Kissing Bowie by Joan Norlev Taylor

Kissing Bowie Reviews

• 
  Ellie

  I wanted to really like this book. I was a teenager in the 80s, and with its 1980s setting, I expected this to be a book I could really relate too. Sadly, I was disappointed.
  
  Kissing Bowie opens with Melbourne-based, New Zealand-born photographer Sam attending the opening of a retrospective of her work at a London art gallery, where she meets a young fan, who reminds Sam of her own younger self, taking her back to her first, and only previous, stay in London.
  
  And so we are taken back to 1980, as modern-day Sam writes down, with the help of her old diary, the story of that previous trip to London, where Sam is torn between her growing feelings for student Stuart, and her loyalty to her Bowie-obsessed best friend Laura, who is showing worrying signs of possible mental health issues.
  
  The underlying story is a good one, and in the right hands could be a good, taut, tense exploration of friendships, love and consequences in the face of coping with one's own history. In Joan Taylor's hand, though, it's a good 300-page novel hidden within a 480-page book. I felt that the book was trying to be too many things. As well as mystery/thriller of Laura's story, and the chick-lit story of Sam's first love, there is commentary on press intrusion - applying the principles of the Leveson to a 1980 setting - and a party political broadcast on behalf of the Labour Party. Taylor is just trying to cram too many elements into this work, and it ends up being less than the sum of its parts.
  
  Added to this was my increasing annoyance at Taylor's constant referencing of the date. We know the story is being told with reference to a diary, but it is not written in a diary style, so constantly seeing "Monday the 20th of October" or whatever date, grated. I first highlighted this tendency when that date was mentioned. By the time we got to "Wednesday the 10th of December" had had enough. Taylor frequently mentions other events that happened on those dates; it feels like she wants to show how clever she is, how much she knows about the year 1980. A little period detail gives a story context, but most of the detail in this book is unnecessary.
  
  I'm not sure who this book is aimed at. In some ways, I felt too young for it - my memories of the 80s differ greatly from Sam's memoirs, probably because I was not yet in my teens in 1980, while Sam is 20. But perhaps I am, in fact, too old for it. Perhaps the historical references gives context to younger readers who remember nothing of the 1980s. I can't see it being of any significance to such an audience, though.
  
  All in all, this book does not deliver on its promise.
• 
  Carolyn

  This is an interesting and well written book set in London during the 1980s. Sam, a New Zealander escaping a recent traumatic past, lands in London to meet up with her best friend Laura. At first sight Laura is a lively, carefree, party girl who everyone is instantly attracted to. Laura is obsessed with David Bowie and constantly fantasizes about him, telling everyone that she has a secret relationship with him. Sam doesn't believe Laura has ever met David Bowie and worries that Laura is becoming psychotic and fractures start to appear in their relationship at a time when Sam also needs support to get over her recent problems.
  The story is set against a backdrop of 1980s Britain when Maggie Thatcher was Prime Minister and Prince Charles was dating a girl who worked in the kindergarten across the road from Sam and Laura's flat. Sam's fledgling career as a photographer starts in London as she roams the streets looking for interesting images and the book ends with Sam, again visiting London to attend a retrospective of her work, reflecting back on the events of her youth and whether she could have acted any differently to prevent the events that irrevocably changed hers and Laura lives.
  
  I received a copy of this ebook free through LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
• 
  Brenda

  Read on Kindle.
  
  I received this e-book for free from LibraryThing Early Reviewers
  
  
  Kissing Bowie by Joan Taylor was one of those books…you know the kind that as you are reading it you get sent off in six different directions trying to figure out who was doing what and why. But the author was very up front, she gave you enough information to figure out what was going on if you didn’t get distracted like the main character Samantha. And if you remembered how the characters acted in the book you understood the ending. Would I read this book again? No. Would I read something else by Joan Taylor? Yes, I would and will.
  
• 
  Steve

  This was an unexpectedly enjoyable read! A very intriguing story with an unexpected outcome right at the end. And if you have ever visited London, you will love the evocative descriptions of that amazing city. Explores some pretty deep issues around identity, mental health, friendship. Throughout the whole book there was a sense of something not quite right and the way the author unfolds the events was excellent.
• 
  Susan

  I received this ebook free for an honest review - The memoirs of a famous photographer of 1980 London (England) as 2 girls arrive from New Zealand - one an aspiring photographer, the other a Bowie fanatic. Its their story and the story of the 1980's. I found the book interesting as it was about a time that I lived in London