Sorta Like a Rock Star

Dec 27, 2010 Tatiana rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: readers who are looking for something good and different

Shelves: ya, 2010, ala-ya-2011, b

As seen on The Readventurer

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...more

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Mar 30, 2012 Emily May rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya-na, 2011, fave-ya, contemporary

I'm sorry if this review is on the sucky side, I really want it to be good but I'm writing it at the same time as writing a 2000-word research report on quantitative data analysis (kill me, just kill me now) so I can't make any promises. Plus, it's one of those really good books that I tend to waffle about and write things that don't actually mean anything... perhaps it's destined to fail.

Anyway! Let me just say that this book needs readers. About five hundred people have listed this book as "r...more

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Jan 14, 2013 Sam Quixote rated it 1 of 5 stars

Hot on the heels of the excellent “Silver Linings Playbook” I jumped straight into Matthew Quick's next book, “Sorta Like a Rock Star” which is a Young Adult novel aimed at teens and is narrated in the first person by a teenage girl called Amber.

This is a review of the first 10 pages of this novel - is that unfair? Yup! Is that stopping me from writing this review? Nope!

Within the first few pages of this novel I regretted buying it. Matthew Quick is a 40 year-old man trying to mimic the voice o...more Hot on the heels of the excellent “Silver Linings Playbook” I jumped straight into Matthew Quick's next book, “Sorta Like a Rock Star” which is a Young Adult novel aimed at teens and is narrated in the first person by a teenage girl called Amber.

This is a review of the first 10 pages of this novel - is that unfair? Yup! Is that stopping me from writing this review? Nope!

Within the first few pages of this novel I regretted buying it. Matthew Quick is a 40 year-old man trying to mimic the voice of a teen girl, around 15 years old I think. The result? Dialogue like this:

“No lie”
“Yeah it’s the 21st century. I’m a freak”
“I’m a pretty good Catholic; I’m still the big V. Momma Mary and me are, like, five-by-five; I’m a holy teenager of God, sucka!”
“all freaky teenagers keep it real when we can”
“I’m sure there are people who would let us crash at their houses, because the town of Childress is full of good-hearted dudes and dudettes. Word.”
“it’s all good in the hood”.

She also has the annoying habit of ending her paragraphs with either “True? True.” or simply “Truth”.

And that’s all from just the first 10 pages! Does anyone say “word” anymore? Even the hipsters don’t say it ironically anymore!

Maybe I’m wrong to judge a book by its first 10 pages but no way can I continue to read a 350 page book when the narrator sounds this unrealistic and stupid. But maybe I’m wrong again because I don’t know any teenage girls and maybe they all speak like this? But it reads to me like a middle aged man trying really hard to write a kid’s voice and utterly failing - it’s just too naff to seem even semi-genuine!

So here’s a warning to anyone who loved Quick's first novel “Silver Linings Playbook” and is thinking of embarking on his second - its written in a really weird teenage voice that puts you off any attempt at reading the actual story. It’s too awful an impression of how a teen girl sounds to suspend disbelief and lose yourself in the narrative. Think twice, then avoid this YA fare and wait for Quick to write his second grown-up book instead.

True? True. (less)

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Jul 24, 2010 K rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: library, favorite-characters, i-bought-it

I love Amber Appleton, no sorta about it. True.

A book called Sorta Like a Rock Star and it’s about a girl living on a bus with her mother? Wasn’t exactly at the top of my TBR pile, but I’m easily swayed by consistently good reviews. So I got to meet Amber. She has a conversational relationship with God (no need to worry, it’s not religious) and digs lighting up people’s faces, but she’s not saccharine or superior. She’s not looking to collect karmic points or gain accolades. She’s okay manipulat...more

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Feb 28, 2013 Sol rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, favorites

I read this one a few weeks ago but wasn't sure just how to explain the awesomeness it was.

There are so many reasons as to why I connected so much with this book and with its main character. Amber is awesome, unique and extremely admirable. She's just a good-hearted person, who always has a positive outlook on life even when life hasn't been all that easy for her. Her entire life has been just her and her mom, struggling to find a place to live, going from one mother boyfriend's house to another...more I read this one a few weeks ago but wasn't sure just how to explain the awesomeness it was.

