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    Sorta Like a Rock Star: A Novel
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    Sorta Like a Rock Star: A Novel
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    Sorta Like a Rock Star: A Novel
    Audiobook6 hours

    Sorta Like a Rock Star: A Novel

    Written by Matthew Quick

    Narrated by Cynthia Holloway

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    "This special book dares us to embrace audacious hope. Amber Appleton is my hero."
    -Sara Zarr, author of Once Was Lost and National Book Award finalist Story of a Girl

    Amber Appleton lives in a bus. Ever since her mom's boyfriend kicked them out, Amber, her mom, and her totally loyal dog, Bobby Big Boy (aka Thrice B), have been camped out in the back of Hello Yellow (the school bus her mom drives). Still, Amber, the self- proclaimed princess of hope and girl of unyielding optimism, refuses to sweat the bad stuff. But when a fatal tragedy threatens Amber's optimism-and her way of life-can Amber continue to be the rock star of hope?

    With an oddball cast of characters, this heartwarming, inspiring novel unveils a beautifully beaten-up world of laughs, loyalty, and hard-earned hope. The world is Amber's stage, and Amber is, well . . . she's sorta like a rock star. True? True.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateApr 13, 2010
    ISBN9780307738127
    Unavailable
    Sorta Like a Rock Star: A Novel
    Author

    Matthew Quick

    Matthew Quick is the New York Times bestselling author of The Silver Linings Playbook—which was made into an Oscar-winning film—and eight other novels, including We Are the Light, a #1 Indie Next Pick and a Book of the Month selection. His work has been translated into more than thirty languages, received a PEN/Hemingway Award Honorable Mention, was an LA Times Book Prize finalist, a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, a #1 bestseller in Brazil, a Deutscher Jugendliteratur Preis 2016 (German Youth Literature Prize) nominee, and selected by Nancy Pearl as one of Summer’s Best Books for NPR. The Hollywood Reporter has named him one of Hollywood’s 25 Most Powerful Authors. Matthew lives with his wife, the novelist Alicia Bessette, on North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

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    Reviews for Sorta Like a Rock Star

    4/5

    113 ratings22 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I'll admit I had this book on my To-Read list based on the title alone (rock star obsession), and had no clue what it was about. Amber is a high school junior who lives in the yellow bus her mother drives for the school district. It seems like a bleak existence, but Amber prays nightly to "JC" and fills her life outside of school with charity work that makes her feel better about her life. Everyone calls her the Princess of Hope, because she raises their spirits by just being around. But when her life takes a horrible turn for the worst, she's not sure she can be herself anymore, much less carry everyone along with her.
      When I started reading, I wasn't even sure I'd finish this book. Amber overuses phrases like "sucka," "word," and "True? True." In my mind, that was the author trying to act like how he thought a teenage girl would, and it rang false. However, the story picked up and I couldn't put the book down until I finished it all. Amber remained a bit flat to me, which is strange since the book was told in first person. The secondary characters totally stole the show though, shining through and really making the whole book absolutely amazing. I won't like - I pretty much cried through the last third of the book, because it's so inspiring and powerful.
    • 3/5
      There's a good reason why Matthew Quick's books have all been optioned for film; the slightly implausible nature of his realistic fiction, the quirkiness of his main characters, the upbeat ending. I really liked Boy 21, which we chose for the school's summer read two years ago; it wasn't as popular with the students. But this book, it strains credulity, the homeless teenager whose one parent is alcoholic and negligent, who has this ability to give of herself and charismatically draw needy people around her. I couldn't quite buy this story, though it was a good story and kept me reading. Amber Appleton has a terrible life, and every reason to be profoundly depressed and alienated, and yet, outcast though she is, she manages to inspire a group of disabled boys, depressed elderly people at a nursing home, and recent Korean immigrants. It's mind-boggling. Several other readers have found her dialog unrealistic or just annoying, but I believed her dialog. What I couldn't believe was the adult nature of her thinking. Verdict: Hollywood could do a lot with this book. But it's a stretch to call it realistic fiction.
    • 5/5
      wow -- the kind of young adult book that transcends the genre (ie, you don't have to be a young adult to love this one). a fantastic first person voice, some hilarious scenes, emotional turmoil, and dozens of haiku. It all makes for a fast-paced but wonderful read.

