Julie's Review: Somewhere Over the Sun

Summary: Alan, a spirited young writer with a wandering imagination has discovered that the stories he writes are suddenly coming to life. At the suggestion of his loving father, Alan embarks on a quixotic journey to visit friends and use his new found gift to write them all happier lives. There are a few limitations to his power; he can't cure diseases, he can't summon pots of gold, and headaches accompany each reality-infused story he lives out, but the appreciative and optimistic Alan is not deterred from creating fantastical characters and story lines to give his friends more literary lives. ~amazon.com

Review: I can't say that I loved Somewhere Over the Sun as much as Alice did. I liked it but never was overwhelmed by the book. I thought that it was an intriguing and interesting way to write a  novel. It was like reading a book within a book. For a relatively short novel, I thought it was a bit too wordy.

I also never truly connected with Alan but I still appreciated what he was doing for his friends. At times I felt that he was living life through writing stories and yet he still managed to experience life as well. It is apparent that Alan had a gift for story telling from a very young age and his new gift just enhanced his writing.

I did like that some of the chapters were told from the view of the people he was visiting and how they viewed what was going on instead of just Alan's view point.I loved Alan's dad, Robert's, chapter. This is where I fell that Mr. Alsaid wrote his best chapters. I really admired Robert and how he handled being a single father. It was apparent that everything he did was to make a better life for himself and Alan.

Mr. Alsaid has a gift of storytelling and I will more than likely check out his other novels in the future, when he writes them.


Final Take: 3.5/5

Alice's Review
Alice's Q&A with Mr. Alsaid

And the Winner Is...

Congratulations to Gina Muth for winning a copy of Somewhere Over the Sun by Adi Alsaid.

Please send Alice your mailing address so we can ship you the novel.

As always, Girls Just Reading used Random.org to generate the winner.

Giveaway: Somewhere Over the Sun

We are pleased to have a copy of Somewhere Over the Sun to giveaway (don't miss my review of this fantastic book). 

In order to qualify for this book you must: 

• Be a resident of the US or Canada.
• Enter the drawing by midnight EST on 2/16/11.
• Fill out the form below.

Girls Just Reading uses Random.org to produce the winner.

Author Interview: Adi Alsaid

I had the joy the reading the novel Somewhere Over the Sun by Adi Alsaid. I've followed him on Twitter for a while now and really enjoy the snippets of his life that he shares with his followers. I think it's time for all of you to get to know him too.


Girls Just Reading: I have to admit I have a literary crush on Alan.  He is very easy to love, was he easy to write?

Adi Alsaid:  He was, actually. I’m gonna go ahead and feel flattered and maybe blush a little because Alan’s voice, I feel, is very close to being my own. Me at my most imaginative, maybe. A big reason for writing most of the book in Alan’s point of view was that it made it easy for me to slip into my natural writing voice without worrying that I wasn’t keeping things consistent. If I’m being more honest, though, that’s a bit of a stretch. I don’t think I had that much foresight. Alan was always me, not because it was the wise, writer thing to do, but because the book is too much a part of me to leave myself out of it.

GJR:  How badly do you wish for Alan’s gift?  What would be the first thing you would write?

AA:  Ugh. So bad.  At this very moment, I would write that all liquids had the ability to spontaneously whirlpool inside their containers without splashing. It wouldn’t be bringing a more literary happiness to the lives of my loved ones, but it would look quite cool.

GJR:  How old were you when you started writing?  When you realized you wanted to be a writer?

AA:  In sixth grade, we got a homework assignment to write sentences for the week’s vocabulary words. I don’t remember what any of the words were, or the sentences that I came up with. I just vaguely remember how great it felt to write a sentence, have fun with it, and then read it again and love the way it sounded, the picture it painted. I think I wrote my first short story around sixth or seventh grade and slowly increased my output. By the time high school came around, I knew I was a writer, but I didn’t know I was going to be a writer. I wrote short stories which I never finished and cashed in with a few opinion articles for the school newspaper during college, but didn’t think I was at a point in my life where I could write a novel. When I graduated from college and didn’t get a job I was counting on getting (companies, it seems, aren’t thrilled about hiring people which can only legally work in the country for a year), I spent three days worrying my ass off, then finally taking the leap to submerge myself in my writing.

GJR:  You have an amazing gift of giving life to inanimate objects.  Is it harder to write personality into people or things (like trees and mattresses)?

