I am thrilled to have been asked to be part of the blog tour for this book! Not only is the author Canadian - she is actually from Montreal and works at McGill University!
TITLE: Spin
AUTHOR: Catherine McKenzie
GENRE: Fiction
RATING: 3.5 Stars
Spin was a very interesting read for me. I am not a huge fan of contemporary women's fiction - as I much prefer chick lit. Somehow though Spin found itself squarely in the middle of both descriptions in my opinion. Not "chiklitty" enough for me, but not all that contemporary "fictionny" either.
The book opens with the main character finally getting a chance at her dream job - working for her favorite music magazine - so...... what does she do? gets talked into going drinking the night before the big interview. While I realize that this event sets the tone for the entire novel, I felt myself completely disinterested in Katie after that. Although this would be something one of my chick lit characters would do, there would be alot more silly humor surrounding it which would have made it, somehow for me, more acceptable. Nonetheless, I did continue reading the book as I really liked the style of writing, if not the main character.
As it turns out, Katie does not, of course, get the job, but she does get an opportunity to "write" about the big "it" girl of the moment who is heading for rehab. So, of course, Katie manages to get into the rehab to spy on the girl and report back. I also had some problems with this - using the rehab as a premise to "spy" on someone. So, I was having some serious problems with the premise of this novel!!!
However, as I kept reading, I discovered quite a few things. One of them being that the author treats addiction/recovery and rehab with utmost respect. It is not being dissed, but rather, she describes and talks alot about addiction and why and how it affects people. I was starting to sit up and take notice now - and....surprisingly, the main character actually shows some backbone AND some personal integrity as the book progresses.
By the middle of the book, I was completely hooked! The writing is great and the storyline is fulfilling and touching. I am so happy that I continued reading this one.
The book opens with the main character finally getting a chance at her dream job - working for her favorite music magazine - so...... what does she do? gets talked into going drinking the night before the big interview. While I realize that this event sets the tone for the entire novel, I felt myself completely disinterested in Katie after that. Although this would be something one of my chick lit characters would do, there would be alot more silly humor surrounding it which would have made it, somehow for me, more acceptable. Nonetheless, I did continue reading the book as I really liked the style of writing, if not the main character.
As it turns out, Katie does not, of course, get the job, but she does get an opportunity to "write" about the big "it" girl of the moment who is heading for rehab. So, of course, Katie manages to get into the rehab to spy on the girl and report back. I also had some problems with this - using the rehab as a premise to "spy" on someone. So, I was having some serious problems with the premise of this novel!!!
However, as I kept reading, I discovered quite a few things. One of them being that the author treats addiction/recovery and rehab with utmost respect. It is not being dissed, but rather, she describes and talks alot about addiction and why and how it affects people. I was starting to sit up and take notice now - and....surprisingly, the main character actually shows some backbone AND some personal integrity as the book progresses.
By the middle of the book, I was completely hooked! The writing is great and the storyline is fulfilling and touching. I am so happy that I continued reading this one.
Its still not chick litty enough for me, but I got to say that I thoroughly did enjoy reading it.
Here are the tour dates for this blog tour:
I will be doing a blog tour from January 11th to February 19th, 2010
I will be guest blogging on the following sites:
January 12, 2010: Peeking Between the Pages
January 15, 2010: Serendipitous Readings
January 22, 2010: The Book Chick
January 26, 2010: A Bookworm’s World
January 28, 2010: Pencil-Pushers and Ink-Splotches
February 2, 2010: Cindy’s Love of Books
February 4, 2010: Bookshipper
February 16, 2010: Imago Books Fantasy Realm
February 19, 2010: Guest on #Litchat on Twitter @4-5 p.m.
1 comment:
This does sound like an interesting book. It really makes you wonder why no one's tried following a celebrity into rehab.
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