Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Resurrecting Sunshine
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.lisakoosis.com/
CITY: New York
STATE: NY
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-koosis-7597b35/ * http://www.yainterrobang.com/author/lisakoosis/ * https://www.albertwhitman.com/author/lisa-koosis/ * https://thesweetsixteens.wordpress.com/2016/08/17/meet-the-author-lisa-koosis/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: no2016127546
Descriptive conventions:
rda
Personal name heading:
Koosis, Lisa A.
Located: Hudson River Valley (N.Y. and N.J.)
Field of activity: Fiction Young adult fiction Short stories
Profession or occupation:
Authors
Found in: Koosis, Lisa A. Resurrecting Sunshine, 2016: title page
(Lisa A. Koosis) colophon (Lisa A. Koosis ; her
prize-winning short stories have appeared in numerous
journals, podcasts, and anthologies ; lives in New
York's Hudson Valley ; Resurrecting Sunshine is her
first novel)
Author's website, Sept. 22, 2016 (Lisa A. Koosis ; writes
short stories for adults and teens)
Associated language:
eng
================================================================================
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS AUTHORITIES
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave., SE
Washington, DC 20540
Questions? Contact: ils@loc.gov
PERSONAL
Female.
EDUCATION:Long Island University, B.A., 1991.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. EMDP, data entry operator, 1996-97; Barnes and Noble, department manager, 1997-2000; CareCore, senior claims specialist, 2000-05; International Association of Outsourcing Professionals, Website content librarian, 2013-.
MEMBER:Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and Sweet Sixteens.
AWARDS:Steinbeck Award for Short Fiction, 1991.
WRITINGS
Contributor to numerous publications, including Family Circle, Poughkeepsie Journal, Abyss & Apex, and Murky Depths.
SIDELIGHTS
Lisa Koosis is a short-story and novel writer from Long Island. She began writing at a young age and studied creative writing at Long Island University, where she took her B.A. in 1991. She has contributed to numerous publications, including Family Circle, Poughkeepsie Journal, the Hugo-nominated Abyss & Apex, the British Fantasy Award-winning Murky Depths and Meadowhawk Press’s Touched by Wonder anthology.
Koosis received the Steinbeck Award for Short Fiction in 1991 and was a semifinalist in the L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest 2nd Quarter in 2008. She was a semifinalist for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award in 2009, 2011, and 2012 and was named second place in the Leisure Horror/Rue Morgue/Chiaroscuro’s International Fresh Blood Contest for unpublished horror novelists. Koosis is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and the Sweet Sixteens. Koosis enjoys participating in writing contests and does most of her writing late at night. She describes herself as an animal lover, an insatiable reader, and a lover of jewelry and accessories.
Resurrecting Sunshine
Resurrecting Sunshine is Koosis’ first novel. Resurrecting Sunshine is young-adult science fiction that is set in the near future. The story centers on three characters: Sunshine, Adam, and Dr. Elloran. Sunshine was a talented and famous musician who died in a tragic accident a year before the story begins. Adam is her boyfriend and the guitar player for her band. Dr. Elloran is a scientist studying cloning and memory-implantation techniques.
The three characters become entangled when Dr. Elloran approaches Adam in the hope that he will be willing to participate in a secretive project, Project Orpheus, which entails using cloned cells and memories from loved ones to bring the dead back to life. The project involves growing an embryo into a human body and implanting it with recorded memories. Adam yearns for the Sunshine he’d known years ago. The two had met in foster care and developed a deep bond, growing together as they created a family that ultimately died in a tragic bus accident. Only recently had Sunshine begun to morph into another identity, the famous musician that Dr. Elloran and all of her fans knew. Adam agrees to participate in the experiment. To participate, Adam must stop drinking, which has been his way of numbing his pain. It also means he must relive his memories of Sunshine. These include not only the heartbreaking experience of Sunshine’s death but also the painful memories and difficult choices that ultimately led to Adam and Sunshine’s fame, something that Adam had not come to terms with even prior to Sunshine’s death.
Jen Baker in Voice of Youth Advocates commented, “If at times the plot twists are a bit predictable, it is easily forgiven since the tension involving Adam’s choices is expertly crafted.” Once Adam agrees to participate in Project Orpheus, he must leave his life and habits behind and join Dr. Elloran on a secluded island. There he meets Gen, the daughter of the founder of Project Orpheus. While Adam struggles without alcohol and with the pain of reliving his memories of Sunshine, Gen becomes his only friend.
