Book Review: Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony & Rodrigo Corral

Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony & Rodrigo Corral

Rating: ★★★★☆
Links: Amazon • TBD • Goodreads
Publication: February 2, 2012
Source: Gift

After her mother died, Glory retreated into herself and her music. Her single father raised her as a piano prodigy, with a rigid schedule and the goal of playing sold-out shows across the globe. Now, as a teenager, Glory has disappeared. As we flash back to the events leading up to her disappearance, we see a girl on the precipice of disaster. Brilliant and lonely, Glory is drawn to an artistic new boy, Frank, who moves in next door. The farther she falls, the deeper she spirals into madness. Before long, Glory is unable to play anything but the song “Chopsticks.”

But nothing is what it seems, and Glory’s reality is not reality at all. In this stunningly moving novel told in photographs, pictures, and words, it’s up to the reader to decide what is real, what is imagined, and what has been madness all along…. 

The thing about Chopsticks is that it takes about a half hour, at most, to read this book. It’s mostly photos, drawings, ticket stubs, and souvenirs. There are only a few sentences of actual story, and yet, somehow, I completely understood what was happening.

Or, at least, I thought I did.

Because the other thing about Chopsticks is that at some point, you start to realize that something is off. And then you go back and you flip through over and over and over again trying to figure out what exactly happened to these two characters.

I’m not going to get into what exactly happens in this book, because I think a lot of the fun is in figuring that out for yourself. I will say that I think there are at least two different interpretations, but probably more. The more that I think about this book, the more I like it.

If you like stories that are told in an unconventional way, I would highly recommend this one.

#mm20: author introduction

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Have you read Chopsticks? What’s the last unconventionally told story you enjoyed?
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