AA:  Why, thank you! I love personification. I think if you can see what’s hopelessly human in something that is hopelessly not, the absolute humanity in everyone becomes apparent. If a no-smoking sign at a pub can feel longing and loneliness, how can you justify not seeing that humans all around you do as well—even the most incomprehensible of strangers, or the friends whose inner worlds we forget. I think giving objects human characteristics makes it harder to deny that we see those traits in ourselves. You can ignore a fictional character’s greed because, even if he’s imagined, he’s just one person, and that trait is specific to him, just like you ignore real people’s deeds and misdeeds, even if they seem slightly familiar, by saying to yourself that you are not that person. But when a tree feels jealousy, or an electrical socket can feel absolute joy when connecting with something which is its exact opposite, it makes it easier to see in ourselves all that which makes us human.

GJR:  What motivates you to write?  How do you overcome writer’s block?

AA:  I’m going to repeat something I’ve posted on my site before. I don’t quite know the answer to the question of why I write, other than the vague understanding that it’s the same reason why I cook. Because once I found out I could, found out that I had the ability to learn and the ability to create something literary delicious or literally delicious, why would I not?

There’s an urge somewhere inside of me, not quite an instinct because it’s not the same as the urge to eat, that makes it seem like the only reasonable thing to do to grab a pen or a chef’s knife and make life a little more flavorful. Writing does to life what cooking does to eating. It enhances life. It brings out the flavor of everything, makes you notice the texture of a thought, of a room. Sometimes it just adds a crunch or some bright red, but doesn’t life just look simply stunning draped in bright red and feeling all crunchy?

I’m still a baby in the kitchen. An amateur, barely able to master complex sentences. I learned to write from reading, and I suppose I must have learned to cook from eating. From picking out a sentence and savoring it with the same appreciation as a perfectly made pasta sauce.

Can’t you taste good writing? Doesn’t a good sentence bounce around your mouth and linger like the first bite of your new favorite meal? And aren’t books as satisfying as a night out at a restaurant? Don’t they fill you up equally the same?

Many times, I’ve deserted sleep to write. A story, a character, a complaint, a wish will appear out of the darkness, and beg me to make it real. “I’ll disappear if you don’t write me down,” it beckons, and, not partial to the cold-blooded murder of an idea, even in the name of sleep, I climb out of bed and turn my computer back on, waiting for the pitter-patter of my keyboard to break the night’s silence.

It’s a midnight snack. Just a part of me which understands that life doesn’t necessarily need literary beauty or splendid flavors, but if we’ve got the choice, why deny it?

GJR:  In Somewhere Over the Sun, I enjoyed reading the points of view of the different characters.  Where these characters modeled after people you know or do they live solely in your, and now our, imaginations?


AA:  They are all, to at least some extent, based on people I know. Most of them are combinations of people who will undoubtedly recognize themselves and others who will read and perhaps never know that they were an inspiration, even if it was just a tiny part of them mixed in with other people. Not one character is entirely made up of real people though. Even those that are based off just one or two people are held together by fictional details. 


GJR:  Are you currently working on another novel? If so, what is the premise?

AA:  I am! I’m a little more than halfway done with my second novel. Unfortunately for anyone interested, I’m not sharing the premise for the novel quite yet. I did that with Somewhere Over the Sun and am doing it again for two reasons. The first is that it lets me avoid undue influence. I want my idea to remain my idea and not be slightly altered by the way people react when I tell them. Anything about my idea that needs to be fixed will be done during revisions with editors. The second reason is that it’s fun to torture my friends and family with secrecy. I love their curiosity and so who can blame my vaguely attention-whorish decision to keep them guessing until the book’s first draft is done?

GJR:  Who are your favorite authors?

AA:  Most of my favorite authors aren’t my favorites because I’ve read their entire collected works. Many of my favorites I’ve only read one book or story. I guess that’s neither here nor there, but I wanted to make the distinction, for some reason. Vonnegut, Paul Auster, Jonathan Safran Foer. I read tons of Stephen King when I was younger. Definitely Bill Waterson. Cris de Oliveira, who has yet to write a book (as far as I know), but when she does, watch out.


GJR:  What are you currently reading?

AA:  I just finished Mario Vargas Llosa’s “Letters to a Young Novelist” and am now working on Franzen’s “The Corrections.”

GJR:  Something different:  You do a lot of your writing in coffee shops.  Which is your favorite coffee shop?  How much coffee do you drink?

AA:  I tend to mix it up a bit. This week, I’ve been drawn by a local bookstore/coffeeshop called El Pendulo (The Pendulum), which has a great assortment of seating areas. There’s the patio, which is best for people-watching, eavesdropping, fresh air and second-hand smoke. Then there’s a wonderfully secluded table upstairs next to a window and the books on sexuality, an outlet to plug my computer into, and a calm environment in which I can (attempt to) ignore everything but my writing. They have a tortilla soup which completely justifies the existence of all soup. Though the tiny pitchers they bring out the cream in are terrible and always drip puddles of white everywhere, the coffee is delicious and cheap, and the refills are free so I definitely drink too much of it. Never less than two cups, and if I’m there long enough to have my fourth, I usually switch to beer.