As the story unfolds, Adam begins to question Dr. Elloran’s intentions. He is conflicted about the fact that only the wealthy are able to participate in Project Orpheus, and he wonders whether the version of Sunshine that will come back is the rock star that Dr. Elloran knows or the childhood friend that he misses. He fears that he will inevitably scar this new Sunshine with the same tragic memories that plagued his friend and wonders if anyone should have the power to bring the dead back from the grave. Emma Carbone in School Library Journal wrote, “Koosis raises some interesting questions about cloning, depression, and suicide, but her prose falls short of insightful answers.” A critic in Publishers Weekly noted that this “philosophical tale thoughtfully examines the ambiguity of what makes us who we are.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, August 29, 2016, review of Resurrecting Sunshine, p. 93.
School Library Journal, October, 2016, Emma Carbone, review of Resurrecting Sunshine, p. 110.
Voice of Youth Advocates, December, 2016, Jen Baker, review of Resurrecting Sunshine, p. 76.
ONLINE
Hello Jenny Reviews, http://hellojennyreviews.blogspot.com (October 13, 2016), Jenn Christensen, review of Resurrecting Sunshine.
Lisa A. Koosis Website, http://www.lisakoosis.com (June 8, 2017).
Novellum, http://ianwoodnovellum.blogspot.com (August 14, 2016), Ian Wood, review of Resurrecting Sunshine.
About Me
Hi. Thanks for stopping by. My name is Lisa, and I write short stories and novels for both adults and teens. I tend to write everything from contemporary through to horror, and my debut young adult novel, RESURRECTING SUNSHINE (AW Teen/October 2016) is near-future science fiction with a contemporary feel. My short stories have been published in a bunch of magazines and anthologies, and even a podcast once (which was pretty damn cool). You can find links to many of them on my site, and a lot are free to read online.
One of my favorite things to do is to interact with other writers. I’m a member of the SCBWI, the Sweet Sixteens, an ambassador for National Novel Writing Month (also a NaNoWriMo addict; I’ve participated for the last 13 consecutive years) and an active member of my vibrant local writing community. I’m hopelessly addicted to writing contests (it’s even how I found my amazing agent), and now that my debut novel is soon to be released, I’ve made the jump to the flipside, mentoring and judging in several contests over the last few years.
I am an animal lover, an insatiable reader, and have a penchant for crazy accessories (if it has feathers or fringe, or if it jingles and jangles, send it my way). And although I will forever consider myself a Long Islander (give me the ocean over the mountains any day!) I currently live in New York’s historic Hudson Valley with my family, both two- and four-legged.
About
Suggest Edits
CONTACT INFO
lkoosis@aol.com
http://lisakoosis.com
MORE INFO
Affiliation
Member, SCBWI
Biography
Lisa A. Koosis is a prize-winning short story writer. You’ll find her work in numerous publications, including Family Circle, The Poughkeepsie Journal, the Hugo-nominated Abyss & Apex, the British-Fantasy-Award-winning Murky Depths and Meadowhawk Press's Touched by Wonder anthology. Her story, "The Midnight Girls," was named a storySouth Million Writers Award Notable Story of 2009. Having grown up on Long Island, Lisa’s love of the ocean often influences her writing. Now, when she isn't visiting the Universe Next Door in search of ideas, she resides in New York’s historic Hudson Valley with her family, both two- and four-legged. She is a member of the SCBWI and is represented by Brianne Johnson of Writers House.
Awards
Semifinalist, Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (2009, 2011, 2012
Second place, Leisure Horror/Rue Morgue/Chiaroscuro’s international Fresh Blood contest for unpublished horror novelists
Honorable mention, The 14th Chiaroscuro Short Story Contest
Semi-finalist, L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future Contest 2nd quarter 2008
Steinbeck Award for Short Fiction, 1991
Gender
Female
Lisa A. Koosis graduated from Long Island University with a degree in writing. A prize-winning short story writer, her fiction has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies. Resurrecting Sunshine is her debut novel. Lisa lives in New York.
Meet the Author: Lisa Koosis
Posted in Meet the Author, Science Fiction, Young Adult Authors by victoriajcoe
Lisa A. KoosisIn high school, much to the dismay of her guidance counselor, Lisa Koosis traded AP English for a creative writing class and a class in speculative fiction. She never looked back. Lisa is a member of the SCBWI, an ambassador for National Novel Writing Month, and an active member of her local writing community. Her short stories have been published widely. When she isn’t writing, you’ll probably find her out walking her dog, or chilling with her cats..
