Book Review: Rock Star by Jackie Collins

LEIGH-ANN BRODBER

APRIL 1, 2014

I love reading Jackie Collins’ books because they always are an eye opener for the type of lifestyle rock stars and the famous live. And also the kind of lifestyle of the people who are fame-obsessed. In Rock Star, one of her earlier books, Jackie Collins focuses on three particular individuals who all strive to make a mark in the world of entertainment at a time when stars like The Who and Stevie Wonder were dominating the global stage. They persevere through perilous and downright shameful activities and come out on top with battle scars. However, they seem to forget the people by the sidelines that eagerly plan their own climb to the top.

Jackie Collins sets the scene straight from the start. We are briefly introduced to three rock stars, the elite and three people who seem to be planning the biggest heist of the millennium.

Then she jumps into the life of young Kris Phoenix – the wild English rocker – who is desperate for the taste of stardom and the freedom that comes with it. Throughout his teenage years and early adulthood, he strives to become the biggest rock star England and the rest of the world has ever seen. And achieves it. Unfortunately, his best friend, Buzz, (who started rocking with him since the garage years) gets caught up in the drugs, women, the Hippy lifestyle and a whole bunch of other stuff. Eventually, Kris realizes that he has to leave Buzz behind if he was to truly become a world-famous rock star. Ofcourse, Kris experiences his own dilemmas that throw him a couple spaces backward but he perseveres and it pays off. Even if it means being a middle-aged rock star.

Then readers meet Bobby Mondella a.k.a “Sweet Little Bobby”. Bobby was a child star who sang country and western hit records but as soon as he reached sixteen and puberty hit, nobody was interested in hearing a fat black teenage boy sing with a cracked voice. The fame, glory and so-called friends vanished in a heartbeat.

I think Bobby’s story was by far the saddest out of the bunch as for the next couple of chapters that focused on him showed the kind of lifestyle washed-up stars lived. His only living family member was his fat cousin Fanni who lived with Ernest, a huge man who exploited what was left of Bobby’s earnings. Under the “care” of the duo, Bobby struggled to grow into his own as he takes up a job at The Chainsaw (a Manhattan discotheque) as a bathroom attendant. As depressing a time as this was for Bobby, The Chainsaw was his door to opportunity. He becomes close friends with Rocket and Sharleen who also work at The Chainsaw and together they all strive for fame. Only thing is, Sharleen doesn’t get far with her mediocre voice while Rocket and Bobby are walking briskly down the yellow brick road to stardom. Discouraged by her friends’ achievements and her lack of, she seeks out the eye of the rich and influential, Marcus Citroen. Unfortunately, he’s bad news and while Sharleen becomes the star she’s always wanted to be, she gives up being her own woman and allows Marcus to take advantage of her. Bobby, seeing that this wouldn’t end well for Sharleen, joins Marcus’ recording company to free Sharleen from Marcus’ clutches. Immediately, he becomes a superstar. But he slowly begins to realize that superstardom comes with a very high price. As the curtains close on Bobby’s history, we see him in various lights; the Inflated Ego Bobby, the Drugged-up Bobby, the Recovering Bobby and the Depressed and Blind Bobby.

Lastly, readers are introduced to the proper and very classy life of Rafealla. As a woman coming from money, there’s very little that interests Rafealla and she seeks to find her calling in spite of a bunch of misfortunate incidents. Even though she had family and friends who cared about her well-being, her pride caused her to depend on her own strength when the shit hit the fan. In some cases this brought times of immense oppression for her as she tried to live through a dysfunctional marriage and a relationship with a gorgeous lying Brazilian. Unfortunately, she also comes across Marcus Citroen who she offers her body to in exchange for fame and fortune.

In true Jackie Collins’ style, she knits the lives of all these characters together as they all find themselves at Nova Citroen’s, the wife of the infamous Marcus Citroen, fundraiser party. What happens next can only be described as a nerve-wracking climax.

What I like the best about this book and Jackie Collins’ style overall is that readers bond with the main characters and get a huge glimpse of the lives of the other people whom the stars come in contact with and how these people’s involvement help to shape the storyline of the novel. There’s Bobby’s long time crush Sharleen, who is fatally ambitious, and who was too busy star gazing to realize that her world was crumbling away. Then there’s also Nova Citroen who is trapped by her husband in a superficial world and whose involvement in the story causes Bobby to be temporarily blinded (literally and figuratively). There’s also Maxwell Sicily’s band of thieves that are the shadow characters of the novel. Their involvement in the story is small but hugely significant as they emerge in the end to be a serious threat to the rest of the characters. Ofcourse, there are a whole lot more characters that help to make the novel the success that it is but the way the story is written is what really makes Rock Star a book that is worth waaayyyy more than just a fourth read.

Rating: 9 /10

Leigh-Ann Brodber is an upcoming enthusiastic journalist. She’s written book reviews, film, stage production and food articles for various websites, and she’s also a born and bred animal rights activist, although she doesn’t think she’ll ever give up her rights to eat chicken. She has helped out at her local hospital many-a-time by indulging in weekly chit-chat with patients under a program called Candy Stripers. She also recently started getting help for her long term Facebook addiction, she swears.

THE YOUNG FOLKS