      The good news: you can pre-order on Amazon already! I just feel bad for those of you who will have to wait until May 2010 to read it!
    • 4/5
      Amber is an extremely optimistic high school girl who lives with her eccentric mother. They live out of the bus that her mother drives, and somehow Amber takes this strange living situation in stride with great optimism. Yet when tragedy strikes the family, this devout Catholic convert, who spent much of her time volunteering for a rock choir, Amber's faith and resilience are tested. Yet though she almost loses faith, all of the goodness that she has put forth in the world eventually comes back to Amber.
    • 5/5
      I found this story of a quirky, amazing girl, Amber Appleton, so touching. Amber is homeless at the beginning of the story, she and her mom are living on a school bus. But Amber is a giver, she's an advocate for her group of friends, The Freak Five, teaches Korean women English through a Catholic R & B choir, visits old folks in a nursing home on Wednesdays, and befriends a Vietnam Vet. The voice of the novel is all Amber's irreverant and raw. Tragedy strikes, and after nearly loosing her optimism, Amber finds herself on the receiving end of all the good karma she's created. I really liked this book!
    • 5/5
      Straight to the top of my favorites list! I can't wait to review it on my blog. Seriously, this book is phenomenal, a straight-up champion of sincerity and optimism, like Pollyanna without the syrup. I am so in love with it.
    • 5/5
      Amber Appleton is an unyielding optimist. Even though she, her mom, and her dog - Bobby Big Boy - live on a school bus, and her mom sort of sucks at being a mom, and Amber's starting to feel like the walls are closing in, she still maintains a positive outlook on life. Amber volunteers at a local nursing home, helps teaching English at a nearby Korean church, and fights to keep her favorite teacher from losing his job. But when a fatal tragedy destroys Amber's life, she loses it. She is just a shell of her former self, and it's up to the people she's always cared for to help Amber.It's almost impossible not to like Amber. As a character, her voice is strong, unique, and realistic. Great attention is paid to the surrounding cast of characters, making everyone - even the jerky jocks - realistic. Quick weaves together a story that involves poetry, religion, disability, and depression, without it ever becoming too overwhelming or preachy. I highly recommend this book!
    • 2/5
      Amber Appleton refuses to let her tough circumstances dim her enthusiasm. She lives on a school bus with her alcoholic mother. Amber is a shining beacon of hope and optimism-- she volunteers at an old folks home just because she can, she helps out with an autistic student, she goes before the school board to fight to keep a teacher's job, she volunteers to teach Korean women English, she's adopted a puppy she found in a shoe box. A tragedy finally cracks Amber's rosy outlook, sending Amber into a deep depression that threatens to shatter her bedrock faith. Author Matthew Quick veers often into philosophy and religion through Amber, posing questions that will likely appeal to many teens facing their own issues. However, Quick walks a fine line with Amber's character expressing her faith and love of JC (Jesus Christ), and more than a few times I felt like Quick crossed the comfort line. Add to that a Hollywood ending that seems more implausable than most made-for-TV after school specials, I have a difficult time offering this title to high school students as a general audience. Sure, there will be many students that this book will appeal to. However, I'm a librarian at a public high school with a very diverse group of readers, and this will be a title I only recommend to specific students rather than a title I book talk to an entire class.
    • 5/5
      Amber Appleton sleeps in the bus that her mom drives with only her dog Thrice B for company. Despite her unfortunate circumstances, Amber is a very optimistic girl. She leads her group of friends and stands up for what she believes is right.There is definitely language in this book. At first, I found it hard to read because I wasn't familiar with the sort of life that Amber leads as her story is geared towards younger readers, but as I read, I found her growing on me. Amber talks like a teen, thinks like a teen, and acts like a teen. It's natural, and it makes her more relatable as you get to know her.I love Amber's optimistic view on life. It's very inspiring and makes you want to go out there and serve your community. The people with whom she interacts are very real and have their own stories. It's hard to say who's my favorite character, but if I had to name one, it would definitely be Amber. She's the girl you want to be--in nature if not circumstances.I felt like I lived with her during her depression, and I yearned for her to get back up on her feet. She's helped so many people, she deserves to have good karma. This is a beautiful story about a quirky girl that lives life as it should be led. You will laugh, you will cry, and above all, you will be inspired to become... well, sorta like a rock star.Thanks so much to Matthew Quick for sending me a copy of this book. I really enjoyed reading it. I recommend Sorta Like a Rock Star for tween readers looking for an inspiring read.
    • 5/5
