Everyone Gets 15 Minutes

Transcendentalism.  When I think of that word this song immediately comes to mind. However, the song talks about Transcendental Mediation which really, I think anyway, has nothing to do with American Transcendentalism, which is talked about a lot in this book.  I'm embarrassed to say that I don't know much about American Transcendentalism.  Well, after reading Claim to Fame I did some quick research, that's just what I always need to do when book mentions something that I don't know.  From Manolos in the LA Candy series to the Johnstown Flood in Three Rivers Rising, I need to keep my cell phone close by when I'm reading so that I can quickly wiki things that baffle or interest me.  I remember reading about Emerson and other transcendentalists in seminary, but truthfully, I forgot everything about them.
Before or during or after you read Claim to Fame, do a quick definition search on transcendentalism.  It's not necessary, but it will cool to know something about it because the book can get crazy at times.  It was very inspirational to me as I was writing my novel because sometimes I would be writing and I'd think "no, no, this is too bizarre" and I would then be listening to C to F on cd and it would be so bizarre, but totally successful and it would encourage me!  Not that my "book" is anywhere near the quality of this one!  But I'm just sayin'. 
Lindsay Scott is a former child star, star of that wonderful show "Just Me and the Kids" but she had a "nervous breakdown" when she was eleven.  When she turned eleven she started hearing voices in her head.  She heard everything that anyone was saying about her, anywhere in the world.  He dad took her from California to a little town in Illinois and there she found that sometimes the voices would stop, but only when she was at home in her house.

The book begins with Lindsay being kidnapped by two well-meaning boys who believe tabloid stories that she is being held captive by her father in her house.  The truth is, her father has just died of a heart attack, leaving Lindsay alone in the world, with the voices in her head of course, when she leaves the house.

Transcendentalism was her father's field of expertise, he was a professor at the college in their small mid-western town.  And it turns out that the voices in Lindsay's head have more to do with her father's work (and her missing mother) than she thought.

Like I said this book takes some pretty crazy turns, but I really did like listening to it.  I wouldn't say it's a great book and we don't learn too much about any of the characters except for Lindsay herself, but it was very original.  I do want to read more by the author, as I know she has written a great deal of popular material, including the Shadow Children series.