There are so many reasons as to why I connected so much with this book and with its main character. Amber is awesome, unique and extremely admirable. She's just a good-hearted person, who always has a positive outlook on life even when life hasn't been all that easy for her. Her entire life has been just her and her mom, struggling to find a place to live, going from one mother boyfriend's house to another. Her mom might not win the mother-of-the-year award anytime soon, not only because of her horrible choice in men, but also her drinking habits, and inability to feed and put a roof over Amber's head. After her latest boyfriend kicks them out, Amber, her dog and her mother are forced to move into the only place they can think of, the school bus her mother works in.
But in spite of all of this, the word that fully characterizes Amber is hope. Even when things are bad, being stuck in such precarious living arrangements to say the least, and her mother on the verge of losing it, Amber never gives up hope. She's that person always looking for the glass half full, not only staying positive herself, but also inspiring this same attitude on others: such as a war veteran she shares haiku with, an elderly home she volunteers at, a group of Korean women she teaches English to, an many more people.
All this until one tragic event drastically turns Amber's life upside down, and makes her question not only everything she believes in, but also her way of life.

Amber is religious, catholic to be exact, she prays and has daily conversations with Jesus. BUT this is by no means a religious book. It never gets preachy at all; on the contrary, one of my favorite things about this book is that it embraces the fact that as human beings we don’t have all the answers.
After tragedy hits Amber's life she falls into a state of depression and the only person she can stand to be around is her priest Father Chen. What I love about their dynamic is that Father Chen never tries to teach her lessons, he never relies on cliches such as "god put you through this because he knows you are strong enough" or "this is god's plan for you" etc, etc. Instead, the way he replies to Amber’s questions and confusion is by simply saying, "I don't know"
I loved this detail because of how honest it is. We tend to believe that we have the answers to everything, that we can make sense and rationalize the world we live in, that religion hands people the answers to humanity. But what it all comes down to, and what this book conveys, is that we simply don’t know. It takes a great deal of humility to accept the fact that we don’t have all the answers, nor will we ever get them. We don’t know why bad things happen to good people, we don’t understand why there’s so much injustice and unfairness, we can’t make sense of how painful, sad, and tragic life can be. The fact that the priest was acknowledging that he simply, as all human beings, doesn’t know was so realistic, honest, and true.

This is a book about faith, not just religious faith, but faith in life, in the goodness of it. Like she writes in her final haiku: “you exist in this world – but I exist too. And I will not yield”. It’s about having faith that good will overcome evil, and that behind so much pain and suffering and human brutality, there is also hope and love and kindness. This is what Amber comes to realize through her journey of ups and really low downs. After she gets better and starts making progress she is able to see how she has inspired others and how all the good she put into the world wasn’t for nothing…it all came back to her. What this book shows so well is that life is a reflection of what we are, and what you give you get in return. Amber inspired others to have faith, to have hope, to look at the glass half full, at the beauty of life beneath its darkness...and it was what she inspired in others that in the end inspired her in return, and finally saved her.

This is just an amazing story that is extremely underrated and that I think more people should read.
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Dec 12, 2011 Isamlq rated it 4 of 5 stars

It begins with a young woman whose perpetually upbeat manner had me squinting, wondering at what her damage was. Proclaimed Princess of Hope, she’d surrounded herself with people to hold up. Yet it was these various people who had me pausing, they seemed almost too sweet. The five she hung out with were odd ball misfits with no place but with each other. The old folks home and her verbal wars with Joan of old as well as the Singing Korean Divas and a haiku writing war vet… all touched me, but ju...more

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Jan 27, 2012 Fred rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Fred by: Amy

