Customer Reviews

Not a Star (Open Doors)

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First, I'm a Nick Hornby fan. He has a way of probing the minds of contemporary characters who imperfectly face the challenges life throws their way that I find both odd and credible. NOT A STAR is a short story (cleverly typeset to run exactly 69 pages) about a married woman in her forties who discovers that her adult son is a performer in adult videos. Within the course of a few days this bit of news manages to alter not only her relationship with and perception of her son, but all the other key relationships in her life as well, including her relationships with her dead father and the "porn star's" twin who died at birth. The story is very much about the weight and relative importance we assign to the events in our lives and where we turn to discover comfort, peace, and meaning.

This book is one volume from the Gemma Open Door series, "an innovative program of original works by some of our most beloved modern writers and important new voices." The Open Door books are written for adults learning to read. Unlike some materials prepared for adult literacy programs, the Open Door series (if NOT A STAR can be considered representative) does not rely on restricted vocabulary and simplified sentence structure to create a text new readers can read without discouragement. Horby gives the reader an engaging, thought-provoking narrative, believable characters, authentic dialogue, and exposes the reader to inventive word plays. He makes his prose sparkle. He does not "write down" to the reader or oversimplify in any way. He does what every reading teacher should do: he shows the student that reading can be fun and can make you think about things you might not necessarily think about on your own. As the Open Door series editors assert, "[this book affirms] the truth that a story doesn't have to be big to open the world." I guess that's one reason why people who've been reading "all their life" can enjoy NOT A STAR as well.

This is not an expansive review by any means.

First of all I'll say that this is definitely a case of quality over quantity. As a Hornby devotee I did no research, so caveat emptorme, boo-hoo - I didn't realise I was handing over $12 plus shipping for a short story.

Unless you're a Hornby completist, I advise you to wait for a cheap used copy. I was looking forward to nice, chunky belly-filling meal of a book, only to be fed this hors d'oeuvre...High Fidelity it aint!

It would have been more honest of Hornby and his publishers to have included this in a volume of short stories. My H. must be laughing all the way to the bank, but it's take him a long time to get there, dragging his big bags of fivers (grumble grumble, etc).

This is, apparently, one book in a series by well-known authors to be read by beginning adult readers, which is an absolutely fantastic idea. It's a short, short story about a mother who learns that her son is an adult film star. It's a nice little story, but make no mistake, it's a little story with large print. It'll take you less than an hour to read it, if you're not a beginning reader.

Hornby always sounds like, well, Hornby, and that's a great thing. The story here doesn't really add up to much - it's a few well-drawn scenes, and before you know it, it's over.

This is a book for Hornby completists, but those who want to read his best work are advised to look elsewhere (including his latest, the wonderful Juliet, Naked).

Hornby is entertaining in all forms, which is lucky because he seems to publish just about everything other than his shopping lists. This very short story gave a few chuckles and left me smiling. Had it been printed in a standard page size, I am not sure the page count would have exceeded 30. Nonetheless, it was a tickle.

Though short, this book is excellent. I mean, how would you react if you found out your son was a porn star?