Katherine Sartori's Reviews > GAGA

All the gurus say we don’t grow unless we take risks and experience life outside our comfort zone. But how many of us do this? That’s exactly what Monty did, though, in Leslie Tall Manning’s novel GAGA, and after vicariously traveling beside Monty by reading her story, I now feel a more urgent desire to seek out my own adventures! So, thank you, Leslie Tall Manning, for the theme you embedded in this story: that life can offer surprises, joy, doubts and pain too, but eventual happiness, if we take a chance once in a while and do the unexpected.

However, I’ve never aspired to become a music groupie and even now, I think it’s the last thing I might try. Following a musician around the country, immersing myself in his breathtaking performances…and also his life, couldn’t be further from my life experience or aspirations. So, when I started reading Manning’s book, I have to admit, I felt some inner resistance. But isn’t that what makes reading stories so unforgettably wonderful?--we get to live through others, experience different worlds, and learn from them too.

Very soon, due to the author’s vibrant writing style and vivid characterization, I became immersed in Monty’s life: a wife who’d lived an empty shell of a marriage far too long, a mother whose teenage daughter wanted some space to live elsewhere, a professional writer who was offered a chance to make it big in the magazine world by traveling incognito with a band she’d idolized since she was a teenager.

The rest of this story’s surprising plot turns and exciting adventures I’ll leave to readers to discover themselves. Suffice it to say, though, that this book is about secrets, betrayals, forgiveness and yes, redemption too.

I hope you enjoy and learn from this story, as I did! Now I’m off to define my own next adventure!

Note: I rarely give 5 stars except to literary books that have won awards, so my best rating is usually 4 stars, and you will notice that I’ve awarded GAGA this top rating!