Lisa’s debut novel, RESURRECTING SUNSHINE (Albert Whitman & Co./AW Teen, October 2016), is Young Adult science fiction. A grieving young musician must make an impossible choice about cloning the girl he loved, in this novel about memory and identity, love and loss.
Favorite book growing up: Probably L. Ron Hubbard’s WRITERS OF THE FUTURE anthologies, which published contest-winning stories from amateur science fiction and fantasy writers. She swore she would have a story in the anthology series one day. (Note: she never did, but not for lack of trying! She only made it as far as the semi-finals.)
Childhood aspiration: Veterinarian
Favorite time of day/place to write: Lisa is a night owl. She does some of her best work long after the clock strikes midnight.
Book currently reading/most recently read: Stephen King’s THE BAZAAR OF BAD DREAMS
Favorite things to do (other than reading): Walking her dog, beachcombing (whenever she can get back to the shore) and getting together with her local writing friends.
Surprising personal fact: Lisa has an unnatural love affair with feather earrings and has upwards of 15 pairs!
Greatest thing about being a 2016 debut author: Not only fulfilling a lifelong dream/goal, but also getting to connect with so many amazing writers along the way.
Lisa Koosis
Website Content Librarian at The International Association of Outsourcing Professionals® (IAOP®)
Greater New York City Area
Writing and Editing
Current
The International Association of Outsourcing Professionals® (IAOP®),
Previous
CareCore, Barnes & Noble Booksellers, EMDP
Education
Long Island University, Southampton Campus
Recommendations 1 person has recommended Lisa
142
connections
View Lisa’s full profile. It's free!
Your colleagues, classmates, and 400 million other professionals are on LinkedIn.
View Lisa’s Full Profile
Lisa’s Activity
I'm happy to say that my debut novel, RESURRECTING SUNSHINE...
Lisa shared
Just a reminder that my debut young adult novel is now...
Lisa shared
If you haven't read Made to Stick, I highly recommend it.
Lisa liked
YA novel ‘Resurrecting Sunshine’ debuts
Lisa shared
Summary
Specialties: copywriting, editing, proofreading, professional transcription, research, website maintenance, fiction writing, manuscript critiques. Represented by Brianne Johnson of Writers House.
Experience
The International Association of Outsourcing Professionals® (IAOP®)
Website Content Librarian
The International Association of Outsourcing Professionals® (IAOP®)
November 2013 – Present (3 years 7 months)
Independent Contractor
March 2005 – Present (12 years 3 months)
Senior Claims Specialist
CareCore
June 2000 – February 2005 (4 years 9 months)
Barnes & Noble Booksellers
Department Manager
Barnes & Noble Booksellers
September 1997 – April 2000 (2 years 8 months)
Data Entry Operator
EMDP
May 1996 – May 1997 (1 year 1 month)
Keyboarder/Proofreader
Barron's Educational Series
October 1995 – May 1996 (8 months)
Receptionist/Secretary
New Interdisciplinary School
November 1991 – August 1995 (3 years 10 months)
Publications
Our Atlantis
Family Circle
March 2010
Authors:
Lisa Koosis
Low Tide
Murky Depths
Authors:
Lisa Koosis
Creature of the Sea
The Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine
January 2009
Authors:
Lisa Koosis
Panthera
New Fables
2009
Authors:
Lisa Koosis
Pearl
Murky Depths
Authors:
Lisa Koosis
Neptune's Garden
Dark Pages Anthology (Blade Red Press)
Authors:
Lisa Koosis
Soul Blossom
Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine
December 2012
Authors:
Lisa Koosis
Waltz in E Minor
Not One of us - Home and Away (special issue)
Authors:
Lisa Koosis
The Gatekeeper
Neverlands and Otherwheres Anthology (Susurrus Press)
December 2008
Authors:
Lisa Koosis
The Midnight Girls
Abyss & Apex
2009
Authors:
Lisa Koosis
How We Fly
Abyss & Apex
2010
Authors:
Lisa Koosis
Atlantis Rising
Touched by Wonder Anthology (Meadowhawk Press)
Authors:
Lisa Koosis
Identities
The Poughkeepsie Journal
Talespinners 2nd place winner
Authors:
Lisa Koosis
Side Roads
A Fly in Amber
2009
Authors:
Lisa Koosis
The Pastapocalypse
Dog Versus Sandwich
Authors:
Lisa Koosis
All Sales Final
Bards and Sages Quarterly
Authors:
Lisa Koosis
Light on Water
Shiny
Authors:
Lisa Koosis
Resurrecting Sunshine
Albert Whitman & Company/AW Teen
October 2016
A grieving young musician must make an impossible decision about cloning the girl he loved and lost.
