****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
"...but the dirt gets in all the cracks like they're creases in your hands and makes your palm prints filthy, and anything you were trying to find that was shiny gets dull fast." --LauraGive me a strong cast of characters written with a razor-sharp ear for the subtle details behind their emotions and motivations, and I'll follow them into any setting, no matter how unbelievable or far-fetched. Do the same thing in a heart-breakingly authentic setting, like the unforgiving streets of Hollywood as Jessica Blank does in Almost Home, and you have the makings of a must-read debut novel that will stick with you long after.Weaving together seven different overlapping narratives, each chapter a vignette offering one character's perspective in their own distinctive voice, Blank does for Hollywood what Richard Price does for the Lower East Side in Lush Life, digging below the glossy surface to shed a harsh, revealing (but not unnecessarily graphic) light on individual experiences, the overall plot (solid as it is) less important than the people living through it. Tracy, the hard-shelled center of the story who leaves an indelible impression upon each of the others, is an enigma until the final chapter when she finally speaks for herself and all of the threads coalesce, but fittingly do not wrap up, around her.Blank's prose is brisk and riveting, getting into each character's head to varying degrees while spicing their haunting narratives with precise bits of dialogue, never sainting or damning any of them for their actions, or inactions. Don't let the "Young Adult" label or the misleading cover fool you, either; this isn't High School Musical or an After School Special. What it is is highly recommended.[Full Disclosure: Blank is a friend of mine from years back when we were both active in New York City's poetry scene. If Almost Home wasn't actually good, though, I'd simply not review it.]