This is the story of Amber Appleton, a relentlessly upbeat 17 yo who daily engages in a strenuous and not always sucessful battle in the arena where "hope dukes it out with despair." Despite Amber's overwhelming and heartfelt optimism, despair has some pretty kick ass weapons in its arsenal - Amber and her alcoholic mom are homeless, living on the school bus mom drives. Mom is a pretty sucky mom, actually - she's anorexic, unreliable and Amber spends most evenings alone on the bus while mom's "g...more This is the story of Amber Appleton, a relentlessly upbeat 17 yo who daily engages in a strenuous and not always sucessful battle in the arena where "hope dukes it out with despair." Despite Amber's overwhelming and heartfelt optimism, despair has some pretty kick ass weapons in its arsenal - Amber and her alcoholic mom are homeless, living on the school bus mom drives. Mom is a pretty sucky mom, actually - she's anorexic, unreliable and Amber spends most evenings alone on the bus while mom's "gone a fishin' for men, as Jesus says." Amber's dad disappeared long ago enough that she's pretty sure her only memory of him is a manufactured one. But hope is strong with this one. Amber calls herself "a crazy serious religious person," and her faith, even though based on a series of children's books called Jesus Was A Rock Star, sustains her through some pretty tough blows. She sure is a busy one - she's the lynch-pin of her group of mis-fit friends, the Franks Freak Force Federation; the rescuer and supporter of her beloved dog, Bobby Big Boy; the English teaching encourager of the Korean Divas For Christ; and the only reliable visitor at the Methodist Retirement Home, where her weekly verbal battles with crusty Nietzche-quoting Joan of Old are legendary. As all these nicknames (which appear in various permutations, acronyms and abbreviations) might suggest, another one of Amber's anti-despair devices is her own linguistic ingenuity, which is really clever, creative and catchy. With all this activity, and so many people depending on her to buoy them, she's reminiscent of one of those old time plate-spinning acts, where the entertainer perches a lot of plates on willowy poles, sets them twirling, and then runs around to keep them all going as they precariously wobble, tip and threaten to disastrously crash. That much work takes it out of a girl, even a plucky one, I'm afraid, and when a huge dark disaster tears Amber's world apart, all the plates come crashing down, and despair seems to triumph, washing over Amber and pulling her down, like successive waves pinning her to the ocean floor. The story of how Amber's friends try bring her back to life is heart-aching and powerful, and makes a wonderful, fresh and intense reading experience. This is a really good book, Amber is a fresh and unique character in YA-dom, and you deserve the awesome experience of inhabiting her world for the few hours of reading pleasure this book delivers. (less)

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Sep 21, 2011 Noelle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: library-books, ugly-cried, yay-for-ya, reviewed

Irrepressible hope and relentless optimism are amazing and impressive...and you know what else? Extremely annoying. Yes, dear readers, I was one of those people giving Amber Appleton the side-eye for the entire first half of the book.

Sure, I empathized with her horrible situation and admired the spunk in her survival skills but I still resisted the crap out of her charm. I found her hugging obsession creepy. Her “JC” name dropping made me itch. Her slang felt unnaturally shoehorned into her oth...more Irrepressible hope and relentless optimism are amazing and impressive...and you know what else? Extremely annoying. Yes, dear readers, I was one of those people giving Amber Appleton the side-eye for the entire first half of the book.

Sure, I empathized with her horrible situation and admired the spunk in her survival skills but I still resisted the crap out of her charm. I found her hugging obsession creepy. Her “JC” name dropping made me itch. Her slang felt unnaturally shoehorned into her otherwise SAT-word laden inner dialogue. Her group of “special” school friends felt just too precious to be real. And for goodness sake, did she have to give everything five word nicknames just to use the acronym for it?! Amber would do something promising and then follow it up with something that made me cringe.

Yet I stuck around for a couple reasons, the main one being Amber is not portrayed as trying to be perfect. She gets offended and swears and lashes out. Amidst all the “up with people!” moments there were also glimpses of a teenager I could recognize--an angry, unappreciated, emotional adolescent that I found extremely easy to root for. I think my opinion of Amber permanently turned around after her interactions with the Korean Divas for Christ, Private Jackson and even Joanie of Old (see what I mean about nicknames?). For all of her inappropriate methods and pushiness, Amber has such a good heart. Even though at times her world must seem so small, Amber never sees it that way. Her hope makes it endless. Amber not only recognizes the loneliness around her, she is genuinely interested in these people’s lives. She sees what makes them who they are and without making a big deal about it, celebrates it every day. She will shine her floodlight of hope on anyone who gives her the chance.