GJR:  As one of your Twitter followers I know how important music is to your writing process.  What's on your writing playlist right now?


AA:  I love this question. Or maybe more accurately, I have a crush on this question, since she gets me excited and happy and causes me to babble. On heavy rotation recently: “Biting Your Tail” by Iron & Wine, since the lyrics make the world a better place. “Weekend” by Smith Westerns, “Don’t Carry it All” by The Decemberists. I’m still freshly exploring an album called “Kaputt” by Destroyer, which is great to write to since it’s very spare and pretty and has some great lines. “Chugjug” by Family of the Year and “Little Talks” by Of Monsters and Men are another two songs I’ve been playing a lot.

Thanks Adi for taking the time to answering our questions. You can following him on Twitter: @AdiAlsaid and his blog: http://www.somewhereoverthesun.com/

Alice's Review: Somewhere Over the Sun

Summary:  Alan, a spirited young writer with a wandering imagination has discovered that the stories he writes are suddenly coming to life. At the suggestion of his loving father, Alan embarks on a quixotic journey to visit friends and use his new found gift to write them all happier lives. There are a few limitations to his power; he can't cure diseases, he can't summon pots of gold, and headaches accompany each reality-infused story he lives out, but the appreciative and optimistic Alan is not deterred from creating fantastical characters and storylines to give his friends more literary lives.

Review:  Here is the first thing you need to know about this book: When you purchase it (and you will purchase it), make sure you buy a highlighter. This is the kind of book that begs to be read with a highlighter, or better yet a notebook and pen so you can jot down your thoughts. This kind of book draws you in, makes you sit in that comfy chair, it'll make you want to stay up at night reading. It will.

Here is the next thing you need to know: I am a crier in real life and during certain movies and/or TV shows but I can count on one hand how many books have moved me to genuine heart wrenching tears. This book is that kind of book. This novel is crazy good. It’s malted milkshake good. It’s little kid laughter good. Think of something you love that is so good it hits you in that stop under your ribcage right below your heart. Yeah, Somewhere Over the Sun is that good.

The novel tells the story of Alan as he travels across North America visiting friends while writing a novel. Alan is unlike anyone else, he has a gift. His gift is that what he writes comes true. He decides to write happy endings into each of his friend’s lives. I kept wishing I had Alan's gift. Although truth be told, I'd probably use it more for evil than good.

This novel is full of surprises. If you have ever dreamed of writing a novel, read this book. He gives such great advice about having a relationship with the reader. If you have ever loved and lost, again and again, (and come on, who hasn’t?) read this book. If you have ever experienced the love for a child or for a parent, read this book. If you like whimsical, if you believe in hope, if you need to be taught optimism, if you need to laugh, if you need a good cry. These are all solid reasons to read this.

Although mainly told by Alan, most of the characters we meet narrate the novel. Mr. Alsaid beautifully tells the story from each characters’ point of view all the while having no idea what the others are thinking. It's magical actually. Knowing this I caught myself clenching my fists and biting my lip because I want to yell at the book, at the characters to give them a clue. I loved the anticipation waiting to see if they would figure it out for themselves. It's like missed opportunities, they are right in front of you but you don't see them. I also loved the relationship Alan has with his family and friends. I love he thought Jesse was born to be loved and won't be complete until someone falls in love with him. Mr. Alsaid brings life to everything Alan encounters, whether it is a bench or a tomato or a dress and shirt for the greatest sex scene ever written.

Mr. Alsaid is insanely good with words. There were so many morsels of goodness in this story.

I love how after laminating over a child’s ability to fall in love, Alan says "If youth is wasted on the young, love is wasted on the old."

I love how he describes love's rejections as "they hit like snowballs. The idea they could hurt was almost silly, but the next day, I'd wake up with bruises all over."

I love how he describes different readers. I'm happy to say I'm a Greg.

I love how M, describing Danielle, says "that the ability to smile at your own sadness was a sign of elegance that he wasn't sure he possessed." I also loved that about Alan he says that "I wanted to tell him that he saw the world in a beautiful way and that if everyone had his point of view, the world would surely be filled with more pleasant people."
Most of all, I love what Robert says about his son Alan's optimism: "Few people can look at raining clouds and see the blue sky that's always above them."

This novel is full of raw vulnerability. It was beautiful to read. I was attached to Alan from the first sentence and my love for him kept growing. I will admit that I suspected the twist in the novel and at the end I saw that I was right. That didn't stop the tears from flowing and even then that didn't diminish the emotion I felt reading it.

Now stop reading this and go buy this book. And don't forget your highlighter.

Final Take: 5/5

Stop by tomorrow for our interview with Mr.Alsaid.