To Be Someone

Good morrrrrrrrrrrning, Vietnammmmmmmm!!

Ok, most of you may not have gotten that reference, but it was Robin Williams in "Good Morning, Vietnam", obviously...anyway, moving on to my first Kindle book review!

I read To Be Someone by Louise Voss. It is considered contemporary fiction, and I would probably classify it as a drama with comedic quality. I really, really liked it. I've noticed that the contemporary fiction that I've read lately tends to be very emotionally driven, dramatic, and has snippets of existentialism in the story. To Be Someone was no different.

Voss tells the story of Helena, a British, washed up ex-pop star. She's fallen on some hard times, having lost her lifelong best friend to cancer in the past few months; on top of all that, she craves the overwhelming attention she once had from her fans. Alas, she feels the only option she has is to create her life's soundtrack, if you will, with songs from her biggest life moments and reasons why these songs mean so much to her. After Helena plays these songs on her radio show, she decides she will kill herself. Pretty bleak, I know.

I chose to read this because of the whole life soundtrack concept. I have often thought about which songs I would choose that define me and times in my life,  but I find that a very difficult task to go about! Although it got kind of old reading about Helena and her "woe is me" outlook on the fleeing fame in her life, using music as a memoir is just fascinating.

Now, since this book was written in the perspective of an aged British popstar, I had not heard of most of the artists, except perhaps David Bowie and The Cure. I ended up researching several of the titles on Youtube, so it was educational experience as well as just for fun.

I would definitely recommend this book. If you don't mind reading stories that have a sense of darkness and bleak outlook at times, then you could definitely go for this book! I promise; there's light at the end of the tunnel for Helena. :)


In a couple days, I'll have a review of a children's book and probably more of a journal entry about an issue that's been on my mind recently. Also, look for a Song or Quote of the Day!

Thanks for stopping by!