Stone Arabia. Dana Spiotta (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
A Rock/Lit story which reminded me of "A Visit From the Goon Squad". Spiotta tells a story about sibling relationships, obsession, memory, and the urge to create. "Stone Arabia" is built around Denise and Nik Kranis, a pair of cool Southern California kids now closing in on the gloom of midlife. Denise struggles with memories of her brother, a rock ’n’ roll cult hero, in a challenging novel about identity and family history. Serious Book Club read 2013 a low 4 out of 5Don't even remember reading the book a few months later.... but of a sister being the burdened caretaker of her irresponsible brother and the loving daughter to her dementia ridden mother (boy did that hit home, that's probably why I forgot the book 1) I already have Pre-Alzheimer's - don't laugh and 2) to painful to remember). Much of the book also relates to my childhood neighborhood, Hollywood and LA and the era of my youth 70-80's. The importance of the book was the pain and self-sacrifice the daughter/sister put herself through to keep the family together in the modern fractured world where family is no longer the nuclear unit. I felt her pain and disillusionment.
What do You think about Stone Arabia. Dana Spiotta (2011)?
Handles the elegiac aspects of contemporary society beautifully.
—carolyn
Introspective, depressing and a little preachy at times.
—Pumpkin