      This is one of those books I have a hard time with reviewing. It's a book that can be so many different things. For me, I put it down at the end said, "What an odd yet sweet book." Then I mulled it over for a couple of days and I decided that there are layers to the story that resonated for me so much that I don't know that I can do justice by writing a review. But I'll try.Each character plays an important and vital role for Amber. Amber, homeless and living in a school bus, loves her mother regardless that she pretty much blows as a mom. But at least she has her. And then one day she doesn't. Her mother is brutally murdered and Amber, eternally optimistic, loses her spark. Amber becomes angry, depressed, and apathetic. Without giving away too much, here are some of the roles in Amber's life (that can be applied to our own).BBB: Just a stray dog Amber adopted. But she loves that dog and that dog loves her right back. No matter what.Donna: Her best friend's mom. She totally rocks because she's a single mom, attorney, and makes the world a better place for the battles she fights. She loves her autistic son and loves Amber. She's Amber's surrogate and never gives up. Atheist.Father Chee: Catholic priest from Korean church who helps Amber find JC (Jesus Christ). Through him, JC is often represented as he visits Amber and never gives up on her. He wants her to be who she is to become. He accepts she is not ready to be something she is not yet. But he's there.Private Jackson: Zen. He makes tea. They drink tea together while their dogs play around. He writes haiku's. He believes in enjoying the moment. Sometimes the past is too painful, the future to scary. He will wash the teacups now.Mean Joan of Old: She's mean and she's old. She quotes Nietzche. She wants to watch Amber cry. She is existential and the world sucks and then you die. Amber makes her smile. It's a game that the old folks gather to watch.Ty: He's a boy that's part of the gang. He'll do anything for Amber. He gets things done. He goes behind the scenes and works the people. He is a believer in Amber and in her optimistic hope.Her gang of boys: Different, oddball personalities. Nobody really sticks out to me but Ty.The book is a story to be devoured. It is also a philosophical gold mine.You choose.I did.
    • 3/5
      Story of bad things happening to a good person.
    • 4/5
      Why isn't this book more popular? The only reason I know about it is because one day I was browsing my GR friends' shelves looking for a book written by an author whose name starts with "Q" for a reading challenge. How sad is that? Sorta Like a Rock Star deserves better.Amber Appleton is a peculiar sort of girl. If you have seen Happy-Go-Lucky, Amber is pretty much a younger version of Poppy, an incorrigible optimist. She is the life of the party, she stands up for the weak, cheers up elderly, saves stray dogs, all with never-ending enthusiasm and positivity. Only, as you can expect, such approach to life is not necessarily healthy. It is too much of a burden to hold up so many people. One day, after a particularly devastating event, Amber can't take it any longer and succumbs to depression. Will she be able to pull through?In an ocean of conventional YA books with recycled plots and characters, Sorta Like a Rock Star stands out. Amber's story is heartbreaking and inspiring. As for the characters, I do not know which one of them I liked the most - Amber, upbeat, hopeful, improper and pushy; or her best doggy friend Thrice B who never fails to hump his canine lady friend even with fresh stitches in his belly; or maybe Private Jackson, a Vietnam vet who copes with his war memories by writing haikus and drinking green tea. I just can't decide...Speaking of haikus. Can't say I knew much about this poetry form before reading this book, but haikus here had quite an effect on me, meaning, they made me bawl like a baby.
    • 5/5
      Amber Appleton looks forward. Sure, right now she lives in a school bus with her mother and her dog, but she is going to go to college and things are going to get better. In the meantime, she tries hard to make things better for those around her. Then her mother is murdered, and Amber spirals into depression.
    • 4/5
      A bit rough in places, this is the heart wrenching story of a girl who lives in the back of a school bus, with her dog BBB and her mom, but manages to make a ton of very interesting friends and hold onto her optimistic outlook. This would pair well with people who read, "How to Steal a Dog" which is for younger readers, but this one is definitely for older readers. One warning: there are lots of references to Jesus Christ, who the narrator refers to as JC, so non-Christian students might not relate to the book much. One of those characters who stays with you long after you've closed the cover.
    • 5/5
      Great teenage girl narrator and so incredibly moving. I found myself working really hard to not cry in front of a classroom full of teenagers while reading this. Tragic and uplifting and a heroine worth rooting for.
    • 5/5
      At first, I was put-off by the vernacular, but after becoming acquainted with the narrator's style I quickly became immersed in the story about a homeless teenage girl who believes in JC (Jesus Christ) and believes she can become a beacon of hope in a world where meaningless reigns. Not even tragedy can extinguish this young woman's faith although at times the flame not only flickers but threatens to die.

