| The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone Adele Griffin 3/5 |
 First Sentence "Headline from Daily News, Monday July 29th: ADDISON STONE, WELL-KNOWN ARTIST, DIES AT 18." |
Publisher's Description: Two-time National Book Award finalist Adele Griffin offers an ingenious fictional take on the "oral history" celebrity bio that defined a bestselling genre: Edie, American Girl by Jean Stein and George Plimpton. In presenting herself as interviewer and curator of memories, Adele paints the portrait of a tragic young celebrity who allegedly committed suicide—presented in a series of brief first-person recollections—that ultimately results in the solving of a murder. Adele's words: "From the moment she burst into the downtown art scene, seventeen-year-old Addison Stone was someone to watch. Her trademark subversive street art and her violent drowning left her fans and critics craving to know more about this brilliant wild-child who shone so bright and was gone too soon. By means of more than one hundred interviews with those who knew her best—including close friends, family, teachers, mentors, art dealers, boyfriends, and critics—I have retraced the tumultuous path of Addison's life, with research that sheds new evidence on what really happened the night of July 28, 2013. With photo inserts and previously unpublished supplemental material." |
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Dear Reader, Are you an art freak? This might be the perfect oddball book for you then. Addison Stone is a very young, complicated, mentally unstable genius of an Artist. Did I forget to add dead? Yeah, she's also very dead. Adele Griffin, the Author, starts off introducing herself and why she started this "project" of a book. Right off the bat we're told that Addison is dead and this will be a recollection of her life through the interviews from friends and family (okay, maybe not all of them can be considered friends, hehe). Each chapter is filled with different viewpoints as well as chock full of photography and art. Since I received this edition from the Author at BookExpo this year, the copy isn't in color. I can't wait to see how it turns out though, I kept trying to see what some of the pictures and art would look like in the final book. This really is an oddball sort of book, unlike anything I've ever read. I know multimedia books are becoming all the rage these days (Night Film, J.J. Abram's S, and even one of the original House of Leaves, just to name a few). I have to admit, I fall for those crazy ideas behind them and I love anything even slightly innovative. Adele Griffin lightly kissed this genre with The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone, she made sure it wasn't too gimmicky and it stuck with a more artsy feel. I enjoyed being shown Addison's life, how she went through the typical torture most fantastic artists have to endure. It was engaging to read into the life of someone so successfully brilliant, by the end of it... I wanted to be her friend. The Author did a really good job breathing life into Addison Stone and I can tell MANY girls will relate to her. I suppose I should have rated this a bit higher for all the praise I've given it but I have to admit, nothing in it wow'd me. This is a VERY solid book, with very interesting innovation. I'll be able to recommend it to many friends and I'll even suggest you check it out. Happy Reading, AmberBug |
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