Friday, September 6, 2019

Book review - Spin

Title: Spin
Author: Colleen Nelson
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: Solo by Kwame Alexander
                      Scar Boys by Len Vlahos
Rating:
well intentioned but a bit lacking

Summary (provided by publisher): Fifteen-year-old Delilah “Dizzy” Doucette lives with her dad and brother above their vintage record store, The Vinyl Trap. She’s learning how to spin records from her brother’s best friend, and she’s getting pretty good. But behind her bohemian life, Dizzy and her family have a secret: her mom is the megafamous singer Georgia Waters. When this secret is revealed to the world, Dizzy’s life spins out of control. She must decide what is most important to her — the family she has or the family she wants.

My opinion: I give Nelson credit: the plot of this book has an air of realism, particularly when it comes to individual character arcs. Decision have consequences, often devastating ones. The character's desires are clear to the reader, even when they are unclear to the character. And they are so driven by these desires that they dismiss potentially serious consequences. Each individual is so wrapped up in desires they can't see what they are doing to the people around them. I didn't much care for the multiple perspectives. The father's sections gave me particular trouble, mostly because the things we learn in those pages could easily have been relayed in Dizzy and her brother's pages. It didn't add anything to the plot to explore the father's inner thoughts, didn't even give him more depth. Instead, his perspective feels like and intrusive narrator.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

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