BookLife Prize - 2017

Semi Finalist

Plot/Idea: 10 out of 10

Originality: 10 out of 10

Prose: 10 out of 10

Character/Execution: 10 out of 10

Overall: 10.00 out of 10

Assessment:

Plot: This is an outstanding novel. The success of the plot depends on the strength of the protagonist, and Erin is a perfectly flawed heroine.

Prose: This novel is a pleasure to read. The prose is of the highest quality and perfectly suited to the story.

Originality: Erin's voice and fantasy life are original and drive this poignant story.

Character Development: The characters are all well rendered. The ending might be the strongest part of the book: emotional and close to perfect.

Burb: A misfit bulimic whose fantasy life both protects and isolates her finds a real musician to save. A quirky read with a lovable, flawed protagonist.

Date Submitted: August 31, 2017

Title:  Leaving the Beach

Author:  Mary Rowen

Genre: Fiction

Rating:  4 stars

What’s it about?  The story of Erin Reardon and her search for happiness. Told in the first person and set in the working class town of Winthrop, Massachusetts, readers get to know Erin in alternating time periods—in the 1970s and ‘80s as an awkward teenager and college student, and in the 1990s as a young adult. As a slightly overweight teenager, Erin struggles to fit in, but finds comfort in music, to the point of obsession, as she latches on to a string of rock stars, certain that they are the only ones who understand her: Jim Morrison, Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen and the fictional grunge rocker, Lenny Weir, Erin’s main obsession. But Erin has major problems. Trouble at home and feelings of guilt and inadequacy lead to an eating disorder, alcohol abuse and a series of bad decisions.

Readers will enjoy reliving many classic teen and young adult moments as they relate to rock music, concerts and playing albums over and over. I like how Rowen describes the powerful one-on-one connection that can occur when you listen to music by yourself. Rowen also realistically shows the more painful times of rejection, not fitting in and the lonely moments suffered when everyone else seems to have life figured out.

How did you hear about it?  I saw Leaving the Beach reviewed by a few of my blogging friends and decided to read it myself.

Closing comments:  I thoroughly enjoyed this unique and fast read. Erin Reardon is both typical and remarkable, flawed but likable. Readers need to hold on to hope as she makes mistakes. I didn’t see the author’s truly original finish coming, and that made the book an even better read!

Contributor:  Book Club Mom

KIRKUS REVIEW

Rowen’s (Living by Ear, 2013) novel about an obsessive music fan examines how people use their fantasies as a method of coping with reality.

Erin Reardon is a self-conscious woman who struggles with bulimia who’s also a fanatical rock music devotee. The novel alternates between two time periods in her life, starting with her upbringing, during which she loses her father, develops an eating disorder, heads off to college, and learns to love rock stars such as David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello. In the second time period, during her adulthood, she gets a job selling T-shirts, begins an inappropriate sexual affair with her boss, and develops an obsession with Lenny Weir, a former music superstar currently suffering from heroin addiction. The story chronicles Erin’s struggle to recover from her eating disorder while simultaneously attempting to develop real, meaningful relationships in her life. Rowen’s juxtaposition of the two timelines is often useful; seeing where Erin came from helps readers to understand her later neuroses as an adult. The book gracefully grapples with several important issues, including alcohol and drug addiction, loss, grief and sexuality. It also offers a unique look at an eating disorder from the sufferer’s perspective, describing bulimia frankly and graphically (“When it was over, tears would pour from my eyes, and my face would be spattered with puke and toilet water….I’d feel disgusting, and used, and dirty”). However, there are also many entertaining pop-culture references to offset the weighty themes. Music lovers, in particular, will appreciate the very specific rock trivia that the author cleverly provides throughout the story.

An intriguing novel that looks at the ways that people cope with the pain in their lives.