyone keeps talking about the twist. I really like it. When it came to reading the last 100 pages of the book I really just wanted it to end because I was losing interest… fast. But then, DeBartolo managed to pull me back in and somehow I began rooting for all of the characters again. I liked how the book ended, but it didn’t make up for how disappointing the whole book really was to me.

Maybe I was just expecting too much after reading all the rave reviews… maybe I just can’t relate to the deep love some people have for rock n’ roll music. Maybe my life isn’t broken enough for me to relate to two characters who have nothing to lose and no one to turn to… or maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t as great as so many people thought it was.

Because I am not one to completely bash a book (I have a high level of respect for any author, getting a book written and published is a feat in and of itself) I must tell you guys that the point of views from which the book is told was ingenious. It constantly flipped from Paul’s POV, to Eliza’s POV, to Loring’s POV, and even to Eliza’s brother Micheal’s POV. It was easy to follow and helped give me insight to each character’s real thoughts. That certainly helped keep me entertained and interested for most of the book.

Overall, it was decent. I don’t think it lives up to the hype but maybe it will for you. Not every book is relatable to every person. Also, even though this is sooo superficial… I hated the names of the main characters. Eliza and Paul? They really didn’t suit the characters.

But don’t let me be the judge. Pick it up and give it a shot. And if you’re from the area… this book was actually published right down the road in Naperville, IL. Give it some hometown love. 🙂

If you’ve read this book, I would love to hear your thoughts!