Sorta Like a Rock Star (homelessness, friendship)

Book Title: Sorta Like a Rock Star by Matthew Quick

Topic: Homelessness, friendship, religion

Thoughts: I did not like the first couple of chapters of the novel, but when Amber lets us know what her day-to-day life is like as a homeless student, I empathized with her.  Amber lives with her mother on a school bus that her mother drives during the day; I was worried they were going to get busted at the beginning.  Can you imagine sneaking into the bus lot at night to sleep on a bus and waking up before sunlight to sneak out before the other drivers arrive?

I thought this novel was going to be like others I had read in which she finds out her father is a musician and meets him, but this is not where the title comes from.  I like the connection Quick makes with this title.

In middle school Amber joined a group of other "misfits" (one is in a wheelchair, one is the only black student in school, one has a stuttering problem, and one is autistic) in school in which they practice their socialization skills.  They end up becoming best friends.  In high school Amber visits a nursing home each week and teaches Korean women English.  Her social studies teacher had the class write form letters to veterans, but Amber thought it was fake and tricked her teacher into finding out the veteran's address so she could apologize to him and let him know her true feelings. Anyone who comes into contact with Amber befriends her, and with her personality I can see how this is possible.  She reminds me of a former homeless student, who I didn't have in class but we attended the same church, who is as friendly as can be and wants to give everyone she meets a hug.  Now I know why she wanted to hug everyone: she was wanting to feel the love that her parents did not give her. 

This reminds me of Because Winn Dixie with the main character not fitting in with her peers and befriending older people.  By the end of the novel, I was teary eyed like I was with Winn Dixie.  I don't have the drive like Amber does to become a rock star but I aspire to be one too.