Authors:
Lisa Koosis
Skills
ProofreadingEditingCopywritingMicrosoft ExcelCustomer ServicePublic SpeakingData EntryMicrosoft WordResearchFiction WritingMicrosoft OfficeFacebookData AnalysisNewslettersBloggingSee 8+
How's this translation?
Great•Has errors
Education
Long Island University, Southampton Campus
B.A., Writing and Literature
1987 – 1991
Patchogue-Medford High School
1984 – 1987
Volunteer Experience & Causes
Causes Lisa cares about:
Animal Welfare
Arts and Culture
Environment
Science and Technology
Organizations
SCBWI
Recommendations
A preview of what LinkedIn members have to say about Lisa:
Lisa has completed several freelance projects for me, always reliable and a pleasure to work with.
See more
Sign up to see who recommended Lisa
Groups
"Write It Down"-A Website for Writers
"Write It Down"-A Website for Writers
Blogging
Blogging
The Freelance Writers' Connection
The Freelance Writers' Connection
Freelance Writers
Freelance Writers
NEW YORK CREATIVE COLLECTIVE
NEW YORK CREATIVE COLLECTIVE
National Novel Writing Month
National Novel Writing Month
Post Apocalyptic Media
Post Apocalyptic Media
Koosis, Lisa A.: Resurrecting Sunshine
Jen Baker
39.5 (Dec. 2016): p76.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC
http://www.voya.com
4Q * 4P * J * S * R
Koosis, Lisa A. Resurrecting Sunshine. Albert Whitman Teen, 2016. 320p. $16.99. 978-0-8075-6943-6.
Musician Sunshine died a year ago in a tragic accident, and Adam, her guitar player and boyfriend, has been a mess ever since. When the mysterious Dr. Elloran knocks on his door and tells him that she can bring Sunshine back through state-of-the-art cloning and memory-implantation techniques, he jumps at the chance. Dr. E's only requirements are that he does exactly as she says and stops drowning his sorrows in alcohol. As he is forced to relive his painful memories while Dr. E studies them for implantation in Sunshine, he starts to wonder if Dr. E and he want the same thing. Dr. E wants the famous musician Sunshine, but Adam just wants Marybeth, the girl he fell in love with, the girl who was not famous for wearing a yellow dress, the girl who was not marred by tragedy.
The premise of Resurrecting Sunshine raises deep, ethical questions that teens, especially those who have lost someone, will find interesting to contemplate. Adam is a conflicted character, torn between what he wants most in the world, and what might be best for the girl he loved. The reader is aware that Adam is hiding from something, and will feel for him as he struggles to rectify the overwhelming joy of seeing his lost love with the knowledge that he can protect her from her painful past, even if it means he loses her. If at times the plot twists are a bit predictable, it is easily forgiven since the tension involving Adam's choices is expertly crafted.--Jen Baker.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Baker, Jen. "Koosis, Lisa A.: Resurrecting Sunshine." Voice of Youth Advocates, Dec. 2016, p. 76. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA474767999&it=r&asid=80af05ca7da5046697ded2e8de6a73a8. Accessed 14 May 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A474767999
Resurrecting Sunshine
263.35 (Aug. 29, 2016): p93.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Resurrecting Sunshine
Lisa A. Koosis. Albert Whitman Teen, $16.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-8075-6943-6
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Ten years in the future, scientists involved with the secretive Project Orpheus are bringing back the dead through cloned cells and preserved memories. After the famous singer Marybeth--known to her fans as Sunshine--drowns, 17-year-old Adam, her guitarist, onetime boyfriend, and confidant, is called into service so that his harvested memories can fill in the gaps to help her cheat death. Using this thought-provoking framework, debut author Koosis leads readers through a labyrinth of moral, spiritual, and emotional dilemmas explored through complex characters grappling with loss. Marybeth comes to life, so to speak, through Adam's detailed recollections: their initial meeting in foster care, the patchwork family they created and lost in a bus crash, and the weight of coping with her death. Adam's new friend Gen, daughter of Project Orpheus's founder, becomes his lone ally, but the project itself is rife with paradox as Adam resists saddling the clone with the same heartbreak that contributed to the real Marybeth's demise and characters question why only the wealthy get to play God. Koosis's philosophical tale thoughtfully examines the ambiguity of what makes us who we are. Ages 13-up. Agent: Brianne Johnson, Writers House. (Oct.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Resurrecting Sunshine." Publishers Weekly, 29 Aug. 2016, p. 93+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA462236539&it=r&asid=17e605c3264e91400bef928c1ca22a21. Accessed 14 May 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A462236539
Koosis, Lisa A. Resurrecting Sunshine
Emma Carbone
62.10 (Oct. 2016): p110.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
KOOSIS, Lisa A. Resurrecting Sunshine. 320p. ebook available. Albert Whitman. Oct. 2016. Tr $16.99. ISBN 9780807569436.
