Schizophrenic, narcissistic teen or brilliant emerging artist or both? That's the question the reader must answer about Addison Stone, Griffin's fictional construct brought to life with photos, original art, fake magazine articles, fake emails, and interviews by those who knew her.

It's an intriguing way to tell this story. The interviewees are the narrators, and they are all unreliable in their own personal ways. You have a collection of loyal girlfriend, dysfunctional parents, disgruntled ex-boyfriends, the hot shot agent, the star struck mentors. And they all have a measure of guilt about Stone's early death - a fall from a New York bridge.

It's definitely like reading about an impending train wreck that you can't stop. You tell yourself, she should have been hospitalized early on, watched over, taken under someone's wing. And yet, and yet, supposedly there's this artistic brilliance - not unlike other troubled artists e.g. Van Gogh. So you wonder whether it's all going to flame out anyway over time, or whether reining it in will destroy it. Good questions to ponder.

Me? I think she wasn't as great as people thought she was. She was desperate for attention. She was not happy. She was a tragic figure.

Now, what about you? What do you think?

One note to the publisher: Can't someone somewhere actually read the final copy and make sure the words are in the right place? Too many instances of misplaced words that could have easily been fixed before final press time. Lazy and sloppy imho. I could do that for you, for a price. Call me.:-)

unique and different and incredibly well written. it all felt so real.

My review is here.

Review coming up soon!
I need to sum up my thoughts about this book, I can't begin to think straight. It's left my thoughts scrambled.

I don't think this was a terrible book. It has a very interesting concept and format. I think I just didn't connect with the character of Addison Stone. To me, she was not very likable and therefore, I wasn't interested about hearing of her life and the mystery of her death. None of the other characters seemed to have any real depth either, so it ended up being a bit of a chore to slog through to the end.

I think the format and presentation of this story was intriguing and clever and wouldn't mind seeing it again.

I liked the concept of this. I didn't like the photos they weren't real.

I have not read many docu-novels. In fact, I could count how many on one hand. I have to say that after reading this one that there should be more docu-novels. This book is my first introduction to author, Adele Griffin. Wow, Mrs. Griffin can write. For a spilt moment I actually believed that this book was based on a real person. This is kudos to the author's writing skills and how well this book was put together. I read that the author was thinking of just writing the docu-novel and then she imagined Addison as a real person, so she added pictures and artwork of Addison's. This is what pushed the book over the top for me. If it had just been a book it would have been fine but the pictures really helped tell the story.

I liked the way that the author presented this book in interview format with the interviews being short. It was like having conversations with the people. I felt like I was there listening to all of Addison's friends and family remember her life. No matter how you slice it up, the end result is still tragic. A young life was taken so soon in the peak time. Addison is forever remembered in The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone.

I LOVED the concept for this book. It was totally engrossing and unique. Tens are going to eat this shit up! This story pieces together the life of Addison Stone through interviews, emails, articles, photographs, and paintings. Addison was a famous New York Artist who tragically died when she was only 18, this book attempts to piece together her life from people who knew her best or thought they knew her. Addison came from humble beginnings with a broken home and some severe mental problems. Art was her escape. When she was 17 she won some major art scholarships that enabled her to study in New York. She promptly became a splash and the next IT girl. New friends, new lovers, and new artwork awaited her, but her mental problems followed her to the city. This is her story, not in her own words but in the words of the people that surrounded her.

I loved the mix of narrative and art in this book, it makes it read even faster. For fans of young fiction and the New York art scene.

Really interesting format for a novel.

Check out my review here.

This was such an interesting book! It felt so real and felt exactly like it was non-fiction. It was definitely more character based with no real plot at all but I loved it. I loved Addison!