How did you feel about the rock star not having a name? Why might the author have made this choice?
I think she was making him a more universal character. His behavior was t specific just to him
I thought the rock star was a generic character – suggesting that the author treated his behavior as typical of a certain class of performers. Not sure she was wrong, given the tabloid treatment many of them receive.
I thought it was very interesting and with no name the rock star could be anyone or everyone. Given the Epstein saga, this was an excellent choice by the author.
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I think those were friends she made when she got older and she was better able to BE a friend as well as have one. Remember, she always felt a closeness to Harriet but that was more of a mommy issues situation most likely
I think that was to enable the reader to envision any rock star in that role…and probably to keep from some lawsuits if there actually was some rock star who didn’t drink or take drugs (so unlikely!)
He was a conglomerate of every sexual predator, rock star or no
I thought it was a deliberate choice by the author. By withholding his name, the spotlight shifts fully onto Birdie, her story, and her healing rather than the fame or identity of the man who harmed her.
I also thought this was an interesting deliberate choice to not name the rockstar. The reader was free to envision who he was. For me, I had several individuals in mind over the course of time.
I kind of liked the rock star not having a name, you could just imagine it could be anyone!
I think by not giving the rock star a name it enabled the reader to picture him as they wanted to. I thought it was a great idea.
Felecia S’s point about the rack star’s namelessness keeping the focus on BIrdie is a good one.
She definitely had a rock star in mind, but I found it clever not to name him.
At first it was annoying that he didn’t have a name but as I got further into the book, I felt like because it was intentionally not given, each reader had the opportunity to picture him as someone from their past music likes/dislikes who was around the same age. I pictured him as Kris Kristofferson, although of course Kris would never have been like the unnamed rock star with his choice and treatment of Birdie or others like her.
Agree, and given the author’s research sources, there could have been certain performers more than others who helped to inspire the writing
I liked that the rock star didn’t have a name. You could imagine who you thought it was based on rock stars that you liked or didn’t like.
I wish he had been given a name. It might have made him a more complete character. While it was an interesting device, he might have seemed more real with a name an more background.
It was different. At first it was weird to me but then I got used to it. I just imagined it was a famous rock star I used to like,which made his character more interesting.
This book may be based on someone’s actual experiences so maybe that is why he is nameless. But I think Amy Rossi kept him nameless as a technique, so we would think of him as a universal character…any or all band members. The same way she kept Birdie voiceless. Definitely made the story successful!
I agree with Janet B. I wanted to know more about this character and found calling him “the rock star” disconcerting. I understand the idea of a universal character but that feels like a literary device when I am more interested in individual character development in a story.