Gr 8 Up--When Sunshine died almost a year ago, the world mourned the singer. Adam Rhodes, Sunshine's boyfriend and backup guitarist, wishes he could process his grief in private--for Sunshine and the girl she used to be when she was still called Marybeth and they were growing up in foster care. Instead, Adam settles for dulling his senses with alcohol. When Dr. Elloran shows up at his door, he expects her to be another reporter or fan. Instead, she offers Adam the impossible: Elloran plans to use cloning and Memory Archiving Port (MAP) technology to bring Sunshine back to prove to the world (and Elloran's investors) that Project Orpheus can resurrect the dead. If Adam plays along--helping this new Sunshine remember the final days of her life and restoring other degraded memories--he'll have the chance to see Marybeth again. As Adam remembers the tragedy that led to his and Sunshine's fame, he is forced to confront painful memories of her death and begins to question if his decision is right for anyone. Simplistic and utilitarian world-building, including poorly explained technology, ground this sci-fi novel in 2026. A slow start and weak execution detract from a potentially intriguing premise. Koosis raises some interesting questions about cloning, depression, and suicide, but her prose falls short of insightful answers. VERDICT Short chapters will appeal to reluctant readers willing to go along with the often tedious plot. Possibly for readers looking for something in the vein of Adam Silvera's More Happy Than Not.--Emma Carbone, Brooklyn Public Library
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Carbone, Emma. "Koosis, Lisa A. Resurrecting Sunshine." School Library Journal, Oct. 2016, p. 110+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA466166963&it=r&asid=ff3637be6a3b04ac240bf6d5866958ce. Accessed 14 May 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A466166963
Sunday, August 14, 2016
Resurrecting Sunshine by Lisa A Koosis
Rating: WARTY!
Note: this is an advance review copy for which I thank the publisher.
Resurrecting Sunshine was a real disappointment for me. I felt like it was a bait-and-switch story and I got the lesser half of the deal. The titular character, Sunshine, aka Marybeth, is being cloned, and she had a major story to tell, yet we never get to meet her at all. All we get is Adam's perspective, in first person, which can be tedious, and Marybeth never got to tell her story. In fact, she got shorted badly and I resented that.
The story is set about a decade into the future and is all about the adolescent yet juvenile Adam, an emancipated and emaciated spoiled-rotten seventeen-year-old, self-pitying drunk, who is one of the most tediously self-obsessed, self-centered, and monotonously whining characters I've ever had to put up with in a novel. The first person PoV, which is nearly always worst person PoV, did not help at all. He was nauseating. After about sixty percent of the novel, I began skimming because I could not stand to listen to him and I resented the endless, uninformative flashbacks. I found myself wishing that Adam had died and Marybeth was telling the story. As a resurrected clone, it would have made for far more interesting reading.
More than one person has rudely tried to impose upon me the assertion that you cannot review a novel if you haven't read it all, but those people are not only crass, they are delusional. I read sixty percent of this one and skimmed the rest, and it not only did it never improve, it never went anywhere I didn't expect it to go. I rest my case.
It was utterly predictable in pretty much every major facet, so there were no surprises at all. Except one: I was surprised that I never got to meet Marybeth, but having met Adam, I was left in no doubt as to why she killed herself. He was insufferable. And yes, it's no spoiler to reveal that fact, because like several other things in the novel, such as how Adam and Genevieve would end up as an item, and what her story was, it was so predictable, and it was quite obvious that "Sunshine" had rain in her life despite the author's inexplicable, yet extreme reticence in revealing that obvious information.