      An interesting story about hope from the author of THE SILVER LINING'S PLAYBOOK, which is currently in movie production with a 2013 release date. (Shameless plug for Quick, I admit, but hey, maybe someday someone will shamelessly plug me.)
    • 1/5
      This book had the most annoying narrator I've read in a long time. Every few sentences, she stops to say "True? True." I mean, what? Kids use slang, but that doesn't even make sense. We're reading your story, we assume you are telling the truth or if not, you'll let us know. Also, she kept throwing out stuff like "word!" or "sucka!" which just sounds stupid. The rest of her narration seems like she is intelligent and reads a lot, so these interjections just undermine all that. The story has an interesting setup - the narrator is living on the school bus that her mom drives because her mom's latest crappy boyfriend threw them out - but the other parts of the story just don't seem believable to me. It's like the author made a list of Heartwarming Things Quirky Kids Might Do and checked them off.
    • 5/5
      I'm sorry I put off reading this one for so long. It was a very moving story. I loved the main character and admire her strength and personal drive to do good.
    • 5/5
      If I had a dollar for every time I teared up or started crying in this book I could have just bought the damn thing instead of borrowing it from the library. That being said, this was a fabulous read. As such author, Matthew Quick, is now in my all time favorite authors category.This story opens up with Amber Appleton, an extraordinary girl who never thinks of herself first. Her four best friends are the high school rejects, the autistic kid, the only black kid in the county, the kid in the wheel chair and the kid with the stutter. Together they are Frank's Freak Force Federation (in honor of their favorite teacher). Amber's sunny optimism also gives her a unique group of friends outside of school. She volunteers as an English teacher to a bunch of Korean immigrants and helped them form Korean Diva's for Christ (Amber teaches the language through old soul music), she spends time with the old folks and debates with Joan of Old for laughs, and she writes haikus with a lonely Vietnam vet. She does all these things for the benefit of her community and she does all of this even though she's homeless and living in a school bus with her mom.Despite all of her optimism something horrible happens, something life shattering, and it's up to the community to make Amber see that she's still important and that she's needed. Bad things happen to good people all the time and she needs to turn her sunny optimism back on herself. She has made such an impact on everyone and no one wants her to forget all the good she's accomplished.Outstanding!
    • 4/5
      One might expect Amber Appleton to be a musician based on the title of the novel, but in reality it comes from the fact that she lives in a school bus with her alcoholic mother. Homelessness is just one of several difficulties Amber faces. Though she fights depression in the middle of the book due to an unexpected loss, the rest of the time she is incredibly positive and gets by with the help of her friends and some wonderful adults in her life. If readers can get past Amber’s quirky dialogue (her speech is peppered with abbreviations and outdated slang), they will find a character who does some amazing things despite the adversity she faces. Her desire to improve the lives of her friends and other community members may inspire teens to do the same.Though readers may like Amber and her friends, they may not be so fond of the plot, which often tests one’s ability to suspend disbelief. Some of the events toward the end of the book feel out of place, even through the eyes of optimistic Amber. Even with the novel’s flaws, it is hard to deny that there is something special about the self-proclaimed “princess of hope.”
    • 5/5
      Amber Appleton had very little in her life, aside from hope, and she ruthlessly showered everything around her with that hope.  But when Amber loses her mother, everything she believed in seems pointless.   The friends and acquaintances she has made as Amber, Princess of Hope, are all she has left to help survive the tragedy of losing her mother.  Amber learns to accept her fate and move past the loss by seeing how her presence in other's lives has influenced their belief in hope and faith that everything will work out.Comments:This book is, by far, the best YA book I have read this year. Amber Appleton is the Princess of Hope, until everything she has is taken away from her. Although she lives in a school bus with her alcoholic mother, Amber manages to find outlets in her life to perpetuate her mother's insistence that everything is going to work out. This book is all about survival. Even for a teen who wants for nothing material, there are those that lack the connection to another person that makes them feel whole. Amber spends day after day putting the needs of others before her own, and you see her compassion on every page. The book has a strong sense of religiosity/ spirituality throughout, yet done in such a way that it isn't an “in your face” book about Christianity. When Amber loses her mother, she hits rock bottom and gives up all hope. It is through the determination of all the lives that Amber has touched that she realizes that she can move on and be the Amber that she was once.School Media Connection:A truly inspiring and thought-provoking read for adults, both young and old. I would offer this book to all teens, regardless of their lot in life. I think everyone can learn something from Amber. I would go so far as recommending this as an all class read as well. There are so many issues that can be used as topics for discussion and further study – homelessness, poverty, grief/death, coming of age, etc. I think this hits all the genres aside from scifi / fantasy (sorry – there are no vampires or werewolves or witches, fairies, etc. in this one). The religious aspects might be challenged, but any adult reading the book in it's entirety will see that no single religion is preferred over any other. There is more of a sense of faith and hope in the future and doing good for people that need good done for them than anything specifically religious. It's a book about acceptance and equality and doing the right thing. It's about looking beyond what you don't have to seeing what others need.
    • 5/5
      Amber Appleton looks forward. Sure, right now she lives in a school bus with her mother and her dog, but she is going to go to college and things are going to get better. In the meantime, she tries hard to make things better for those around her. Then her mother is murdered, and Amber spirals into depression.