Well, this was certainly different from what I usually read but you know what, in a strange sort of way, it worked for me.
The story (memoir? potential autobiography?) was written in a format that was a bit unusual and took some getting used to. However, at about the 20% mark, I finally started getting what the book was about.
What helped me get more settled was the realisation that the story was not being told in a linear format but rather, it hopped and skipped throughout the life of the protagonist Stan Grozniak; beginning sometime near the most recent events in his life and then moving right on to his earliest memories with his brother in the late 1970’s Ohio.
If I’m to be perfectly honest(and when am I not?), even with this realisation I still struggled a lot with these time jumps. Especially because they could change multiple times within one retelling (e.g. in a particular story we moved from 1989 down to 1986 then back to 1990). Also, I do not know if this was because of Era that was being retold or just my lack of knowledge but most of the references in his childhood and adolescence(and there were a LOT) flew right over my head. At a point I resigned myself to just going with the flow and not googling most of references like I was doing.
Nonetheless, even with all my confusion and furious googling, I honestly enjoyed the tale of how Stan Grozniak came to be. He had a fascinating and somewhat disturbing upbringing (I’m looking at you Uncle Sean you bastard).
These stories brought out a whole plethora of reactions from me as they covered a range of topics from his love of film through to being a queer creative in LA in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Some made me laugh, others made me roll my eyes, some I didn’t see the point of(lol!) and some even made me clutch my pearls(yes I didn’t believe I even had pearls to clutch but there you go).
All these snippets of Stan’s life coalesced into an unusual but intriguing story about an unusual but intriguing man.
This is recommended for when you are in the mood for something distinctly different.
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
**eARC Graciously Provided by Publisher via Netgalley in Exchange for an Honest, Unbiased Review**
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