She really, truly is sorta like a rock star.

And then Amber’s already extremely shitty life gets horribly worse and Amber's belief system is shaken to the core. (view spoiler) I realized that I too had been just one more person underestimating Amber’s value and how much I’d grown to depend on her enthusiasm and optimism.

Yes, there is a definite cheesiness factor here between the After School Specialness of the Five and the nature of the ending, but dammit if I didn't soak it all up like a freaking hopeful sponge. You won this one, Amber Appleton.

Also, the haikus--the last two in particular--were, as Amber would say, some good hooey.(less)

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Jun 19, 2010 Kimberleigh rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Kimberleigh by: Goodreads First Reads Winner!

Shelves: 2010-releases, sad-stories, read-in-2010

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 29, 2010 Alexa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Alexa by: Goodreads First Reads winner

Shelves: young-adult, own, signed, first-reads, 2010-reads

Being homeless and living on a school bus for months doesn't stop Amber Appleton from being optimistic about life. She has her mother, Bobby Big Boy (her dog), friends, and of course, Jesus Christ. But after experiencing a very personal tragedy, Amber's confidence and hope in life breaks. And she begins to suffer through a depression that no one can seem to bring her out of.

I really liked Amber. She was an extremely giving and caring person. She was always looking out for everyone. I couldn't he...more

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May 09, 2013 Melanie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am a Matthew Quick fan! He writes really quirky, hopeful characters with really depressing lives. I must admit I cried more than once while reading this book, but I finished the book feeling like facing my own life head-on with hope and happiness. This is a super-quick, super-awesome read. True? True!

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Mar 12, 2013 Gary Anderson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Amber Appleton’s life could be considered miserable. She is homeless and living in a bus. Abandoned by her father, Amber loves her mother, but her mother isn’t much of a parent. It’s a good thing she has her dog, Bobby Big Boy aka BBB aka Triple B aka B Thrice. Although she could easily be forgiven for sinking into depression, Amber has a spirit that makes her see the best in people and situations, most of the time. She will not accept charity, and she tries very hard to help any people she conn...more Amber Appleton’s life could be considered miserable. She is homeless and living in a bus. Abandoned by her father, Amber loves her mother, but her mother isn’t much of a parent. It’s a good thing she has her dog, Bobby Big Boy aka BBB aka Triple B aka B Thrice. Although she could easily be forgiven for sinking into depression, Amber has a spirit that makes her see the best in people and situations, most of the time. She will not accept charity, and she tries very hard to help any people she connects with in her serendipitous life.

Matthew Quick’s Sorta Like A Rock Star is appealing for many reasons, but what I like best is the way it captures how life feels to Amber Appleton. As Amber goes through her life, helping out wherever she can, her personal circumstances go from bad to worse. Matthew Quick does not allow Amber to be Pollyanna; she has moments when she questions her purpose: “At best, I’m just an interesting blip in people’s lives—an amusing footnote. Which is probably why my dad split and my mom can’t stay sober and all of her boyfriends ditch us after only a few months or so. Sometimes I wonder why I try at all. What’s the point?”

Quick also amusingly shows us how Amber builds something like family and community, even though she is separated and mostly disenfranchised from her own support network. As Amber fosters relationships with various groups and individuals, she names them, and as Sorta Like a Rock Star unfolds, we are right there with Amber, understanding exactly who she means when she refers to The KDFC (Korean Divas for Christ, a group of immigrants who Amber helps learn English through Motown songs), or The Five (a group of students from her school who focus on video games and marketing), or PJ (Private Jackson, a Vietnam vet and haiku poet befriended by Amber), or FC (Father Chee, a priest who tries to answer her religious and spiritual questions), or Prince Tony (the principal who she convinces to act in the best interests of his students), or JC (Jesus Christ, the religious figure she prays to and asks for help).

