Review: Sorta Like a Rock Star

Are you a prince or princess of doom or of hope?  Seventeen year old Amber Appleton is clearly a princess of hope until one night her mother leaves the school bus they call home and never returns.  She's found brutally murdered several days later.

The first half of Sorta Like a Rock Star by Matthew Quick shows how outward Amber is, giving of herself to Franks Freak Force Federation or the Korean Divas for Christ or the Wednesday Afternoon Battle Between Hope and Pessisim at the Methodist Retirement Home (read the book to find out what they are). 

The second half recounts her sinking into depression after her mothers murder.  But this is not a depressing book because of Quick's upbeat, descriptive writing, his quirky characters (Door Woman Lucy, Joan the Old, Private Jackson), and his evident love of his character Amber. 

If you like quirky characters, fun plots, and a little philosophy thrown in (Joan the Old quotes Nietzsche), then you'll like Sorta Like a Rock Star.  (I'm not going to tell you why the book is so titled.  You'll have to read it to find out.)