From the New York Times bestselling author of A Million Little Pieces and Bright Shiny Morning comes Katerina, James Frey’s highly anticipated new novel set in 1992 Paris and contemporary Los Angeles. A kiss, a touch. A smile and a beating heart. Love and sex and dreams, art and drugs and the madness of youth. Betrayal and heartbreak, regret and pain, the melancholy of age. Katerina, the … pain, the melancholy of age. Katerina, the explosive new novel by America’s most controversial writer, is a sweeping love story alternating between 1992 Paris and Los Angeles in 2018.
At its center are a young writer and a young model on the verge of fame, both reckless, impulsive, addicted, and deeply in love. Twenty-five years later, the writer is rich, famous, and numb, and he wants to drive his car into a tree, when he receives an anonymous message that draws him back to the life, and possibly the love, he abandoned years prior. Written in the same percussive, propulsive, dazzling, breathtaking style as A Million Little Pieces, Katerina echoes and complements that most controversial of memoirs, and plays with the same issues of fiction and reality that created, nearly destroyed, and then recreated James Frey in the American imagination.
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I LOVE James Frey and his writing style. This book was absolutely AMAZING. Could not put this one down. Do yourself a favor and READ THIS BOOK.
This book is a reminder of the genius of James Frey. You will both love it and hate it. His writing style is unique, unformatted, and completely captivating. The words flow, without filter. I am guilty of forgetting just how easily Frey can seduce your mind from that moment of intrigue to that of utter infatuation. His books have done this all along. They demand your attention. Thank you for coming back to us.
A young man abandons love, school, his family, his home for a notion and a dream. He wants to write. He wants to “burn the world down” with his words. He heads to Paris, determined not to be a cliché. He drinks in excess, screws in excess, gets high in excess, does everything in excess. He meets a woman just as reckless as him. The story follows their relationship. Full of addiction, sex, betrayal, art, and love. The story line moves between 1992 and present day. Our young man is grown, successful, done what he set out to do but fell into a cliché he never wanted, making him uncertain if that feeling of contentment we are all looking for in life is really ever attainable. And if it is, to what lengths must people go to get it. He is done selling out to the masses. He is stagnant, melancholy, all until an anonymous message gives him the spark he may need. He begins to reach into his past and sees a clear line to his future.
Frey’s writing style is not for everyone. His choice of words, grammatical style or lack thereof, his flow of thought, it is all unique to him. It is his art, his interpretation of words on paper. After reading this book, you will have a greater appreciation of that.
Katerina by James Frey is first-person memoir-style piece of fiction (apparently) that consists of a man 45-year old (ish) man recounting his days in Paris as a 21 year old. It consisted pretty much of drinking, sex, drugs, reading and writing and repeat. During his reverie he gets a Facebook request from someone he doesn’t know. Because he has nothing better to do (putting off writing) he accepts it and they chat. At first he has no idea who it is, but soon figures it out. Could be good, right?
I have no need to read about someone else vomiting from over indulgence, waking up, passing out from over indulgence, screwing any female available, any place available. I like punctuation. I like paragraphs. In Katerina these things were inconsistent. Too busy being self-indulgent, reliving his earnest angst at being 21 and not interested in getting a job. This is a narcissistic look at the same things everyone feels and every one handles differently. Then we get to the finale-totally manipulative. Embarrassingly so. No spoilers-see for yourself.
I had to stop reading every 45 minutes or so and remind myself that I swore to finish this book. My son pointed out that a person could stop reading a book without finishing it. I didn’t. Thank God it ended sooner than I thought it was going to. Are people so maladjusted that they consider this good? I wouldn’t waste my time if I were you. You choose.
I received a free ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.