Kevin Glavin

"All the Thing You'll Do!" by Kevin Glavin with Illustrations by Sarah Grepo

Ingenious, charming, useful: all describe this lovely/loving book written by Kevin Glavin, illustrated by Sarah Grepo.

Although its target audience is a family greeting their firstborn child it can be used as the photographic biography of any newborn, or as a "catch-up book" for a toddler. Kept on a reachable shelf this can be a ten-year project: perhaps the inspiration that leads to future authorship of a book for someone to review in 2043.… (más)

Probably one of the most strange books I have ever read. The entire premise of the book, in which the author pretends to be just an editor for an imaginary journalist whom was writing a manuscript for a fictional rock star, was interesting and unique. The characters were wacky, insane, "out-there," but somehow believable. The events were obscure to say the least but made for an interesting adventure. Some parts were a little hard to follow or far-fetched but over-all it was a compulsively addicting story.… (más)

Rock Star's Rainbow surprised me. I thought it would be a book simply about the life of a drugged and boozed-up rock star (and that was fine with me). But I was very pleasantly surprised by an emotional story. I was not prepared for the surprise of his daughter, but it made me love the book that much more. There was also the "finding yourself and your purpose" theme to the story, which helps keep me interested, because I always want to find out how that turns out.
I did get kind of bogged down in the last 75 pages or so, but I was ultimately pleased with the overall story. I would definitely recommend this book to all of my reader friends, because it would appeal to different audiences. Thanks for the read, and I hope to see something new from Kevin Glavin very soon!!… (más)

I tried really hard to like this book. In fact, I spent something like three months reading Kevin Glavin's Rock Star's Rainbow in tiny chunks, hoping that, if I digested it slower, perhaps I would be able to properly appreciate it. But I couldn't.

That being said, I felt like there was a genuinely good story hidden somewhere amidst the prose, I just couldn't find it. This book follows the adventures of Rook, a rock star searching for the meaning of life. On his quest, he ends up flying all over the earth, discovering long lost relations, and catching up with an old flame.

The skeleton of this story is good. It's a classic redemption tale with a somewhat-likeable anti-hero, set in farfetched, but compelling circumstances. And it is a satire, so there is (a bit) of humor.

But mostly, this book is just bizarre. The longer you read, the more muddled Rook becomes... and consequently, so does the prose. For me, the characters never quite came alive. Is that because of their strange—and sometimes ridiculous—thought patterns and actions? I don't know; I just know they didn't 'work' for me.

"Rock Star's Rainbow" also requires you to suspend your belief just a little too often. I can handle crazy people, love triangles, mafias, people with very strange names, tigers, washed up Bollywood stars, leeches, men who are painted blue... any of those things on their own. But when combined, the story becomes quite absurd… and not in a good way. A woman named Hula Kentucky? A kung-fu chick that gets her ear ripped off? Many, many references to Van Gogh (Partly because of the ear?), and passages that read like cheesy song lyrics?

To add to the mess, Rock Star's Rainbow also seems to express a little "TMI". There are plenty of details I never wanted to know, and wish I hadn't read. I'm not a squeamish person; I just didn't want to know all the details.

I will admit, I enjoyed a lot of the references to famous people, times, and works of art. They were unexpected—almost out of place—in this book, but I enjoyed them nonetheless. I guess you could say they were a breath of fresh air. The descriptions of India were also captivating; both rich in detail and substance.

Overall, I can tell that author Keven Glavin was really trying with his book. You can sense the effort, and, if you can sift through all the filler on top, you might find a decent story. It just didn't strike the proper chord with me.

You can find more book reviews at my blog: http://www.dailymonocle.blogspot.com… (más)