In the end, Amber Appleton shows us that we get to choose our responses to life’s challenges. When faced with the person who caused the most misery in her life, she gives him a haiku: “You may exist in / This world—but I exist too / And I will not yield.” I hope many young readers will pick up Sorta Like a Rock Star to be inspired by a girl who says, “We’re celebrating our freedom. We’re celebrating our right to be kids when everything is trying to take that away from us. It’s a choice, Ty. We can do whatever we want.”

Young readers looking for a break from sinister books should spend some time with Amber Appleton. The tone of Sorta Like a Rock Star is light and funny most of the time, although it has a couple of dark sections too. For students looking for a follow-up to John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, Sorta Like a Rock Star is a solid suggestion.

Cross-posted on What's Not Wrong?(less)

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Feb 14, 2013 Melanie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult-literature, murder, homelessness, alcoholism, friends, lawyers, schools, school-pageants, depression, high-school, autism, dogs

Amber Appleton is everyone's favorite person. She is the leader of the Franks Freak Force Federation and keeps "her boys" together and happy. She is best friend to Ricky who has autism. She teaches the Korean Divas at the Catholic Church to speak English by using R&B music. She holds regular "make you smile/cry" bouts with Joan of Old at the Methodist retirement home. She's loved everywhere and everyone needs her.

But so does Amber's mother. They are homeless and living in the big yellow scho...more

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Jan 27, 2013 Liz rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The writing for this book is abysmal, as though the writer tried to mesh together all the types of slang youth have used over the past 70 years (from cool cat to sucka to "True? True.") After the first 20 pages, I gave up and started skimming.

The main character is super religious and refers regularly to JC and even after tragedy strikes her life remains (to me) an unsymapathetic narrator. Why? Because she's unrealistic. She doesn't sound like a teenager. She's doesn't have much depth. She's a s...more

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Jan 20, 2013 Sabrina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013

Matthew Quick is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors. After reading Silver Linings Playbook, I couldn’t stop gushing about it. My coworkers recommended Sorta Like A Rockstar, saying that it was their first Matthew Quick read and they absolutely loved it. I wasn’t sure how I would feel about it; I mean, how can an author who writes adult fiction so well really get into the mindset of a teenage girl and pull off a successful YA story? Well, Matthew Quick did it…and rocked it.

Amber Appleto...more Matthew Quick is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors. After reading Silver Linings Playbook, I couldn’t stop gushing about it. My coworkers recommended Sorta Like A Rockstar, saying that it was their first Matthew Quick read and they absolutely loved it. I wasn’t sure how I would feel about it; I mean, how can an author who writes adult fiction so well really get into the mindset of a teenage girl and pull off a successful YA story? Well, Matthew Quick did it…and rocked it.

Amber Appleton is not your average teenager. She lives on a Hello Yellow with her mother, who drives school buses when she’s sober. Her best friends include an autistic math genius, a black kid, Jared and his brother who never grew, a Vietnam war vet, a Korean priest, and Bobby Big Boy (aka. Thrice B/BBB), her dog. Despite living in utter poverty, Amber is the shining ray of hope in many lives. She visits a retirement home every Wednesday, where she has an optimism vs. pessimism showdown with a Neitzsche-quoting sourpuss (and wins every time), she teaches English to a group of Korean women through the power of soul music, she helps to save her Marketing teacher’s job, and she write dog-themed Haiku’s for Private Jackson, the war veteran who hates people and never ventures out.

The world turns upside down when Amber’s mother is raped and killed. The rays of hope that keep her up and close to ‘JC’ are gone and nothing means anything to her anymore. The book tugs at all the heartstrings, from loss to hope to community. It is an inspirational story about how powerful it is to be able to touch the lives of others and have them, in turn, touch yours.

Warning: read this book with some Kleenex by your side. Thank goodness I wasn’t reading in public, because the end made me ‘ugly cry’. I’ve always maintained that I try to stay away from books that make me cry (I’m not one that finds crying cathartic) but I have to say, I just loved this book. When I finished it, I hugged it. It’s a beautiful story filled with humour and teenage realism. Matthew Quick’s imagination makes one hell of a badass teenage girl.
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Dec 05, 2012 Ed added it · review of another edition

Quick, Matthew. (2010). Sorta Like a Rock Star. New York: Little, Brown. 357 pp. ISBN 978-0-316-04352-6 (Hard Cover); $16.99.

