Review: The Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurst

There are some stories no one wants to hear. Some stories, one told, won't let you go so easily. I'm not talking about the tedious, the pointless, the disgusting: the bugs in your bag of flour; your hour on the phone with the insurance people; the unexplained blood in your urine. I'm talking about narratives of tragedy and pathos so painful, so compelling, that they seem to catch inside you on a tiny hook you didn't even know you'd hung. You wish for a way to pull the story back out; you grow resentful of the very breath that pushed those words in the air. Stories like this have become a specialty of mine. [opening paragraph]

The Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurst
Doubleday, 2010
Fiction; 320 pgs

Author Octavia Frost is on her way to deliver her latest manuscript to her editor when she catches a glimpse of a news story about her estranged son being arrested for murdering his girlfriend. Not sure what else to do, Octavia heads for San Francisco to be there for her son. The reception she receives is chilly, however. Milo doesn't want to see her. Just as she is thinking of returning home, she discovers a note in a sugar bowl that changes her mind. She's sure her son couldn't have committed the murder and maybe she can help prove he didn't.

Octavia's world evolves around her writing, and she often looks at life through the lens of a story unfolding. She has regrets about the past, especially about her relationship with her rock star son, Milo. When Milo was nine, his father and sister died tragically, leaving just him and Octavia. She and he are a lot of alike and constantly butted heads as he was growing up. She wasn't there for him as much as she would have liked, lost in her own grief and not quite sure how to handle his.

While there is a mystery aspect to the book, the main thrust of the story is of Octavia's reflection on her own life and of her relationship with her son. She is getting to know him again, as if for the first time. The author did a good job of capturing Octavia's thoughts and feelings. I wasn't sure what to think of Octavia for most of the book, but she showed a lot of growth as the novel progressed. By the end, I quite liked her.

It took me a while to get into the novel. Interspersed throughout the novel were excerpts of Octavia's latest writing project, a book called The Nobodies Album. Octavia has taken to rewriting the endings to all her novels and hopes to publish them in an anthology of sorts. Had she written those same stories today, how differently would they have ended? This was her opportunity to change the past, so to speak. I was less than impressed with the excerpts, however, and think that the novel would have come off fine without them, perhaps even better if only for the lack of distraction. The same connections the author made in the excerpts were made in the actual story as well. Although, I will say the excerpts got better towards the end.

There were several passages I wish now I had jotted down to share with you, phrases and ideas that caught my fancy. As a person who loves stories, I was drawn to Octavia's observations and take on life, especially in regards to her writing--how it affected her life and how her life affected her writing.

While I enjoyed The Nobodies Album in the end and came to care for all of the characters, I still felt a bit disappointed when all was said and done. I do think I'd like to give the author another try. She clearly has a way with words and is able to get inside the minds of her characters.

Rating: (Good)

For more information about the author and her books, visit her website.

Source: Received book through BookBrowse First Impressions Program.

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