I received the book as an early release and it is one of the worst that I have ever read. I kept reading it expecting it to get better and it never did. There was no plot and one dimensional characters, who weren't even likable. ( )

It was surprising how the experience of the Blood Orphans in Amsterdam slightly mimicked my one and only experience in Amsterdam. Mine included a trip with my drug obsessed father in a wonderland of “tea” shops and the deterioration of what little we had left of our relationship. Thus the draw to this story for me. Not normally drawn toward fiction, I was interested and intrigued by how Schilling, a young author on the fiction scene would deal with the complex relationships of an entire rock band, as well as the peripheral characters attached to them. The result I found was not an in depth one, but the story is not about delving completely into the cerebral, which I find is occasionally overdone in both fiction and non-fiction, because the author is also trying figure out their own issues on the page. All in all, it was enough psychology to stay interested and then enjoy the entertaining aspects of the book. Character wise, I found Bobby, the eczema riddled bassist the most heartening, though he was portrayed, as the most bastardy. This is a fun book, not too radical, though dealing with the craziness of rock and roll bands, and not to heady that you’ll need a shrink afterward. ( )

I'm only reviewing this one because I received it through Early Reviewer; I still haven't actually finished it. The opening is very weak and the style sort of monotonous, a deal-breaker from a book narrated from several different points of view. Interesting idea, lackluster execution.

as someone from the music biz there were parts of this book i was pissing my pants with laughter......full on tears rolling down my face people staring at me wondering what is wrong.....laughing.....the book is solid.....BUT i am not sure how much people will enjoy it if they have no knowledge of the biz....that said....it is worth the read......this is a movie i would love.....could be a cult flick for sure.... ( )

Note -- I was to be provided with a review copy of this book via the LibraryThing Early Reviews Program, but my copy never arrived. I borrowed a finished copy from my local library in order to write this review. (Update circa late 2010 -- Book was correctly shipped; the extremely dusty shipping parcel was eventually discovered deep in the bowels of the mail room in my apartment complex.)

Shilling is a snarky, black-humored sort of author. While I love that style of writing, I found it awfully hard to become involved in this book. I think my biggest hurdle was the narrative structure. I wasn't exactly unhappy to be reading this structure – Shilling's five different points of view were ably separate and generally all kept in hand – but I quickly became frustrated at having to switch to a different narrator just when I would have gotten comfortable with the story and rhythm of the first one. By the time I'd reached the middle of the novel, the narrative switching seemed as if it smoothed out a bit… but whether that was because I'd become more comfortable at reading the juggled narratives or because Shilling's written style had evened out, I would have preferred it had happened far earlier in the novel.

I didn't feel Rock Bottom had really hit its stride until near the end, when Shilling picked up the habit of switching his narrators around a single scene. I liked reading the different perspectives rotating around a single action, and the narrative flow by this point was very, very smooth with never any of the he said/she said at all.

The library copy of the finished book included an awesome interview with Shilling that only highlighted his snarky humor, and while Rock Bottom isn't ever going to be a favorite of mine, I'd love to read more of Shilling's books. His next is apparently to be set in the Victorian time. Will this mean Victorian black humor? Ooooo. ( )