Review "The Nobodies Album" by Carolyn Parkhurstm (2 of 3)

The Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurst
Published by Doubleday
ISBN 978-0-385-52769-9
At the request of Doubleday, a HC was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest opinion.
  Synopsis (from book's jacket): Octavia Frost is a former bestselling writer in the winter of her career. In the opening pages of this dynamic novel, she arrives in New York to deliver her latest manuscript-a revolutionary new book-to her editor. But as she walks through Times Square , she sees a news crawl announcing that Milo, Frost, her rock-star son, has been arrested for the murder of his girlfriend.
  Octavia and Milo haven't spoken in years, an estrangement stemming from a horrific tragedy the two of them endured when he was a child. Yet Octavia cannot help but drop everything and fly to San Francisco to try to make sense of the situation.
  The book Octavia was supposed to deliver contains rewritten versions of the final chapters of all her previous novels, in which she has changed her character' outcomes and removed pieces of her personal life that had been hidden within, especially concerning that terrible days years ago, These "last' chapters" and their new revisions are interspersed throughout Carolyn Parkhurst's The Nobodies Album-the scattered puzzle pieces of the troubled past Milo and Octavia share.
  Did she drive her son to murder? Did Milo murder anyone at all? And what exactly happened all those years ago? As the novel builds to a stunning reveal, Octavia must consider how her own story will come to a close.
  My Thoughts and Opinion: I had a hard time with the beginning of this book. I felt that at times it was very "wordy" and "dry", and not sure where the plot was headed. There were eight (8) chapters that had been written by the character of the author and her ground breaking concept of her newest manuscript, whereas it had the original ending of one of her prior novels and then a new and different ending. Another thing that I felt was hard to relate to, which was stated in the synopsis, and that was the many years of estrangement between the characters of mother and son. It appeared to this reader, and this is my opinion only, that son's response, was unrealistic and too nonchalant when they were reunited after many years of bitterness and being apart. On the other hand, the suspense of trying to piece together the clues of finding the murderer in the cast of characters, what was the underlying reason for the estrangement and a few other issues that I won't mention due to it containing spoilers, is what kept my interest and had me turning the pages. Since I found this novel to be a 50/50 read I will rate it accordingly.

DISCLAIMER

I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me,

in exchange for my honest review.

No items that I receive

are ever sold...they are kept by me,

or given to family and/or friends.