For fans of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Girl, Interrupted, and A.S. King, National Book Award-finalist Adele Griffin tells the fully illustrated story of a brilliant young artist, her mysterious death, and the fandom that won't let her go.
From the moment she stepped foot in NYC, Addison Stone’s subversive street art made her someone to watch, and her violent drowning left her fans and critics craving to know more. I conducted interviews with those who knew her best—including close friends, family, teachers, mentors, art dealers, boyfriends, and critics—and retraced the tumultuous path of Addison's life. I hope I can shed new light on what really happened the night of July 28.
—Adele Griffin
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
Riveting and original
By Rachel @ Paper Cuts blog
The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone is the story of one girl's genius and how her rising star was extinguished by reckless decisions. It's heartbreaking and fascinating, and a story that would be compelling no matter how it were to be told. However, Addison Stone's story is told in interviews with friends, family, and those around her, with brief input from Addison herself through interviews with magazines and her art. You're given all sides of a story and a tragedy, with each person's view of Addison tinging their narration of the major events of her life, her fast rise to ubiquity, and her equally fast fall to infamy.Very early on, it was clear Addison Stone was different. Her art was mature and passionate, deep and revelatory. Though coming from a poor, deeply dysfunctional family, Addison and her talent are nurtured by her best friend's family and high school art teachers, who eventually get her into the art world of New York. Already tinged by mental illness, Addison takes the city by storm, but her genius proves too much to handle. No one knows if her death was suicide, murder, or an accident, but she left her mark on the world.Griffin paints an astonishingly real portrait of a girl who we hear very little from. At first it seems as if she's idolized, seen through a lens of a fan, but this idea was quickly shattered, as her imperfections and flaws were brought to light. She was talented but becomes too confident, with an established idea of who she should be, even if that meant trampling others on the way. It's a nuanced depiction that makes Addison truly feel like a real person, gone too soon. The whole book is alive with her essence.The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone is a completely unique reading experience that you don't want to miss. As it intricately explores how Addison left those in her life behind, it paints a riveting picture of a talented, fascinating girl who left her indelible mark on the world.I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful.Addison Stone meets the highest standard of YA Fiction
By L. Bravim
Adele Griffin's novel: The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone made me leery. Though the cover art and plot synopsis are intriguing, so many new YA authors have published in recent years, the genre is saddled with mediocrity. Addison Stone is the exception.Addison Stone was a prominent young artist who fell from the Manhattan Bridge into the East River. Was it a stunt? Foul play? Suicide? No one knows. The novel progresses in multiple perspectives, with friends, relatives, lovers all chiming in on their feelings. Gradually, the reader acquires a fuller picture as to what happened on July 29, 2013.Griffin's prose is hauntingly authentic. "I say it to myself. I am the mother of a child who has died. I'm in the club nobody wants to join. Lord knows, for months I couldn't even pull it through my brain. My daughter was gone. My daughter is dead."If you happen to glance at the cover, you'll very likely want to know more. Read the synopsis, you'll want to get your hands on this book. And once you start, you have to read till the end. This is high-quality young adult fiction. Recommended for 14+ readers. 5/5 stars.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
Manic Pixie Girl, Interrupted
By E.M. Bristol
"The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone: A Novel," really needs the "novel" part reiterated because it's set up like a tell-all biography. In a prologue, the author claims to have briefly taught the main character at Pratt Institute and continues to relate Addison's story - from her childhood up until the final moments of her unexpected death, by using photos, Addison's own artwork and multiple interviews. From the beginning, there's a mystery involved - as two boys Addison were romantically involved with at different periods in her life are considered suspects in Addison's death, which may have been a fall, a suicide or murder.Addison soon emerges as a highly gifted (even genius) artist, but also a deeply troubled individual. Her home life is rocky, but she finds a loyal best friend in Lucy Li and receives support, parenting and career guidance from her high school art teacher and his wife. Once she leaves home as a teen and heads to New York, she becomes more of a Manic Pixie Nightmare, as she continues to develop her skills in getting revenge, shoplifting and arson, alongside her drawing and painting. There's plenty of boy trouble, as well as Addison struggling with an unnamed mental illness, which causes her to believe that a ghost is communicating with her. As her behavior grows more erratic, her friends, doctors and family attempt to help her, but ultimately they can only do so much.My main problem with the book was the multiple narrators. It is very hard for writers to believably develop just a few narrators' first person voices in one novel, and here we have at least 20. Not even David Mitchell could probably pull this feat off. They all blurred together for me, and I had to keep checking back to see who was saying what. Although I was impressed by how the author used both visuals and text to create Addison's story, I ultimately did not find the main character to be either likeable or sympathetic. Like those around her, I found that her demons were just too out there to understand and care about.