ESP Award Winner!

Amber believes in hope or at least that is what everyone else believes about her. It is the image that she sends to the world, but sometimes it is hard to cling to hope when everything about you is falling apart. Amber's mother is not a very good mom. Amber lives in a bus because they were kicked out of the house of yet another abusive boyfriend. Amber, ho...more

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May 08, 2012 Shoshana rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crossover, ya, realistic

Ugh, it totally made me cry a bunch - in the best way. I LOVE AMBER SO MUCH. Honestly, there isn't a single character in this book that I don't like, and that's because none of them are antagonists. All of them are people just trying to do their best; chance and people's past choices and flaws and all those dumb things that life brings are the antagonists, and that's what makes the book so real and strike home so hard.

Despite her religious commitment - which even though it is explicit throughout...more

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Mar 07, 2012 Trynity rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Okay, so I read this book awhile back and promised myself that I would write a review as soon as possible, and here goes.
The author and I both attended Collingswood high school (he was a year behind me) I can see why the school would want his works in their curriculum, however I had never gotten around to reading it until it was given to my child as an assignment. My daughter's teacher had assigned this book to her class, and therefore I owe her some appreciation and credit. I appreciate how di...more Okay, so I read this book awhile back and promised myself that I would write a review as soon as possible, and here goes.
The author and I both attended Collingswood high school (he was a year behind me) I can see why the school would want his works in their curriculum, however I had never gotten around to reading it until it was given to my child as an assignment. My daughter's teacher had assigned this book to her class, and therefore I owe her some appreciation and credit. I appreciate how difficult it must be not only to get kids to read, but to keep them interested and or entertained is an even greater task. I believe that Sorta Like a Rockstar offers that to its readers, student or not. It has all of the qualities to stir its readers, it has an abundance of emotion, without being overly emotional, and while the tale unfolds, you find that you can relate to someone who is seemingly un-relatable. I am also a big fan of promotion a teenage heroine. Not the kind of girl who falls head –over- heels with some immortal creature, and then narrates all these astounding experiences in a way that seems contrite and sometimes piteous. While I admit, I am always hungry for books; I like my characters with a lot more meat and muscle (especially intellectually). Amber Appleton is a savory dish to devour. From her desolate circumstances she remains hungry and hopeful, and I easily envision qualities in her that my own child possesses. We had the pleasure to catch up with “Q” (aka Matthew Quick) a few days ago, when he returned to his Alma matter to speak, and my daughter asked him if “he had infused any of his own qualities into any of his characters, and if so which” and I admired his reply. He explained that while all of his characters contain small qualities of himself, his finds he related to Amber Appleton’s empathy the most. I found that characteristic, paired with her resilience and determination to be a key ingredient to making this book a savory dish.
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Jan 18, 2012 Danna rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: coming-of-age, heroines, beach-reads, high-school, page-turner, speed-read, ya, recommended

Sorta Like a Rock Star blew my mind. While reading the first couple of pages, I thought to myself, there is no way I can read this book—because of all the slang and “hip” language I felt the author was trying too hard to appeal to young readers. However, as soon as Amber Appleton’s essay was through and the story began, I was hooked. I read this book in one sitting, staying up past bedtime to watch it unfold. My only complaint is that the author sprinkled in too many rhetorical “words.”

Sorta Li...more

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Oct 04, 2011 Cindy Hudson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Despite the fact that she is homeless and her mother seems to be shrinking into herself daily, Amber Appleton is an eternal optimist. She loves her dog, Bobby Big Boy, and the group of misfits she leads at school, dubbed Franks Freak Force Federation. Other than the four other members of the group, she has a wide social circle. She teaches English to a group of Korean women at a local church, visits the local nursing home weekly to cheer up the residents, and spends time writing haiku for a loca...more

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May 08, 2011 Nancy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 chara...more

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Apr 29, 2011 Kelly Hager rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Amber and her mom are homeless. Her mom drives a school bus, and that's where they sleep. (It's a big secret, obviously, because high school is hard enough without that.) Still, Amber is clinging to the self she's created: the princess of hope. She tries to make other people's lives a little bit better, and she succeeds. But then something awful happens and she finds it hard to be that person anymore. And if you're the person who's always helping other people, who's there to help you?

