SYNOPSIS:
Emma Imrie was a Plath-obsessed, self-taught teenage musician dreaming of fame, from a remote village on the Isle of Wight. She found it too, briefly becoming a star of the nineties Camden music scene. But then she died in mysterious circumstances.
In the aftermath of Emma's death, her younger brother, Jeff, is forced by their parents to stay at the opulent home of childhood friends on the island.
During a wild summer of beach parties and music, Jeff faces up to the challenges that come with young love, youthful ambition and unresolved grief. His sister's prodigious advice from beyond the grave becomes the only weapon he has against an indifferent world. As well as the only place where the answers he craves might exist...
MY THOUGHTS:
Jeff is struggling after the death of his beloved sister. His parents are indifferent to his feelings and leave him with a friend during the summer. It is hard not to form a deep sympathy towards Jeff as his pain is so raw. As he searches for the truth of his sister's death, through her journals, he acknowledges that this will be an emotional and painful journey that he will have to embark alone.
I loved the way the book alternated between Jeff and Emma. Both voices were filled with such raw emotion of their personal struggles in life. Emma's fight and determination to make it in the world of rock was admirable especially when in reality what she experienced was more of a power struggle and was submerged into a deep underworld of drugs and depression.
The musical references that were mentioned throughout the book were fun, adding not only a feeling of nostalgia in me but a deeper insight into the era that Jeff and Emma were living in. I found the characters very compelling as too were the contrasting settings of Camden Town and The Isle of Wight. I loved the references to the sea which contradicted Jeff's inner turmoil and harmonised his loneliness and feeling of isolation perfectly.
Many thanks to Guy Mankowski for sending me a copy of Dead Rock Stars. This is a powerful coming of age novel, deeply moving and utterly heartbreaking.