- Hardcover: 416 pages
- Publisher: Black Swan (2 April 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0593047311
- ISBN-13: 978-0593047316
- Product Dimensions: 21.4 x 15.4 x 4.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,857,343 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Louise Voss has drawn on her 10-year career in the music business as the backdrop for her debut novel--a touching story of female friendship and self-enlightenment. Helena Nicholls, cult London DJ and former bassist with globally successful rock band, Blue Idea, is knocked seriously off-track following a hideous, and deeply uncool, accident at an industry awards bash. With a long stay in hospital and an unwelcome, but enforced, career break, Helena has time to ponder on her good, and bad, fortune so far and which of life's difficult paths to tread next.
As she remembers back to early childhood and her first meeting with Samantha, the pretty five-year-old who was to become her best friend and life-long soul mate, key moments in time are remembered with a song. To Be Someone is told in alternating chapters of flashback and the present day; each flashback headed with a "Song of the Day"-a clever ploy, as most readers between the ages of 15 and 45 will find themselves nostalgic over such diverse musical memories as Jackie Wilson's "I Get The Sweetest Feeling", Blondie¹s "Sunday Girl", "Lovesong" by The Cure and "This is a Low" from Blur. (Yes, of course The Jam's "To Be Someone" is in at Number 11). When Helena is not remembering her parents move to America in her teens, the rise and fall of her pop career and her deepening attachment to Sam, she struggles to come to terms with the present and the injuries caused by her accident, physical and otherwise. Then, a chance meeting in a hospital corridor with a face from her past leaves Helena wondering if the immortalising path she has chosen is the right one after all?
Voss employs a deliberate teenage-diary style for To Be Someone: naïve, arrogant, self-absorbed yet full of pathos and bursting with all that growing-up still to be done. Hugely appealing to a younger female readership, this voyage into adulthood is rocked with the cataclysmic highs and lows of life, death, friendship and the music business. Judging from the dedication at the front of the book, Voss is clearly writing from the heart. --Carey Green
Glamour
‘A curl-up comfort read’
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I warmed instantly to Helena, the heroine. Drole and tragic, she provoked me into thinking about the songs which punctuate my own life. Maybe Helena could have avoided some of her personal calamities if she had avoided Glen Campbell's dreary "Wichita Lineman", and embraced the banal positivity of New Romanticism instead.
The story is an engaging essay on the turbulence of life and relationships, and is thoroughly recommended.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A good story told from an interesting perspective, Author has created a very engaging character and instills a passion for music many will enjoy. You'll get a lot from this book if you have any experience in the music industry, journolism, radio,or just a love of music. I was surprised to find myself absorbed totally by the last 100 pages and actually caring about the character. A damn sight better than most recent fiction I've read.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Having bought the book as a lover of all music, I was pleased to discover that many of my favourite songs had been used as inspiration for the story of the life of Helena Nicholls, a fictional ex-pop star now a graveyard shift radio DJ (if only for one night) - almost a female Alan Partridge, one could say. The story is told in a fantastic manner. A 'book-within-a-book' style is used so that the present day story is told side by side with the past, both meeting at the end. It sounds confusing, but this really is an effortless read. Only one thing lets this book down for me. The basis of the story is that certain songs remind people of different parts of their life. However, through Helena, Louise Voss seems to say that songs can only have an influence if they are classic, obscure or both. Thus, William Orbit, Beth Orton, Blur and Ann Peebles are in, but Bon Jovi, Spice Girls and Black Lace are all out. This is simply untrue. One doesn't have to like a song for it to have sentimental memories when heard later in life. If, like me, you hate Agadoo, I'm sure if you heard it when winning the lottery (the example given by Voss) the memory of that song would linger for quite some time. Of course, this is only a piece of fiction. We are not meant to read so deeply! So. apart from this little niggle, I would recommmend this book. Give it a go!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Powerful writing and an unputdownable read
This is one of the most powerful and emotive novels I have ever read.
I bought this book because I was initially attracted by the title and the concept of associating songs with... Read more
Published on 24 Aug 2003 by Simon
Unexpected great read
I bought this book just before I caught pnemonia and ended up in bed for a week. Living in the South of France, English language books are not so easy to find, so when I got my... Read more
Published on 24 Jun 2003 by "jaclynkelly"
What a great book!
This is one of the most touching and thought provoking novels I have read in ages. Its the sort of book I wish I had written. Read more
Published on 17 Jun 2002 by K-G
Different, touching and uplifting
I loved this book - at first I thought the whole idea of matching memories to songs would be irritating, but this does not take over the essential 'heart' of the book which is... Read more
Published on 1 Jun 2002
Unreadable.
I bought this book by recommendation and managed to suffer about 30 pages of it and that was too much. Read more
Published on 28 May 2002
Moving, powerful, emotionally honest and highly evocative
This is one of the most wonderful novels I've read for a very long time. After only fifty pages I was moved to tears and wished I could contact the author to congratulate her. Read more
Published on 22 May 2002
Excellent read
This is a fab book. I really loved the way the story went back and forth between Helena's childhood and her adult life and the songs that start each chapter brought back loads of... Read more
Published on 21 May 2002
A great read: funny; brave; heart-breaking
I read this novel on the recommendation of a friend and was really drawn in by it. I found the character of Helen extremely convincing and I loved the voice of the novel: honest,... Read more
Published on 9 Nov 2001
Worst book I have read in a long, long time.
Trite, unreadable. Unlikeable main character. Clever theme and use of songs to capture the readers imagination. Otherwise terrible.
Published on 20 May 2001
Amazing
I took a chance on this book, buying it on the strength of other amazon reviewers without having read a sample in a book shop. I wasn't disappointed. It's such a wonderful book. Read more
Published on 26 April 2001
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