I wasn't su...more

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Jan 01, 2011 elissa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: my_10s_reads, youngadult, spirituality

2010 is over, or this would have made my list of 2010favorites. Stayed up way too late finishing this last night, as a new year's eve treat to myself, so I guess I read about 1/2 of it in 2011. Can't imagine a better book about Christianity for teens (without being much more obvious about it--this is not "Christian fiction", but it explores the fundamentals of the religion), and as an added bonus, there is also info about Zen Buddhism. Amber's voice felt over the top unbelievable to me at the be...more

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Oct 18, 2010 Karen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Seventeen-year-old Amber Appleton, the "Princess Hope" seems an unlikely candidate for eternal optimist. Homeless, she and her alcoholic mother live on the sly in a school bus (Hello Yellow) with Amber's dog, Bobby Big Boy (B Thrice). Her father left when she was young, and life isn't easy, yet Amber remains cheerful and hopeful, adamant in her mission to make life a brighter experience for all of her eccentric friends. She volunteers teaching English to the Korean Divas for Christ, all of whom...more

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Oct 15, 2010 Suzanne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: peach-consideration

Is Amber Appleton too good to be true? Probably. But is she still fun to read and come to know, even for a middle-aged cynic? Yep. Amber manages to keep her optimism and can-do attitude through trials and challeges that would slay many: getting kicked out of her mom's latest boyfriend's apartment and sleeping on the school bus her mom drives for a measley wage; fighting for the existence of the school marketing program and its teacher who provides a haven for Amber and her square-peg buddies who...more

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Mar 08, 2010 The Sensei rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As the supervisor of English in a school district, I was lucky enough to read an advance copy of this book. I can honestly say that it was the answer to my prayers. We have been searching for a great, young adult novel to help supplement our curriculum. Our ninth grade curriculum in centered on the theme of "Identity and Coming to Grips with Change" and this is exactly what happens to Amber Appleton. It felt as if this book was written for so many of our students. We will be ordering copies for...more

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Nov 27, 2012 Erin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: best-of-2012, reality, tear-jerker, young-adult

This book is something special. I started it yesterday and last night decided that sleep was unimportant in the midst of such a great book (I don't really regret that decision now so very early in the morning:).
First off, I was a little put off by the main character Amber at first. True? True. Her weird slang and somewhat inappropriate behaviour was a bit off putting. If other readers are tempted to give up after the first few chapters, don't! You won't regret sticking with this book.
Amber devot...more

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Mar 21, 2011 Stacy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I cried like a baby. Seriously. When I first started it, I found Amber to be a bit crude and her choice of words alerted my vocab warning signals. If a book gets too offensive, I close the cover and return it to the library. After a pretty questionable description in that first chapter I said to myself, "I'll give it a few more pages and if it continues, that's it" Things were fine after that, and as I continued to read, I suddenly found myself picturing her in my mind. With each page I came to...more

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Jul 27, 2010 Liza rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bfya2011, young-adult

Most of the books you read in life are variations on a theme, stories retold, or almost-copies of what's been done before.

Very - very rarely do you come across a book so original on so many levels that it defies description. We use words such as "like" to review books, but when a book is unlike everything else in the field, what does one say?

I'll say this. The cover is the worst thing about this book. I'm buying a copy to keep for myself. I went through almost every emotion while reading it. The...more

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Sep 17, 2012 Ubhie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, must-read

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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title link	preview: Sorta Like a Rock Star
avg rating	preview: Sorta Like a Rock Star Goodreads rating: 3.99 (1517 ratings)
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9520648-sorta-like-a-rock-star?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1298043454l/9520648.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9520648-sorta-like-a-rock-star?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Sorta Like a Rock Star by Matthew Quick[/url]

Sorta Like a Rock Star

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