Gotta Find Me an Angel: A Novel [Hardcover]

Brenda Brooks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 7, 2006

The narrator, a film projectionist at a second-run cinema, finds herself at an existential crossroads. Driving the drama are her poet roommate Billie, her unconventional editor Claudia, and the unattainable object of everyone’s affection, artist Julia Riding. Enter the ghost of 15-year-old Madeline, a spirit which knows an unbearable secret and has an icy grip on our heroine's heart. One dark night, the narrator recounts Madeline's failed attempts at finding true love in a passionate, wickedly funny lament. On that night, in vibrant prose, Brenda Brooks reveals the secrets behind this unusual love story.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This heartfelt but structurally flawed first novel by Canadian poet Brooks tries to find a place where lyricism and lesbian chick lit might meet. The unnamed 30-something narrator is a Toronto repertory cinema projectionist who finds herself increasingly crippled in her relationships, haunted by the memory of her teenage lover Madeline's death 20 years earlier. Ostensibly an outpouring of feeling to Madeline's ghost one lonely evening, the book alternates between glimpses of adolescent passion and current scenes of humorous daily life, mainly involving the narrator's narcissistic roommate, the struggling poet Billie Smart. The narrator's emotional crisis intensifies when she meets Julia Riding, an elegant and accomplished painter who stirs up the first feelings of true longing she has felt since Madeline. Over the course of the novel, the narrator struggles to surrender her memories of Madeline in order to live more fully in the present—hopefully with Julia. There are funny moments with Billie (involving the competitive publishing scene), but as the narrative moves back and forth, the nostalgic spell Brooks tries to cast breaks repeatedly. (May)
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Raincoast Books; First Edition edition (February 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1551927179
• ISBN-13: 978-1551927176
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,491,482 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A nice surprise, August 2, 2008

By 

wildlx - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gotta Find Me an Angel: A Novel (Hardcover)

"Gotta Find me an Angel" is a story about love lost and possible healing. The narrator of the book, is a film projectionist in her thirties, whose childhood best friend and also first and only love, Madeline, has drowned at fourteen. The unnamed narrator lives with Billie, a wannabe poet, who introduces her to a painter, Julia, with whom they both fall in love. The narrator has lived most her life detached from other people and unable to love again. It is her relationship with Billie, and mostly her attraction to Julia, that are the catalysts for her finally having to deal with "twenty years' worth of pent-up grief and tears". Julia, by being able to make her feel things that she has been able to bury, unravels emotionally the narrator, who starts having panic attacks and to withdraw within herself again. One night she starts addressing Madeline inside her head, telling her what has happened in her life since she drowned, especially in the last year, when she met Billie and Julia, in order to try to finally get closure. The narration also allows us to understand what led to Madeline's drowning. Although the book's main theme is quite heavy, one of the great things about this book, besides the quality of the prose, is the self-deprecating and cynical humour of the narrator that permeates the whole story. I found myself laughing out loud at the description of Billie's attempts at learning to play the guitar and sing Aretha Franklin's "Gotta Find me an Angel", or at her cynical look at intellectual lesbian writers such as Billie's rival, ffiona perks. There are some minor inconsistencies in the plot and I would probably have liked to know more about both Madeline and Julia, but overall this is a very good book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique, intelligent, colorful, complex, memorable, and altogether enjoyable, June 7, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gotta Find Me an Angel: A Novel (Hardcover)

The debut novel of Brenda Brooks, Gotta Find Me An Angel is the imaginatively engaging story of a 30-something female film-projectionist whose haunting dreams of an old friend, having been dead for about twenty years, becomes reality as the young girl's ghost makes regular visits to her. With its distinctively vivid style of authorship, Gotta Find Me An Angel is also the compelling tale of an aspiring writer addicted to late night re-runs of "I, Claudius", his unconventional editor, as well as the intimate (albeit despondent) relationship of a young ghost and the story's narrator and heroine. Unique, intelligent, colorful, complex, memorable, and altogether enjoyable, Gotta Find Me An Angel is very strongly recommended reading that establishes Brenda Brooks (who has previously published two books of poetry, "Somebody Should Kiss You" and "Blue Light in the Dash") as a writer to take note of.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not so hot, August 5, 2008

By 

Jenn "Jay" (Vancouver, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gotta Find Me an Angel: A Novel (Hardcover)

I baught this book because I was doing a project on Brenda Brooks for my poetry class. She is a very good poet, but I didn't enjoy her novel as much.