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I loved Catherine McKenzie’s first novel Spin. It was one of those novels that leave you wondering what is going to happen to those characters afterwards. Well finally 4 years later we find out!
The sequel (a novella) is told from Amber Sheppard’s point of view. I have to admit that I didn’t always have a favorable opinion of her in Spin. She came across as an immature spoiled actress and it was hard to feel sorry for her. Boy did that change for me! This time we get an inside look at who Amber really is, and yes, she’s messed up, but also a really tender soul.
The story picks up 2 years after Amber and Katie left rehab. Amber is still white-knuckling her sobriety and has broken up with Connor Parks for good, maybe. She goes to visit him when he starts texting her again in their secret language, and then SPOILER ALERT, he dies. Well, I guess it's not too much of a spoiler if it happens in the first 2 chapters.
The rest of the novella deals with the aftermath of his death and how it impacts her life, even though he wasn't technically 'in her life' at the time. There are many ways to lose the love of your life, and Amber lost hers, and then lost him again. I might have cried, a lot! Katie and Henry also make an appearance along with some new and funny characters.
Spun raises all sorts of questions about our celebrity-obsessed culture and the price that people pay for fame. The stars (both fictional and real) bemoan the paparazzi, and yet need them to promote certain (but not all) aspects of their lives. I was reminded of Linsday Lohan and those 'is she or isn't she' drunk photos of her that appear in magazines all the time. The extent of our own participation in their demise is also raised. Are those of us who have ever picked up a gossip rag or watched Entertainment Tonight complicit in their self-destruction?
I've read all of Catherine McKenzie's novels now and I'm continuously surprised by how well she takes on her character's voice. I'm pretty sure she's never been a drug-addicted former child star who lost the love of her life, and yet she embodies that persona completely. This is what great fiction writers do, and she's one of them.
You don’t need to have read Spin to read Spun (though I highly recommend it on its own right), and once you read it you will want to read it again and again, and again.
