Scan barcode
A review by kaleys23
Don't I Know You? by Marni Jackson
4.0
Originally reviewed for Niagara Life magazine, Fall 2016 edition.
Imagine getting a cone from an ice cream truck only to realize Leonard Cohen is serving you. Or coming to after surgery to find the surgeon had been Keith Richards. Or becoming friends with Meryl Streep after spending time at a spa in Mexico. All of these celebrity encounters – and many , many more – happen to Rose McEwan over the course of her life. Don’t I Know You? follows Rose from seventeen to sixty-seven and it is the most delightful journey.
The premise of Marni Jackson’s first work of fiction – celebrities popping up in Rose’s life in the oddest of manners – sounds far-fetched and slightly ridiculous, but Jackson handles it well. It completely made sense that John Updike was Rose’s writing instructor at a summer program and Taylor Swift working for Apple on the side was perfectly acceptable. It was so much fun trying to figure out who the celebrity was. The references were not always obvious. Sometimes the full name wasn’t used and other times the name wasn’t even explicitly mentioned (see if you can find Margaret Atwood).
The book is written in short stories all interconnected to form a novel of sorts. Some stories were from Rose’s perspective, first person, but others were third person. The changing perspective helped set the tone of the story. Each piece has its own feeling but when they’re all put together, they tell the story of a woman who has had an incredibly interesting life. Jackson tells this story so well that you will not want to stop reading about Rose and her celebrity encounters.
Imagine getting a cone from an ice cream truck only to realize Leonard Cohen is serving you. Or coming to after surgery to find the surgeon had been Keith Richards. Or becoming friends with Meryl Streep after spending time at a spa in Mexico. All of these celebrity encounters – and many , many more – happen to Rose McEwan over the course of her life. Don’t I Know You? follows Rose from seventeen to sixty-seven and it is the most delightful journey.
The premise of Marni Jackson’s first work of fiction – celebrities popping up in Rose’s life in the oddest of manners – sounds far-fetched and slightly ridiculous, but Jackson handles it well. It completely made sense that John Updike was Rose’s writing instructor at a summer program and Taylor Swift working for Apple on the side was perfectly acceptable. It was so much fun trying to figure out who the celebrity was. The references were not always obvious. Sometimes the full name wasn’t used and other times the name wasn’t even explicitly mentioned (see if you can find Margaret Atwood).
The book is written in short stories all interconnected to form a novel of sorts. Some stories were from Rose’s perspective, first person, but others were third person. The changing perspective helped set the tone of the story. Each piece has its own feeling but when they’re all put together, they tell the story of a woman who has had an incredibly interesting life. Jackson tells this story so well that you will not want to stop reading about Rose and her celebrity encounters.