TITLE: The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone
AUTHOR: Adele Griffin
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RATING:
For fans of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Girl, Interrupted, and A.S. King, National Book Award-finalist Adele Griffin tells the fully illustrated story of a brilliant young artist, her mysterious death, and the fandom that won't let her go. From the moment she stepped foot in NYC, Addison Stone's subversive street art made her someone to watch, and her violent drowning left her fans and critics craving to know more. I conducted interviews with those who knew her best--including close friends, family, teachers, mentors, art dealers, boyfriends, and critics--and retraced the tumultuous path of Addison's life. I hope I can shed new light on what really happened the night of July 28. --Adele Griffin
Review:
The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone tells the story of… wait for it…. Addison Stone, a promising artist full of talent and skill who died tragically and way too young.
The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone made Addison seem so real. Like she was a legit real person and not just a character. I actually thought I was reading a biography until I tried to look her up and all I got was this book. I didn’t even realize it was fiction until halfway through. That’s how real it seemed.
It was obvious a lot of work went into creating Addison and her world. The book was filled with pictures of her, the people in her life, her art, magazine covers, emails, etc. I’ve never seen so many pictures, printed in full color, in a chapter book in my life. This really helped with the world building as it made her really seem like she was actually alive at one point of time – there was proof of her existence.
Just a peek at what I mean. There were also some cool references. Like G Chat for instance which I actually have used… this is before Google + existed.
The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone isn’t written like your average fiction novel. It’s essentially a biography about a character that is conducted through interviews given by other people, all talking about Addison and their experiences with and stories about her. It was really well done and I felt like most of the characters, the major ones at least, developed their own unique voice and I really liked that. This helped with the world building as well because they made it seem like all the people were real people and not just figments of someone’s imagination.
Speaking of characters, I liked Lucy, Addison’s best friend since childhood, and Lincoln, her last (and best) boyfriend, the most as they seem to really be the only ones that genuinely cared her without expecting anything in return. They loved her and it was obvious. Too bad I can’t say the same for some of the other characters who I felt like were using Addison to benefit themselves somehow, whether it was to gain connections, make money, become more respected… etc.
In Conclusion…
The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone is wonderfully crafted to tell the seemly true, but in reality, fake, story of Addison Stone. Composed of interviews and filled with visuals, The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone is a story like no other. It’s unique in it’s own special way, and I highly recommend it if you’re looking for something original to read.
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| Overall: | 4.6 |
I love the idea of colour photos in the book to bring the character to life! Didn’t know this had those! R x
[…] accidently referred to as “The Unfinished Life of Addie LaRue”, probably inspired by The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone by Adele […]