Sorta Like a Rock Star by Matthew Quick

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Gateway Nominee

Sorta Like a Rock Star by Matthew Quick

355 pages

This was hard to get into for a bit. Amber talks a lot to herself, and is ALWAYS saying 'True? True.' and 'Word.' I found it grating on my nerves quite a bit. But then, surprisingly, I fell in love with Amber Appleton and her quirky sidekicks. Amber and her mother live in a school bus at night that her mother drives by day. Mom is always drinking heavily at night, 'fishing for men,' leaving Amber alone in a dark scary school bus to fend for herself in the night. But Amber has hope...that by helping others that Jesus will help her get into a good school on a scholarship, just like her hero, Donna. She visits the old folks home and creates the Korean Divas for Christ at the Korean Catholic Church. But when an unexpected death occurs, Amber's hope is seriously rocked. Can she burst back into life, or will she become like so many of the people she tries to help? My favorite quote from the book come from Friedrich Nietzshe: "We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh." Beautiful. Definitely a must read book.