Adam was the guitarist in a four-person band of which Sunshine was the star. All of the others are dead, and so it's Adam who's approached by a rather secretive organization that's intent upon cloning loved ones. He's told they can bring Marybeth back, and they need him because her memory record, which they had taken when she was in the hospital, is corrupted in part. He knew her better than anyone, and he can help fix the omissions.
This was one of several issues for me in a novel that was far more fiction than science. Yes, we could technically clone a human. Whether it's ethical or advisable is another issue, but this cloning was glossed over so thickly that it stunk of varnish. How did they get her cells? How did they record her memories?
Growing an embryo into a seventeen year old girl in a few weeks or months? It's too much. Recording memories? I found it hard to believe they'd been able to get access to someone like Sunshine and record her memories as she lay dying or dead without anyone finding it strange or questioning what they were doing. There are ways to explain this, but it never was explained - it was simply a given. And never were the ethics of this shady business seriously questioned. The second instance of this memory mapping is even harder to explain, and so it goes unexplained, but I can't go into that without giving away a rather large spoiler, even though it became obvious what was going on well before the author revealed it.
I really like a good cloning story and this one started out quite well, and at least the story took off quickly, which is always a plus. Problems arose for Adam as soon as he arrived on the Island of Doctor Morose. He's missing booze of course, the islanders seem to think there are ghosts at the clinic, despite all the secrecy - or perhaps because of it - and even as he pines for Sunshine, he's forming a relationship with another young girl there, whose name is Genevieve. This was another sad case of instadore in YA "literature" and it was one more sorry aspect to this story. Adam isn't fit to be in a relationship with anyone and Genevieve is a moron if she thinks she's in love with this dick after a few troubled weeks.
As for Sunshine, despite being the titular character, she's conspicuous by her absence. She's been cloned, Adam is told, but not yet fully matured. In the story, the clones undergo an artificial maturation process (which the author amusingly calls 'aging', like the clones are wine or cheese!), so he isn't allowed to meet her until they've finished calibrating his mind and retrieving his memories. The idea is that Adam will recall memories of Sunshine and these will themselves be cloned and used to fill the gaps in the clone's mind - suitably altered to make them look like her own memories rather than his. How that will work goes unexplained. The author hasn't specified why this is necessary - why they couldn't, for example, simply tell her she's lost some memories.
This was one of the major problems because the author seems to have a poor understanding of how memories are made and stored. Or is it that she has a great grasp of it, but chooses to ignore it for the purpose of this fiction? I don't know. I can't remember accurately! LOL! Seriously though, there's this fiction in fiction that the mind is like a computer hard drive constantly recording everything, and that whatever is stored there can be recalled exactly as it was when first stored - it never changes. This is completely wrong. Human memory is much more like stew than it is like a hard drive, with memories constantly mixing with and flavoring others.
Memories are modified every time they're recalled, and what's stored in the first place isn't an accurate record of what you experienced. Most things your senses encounter are filtered out, and only what your mind considers crucial to your survival is stored. Even our definition of survival is different these days from what it was when we lived on the Savannah in Africa. This laxity in our memorizing is why eye witnesses are the worst kind of evidence in a court case, and our poor understanding of memory is why jurors so idiotically put so much stock in what an eye witness says. It's not possible to pull up your entire past because it simply isn't there to be pulled up, and what is there isn't authentic, so it actually wouldn't matter if the clone is deemed to have false memories! Our own "real" memories are false to a disturbing degree!
One question I kept asking is "Why make her a clone?" She could have been be a ghost or a twin sister and this story would have been largely the same, especially since she never got to actually tell her story. All we ever got was Adam endlessly going back into his recollections and "interacting" with Marybeth in holodeck simulations right out of Star Trek. I felt cheated.
At first this wasn't bad and it was actually integral to the story, but when it went on and endlessly on and on and on, it turned me right off the story. It became boring, tedious and unengaging. Even if Adam had been a guy worth reading about, and he wasn't, it would have been mind-numbing with the monotonous flashbacks. The truth is that Adam was a complete dick, and I loathed him. At one point he even alienates Genevieve who has been inexplicably patient with him. He pisses her off so much that she refuses to hang with him or speak to him, and I can't blame her at all. She's a smart woman! Or she was until she has a brain fart and returns to him.
In the end I felt mugged of the story I'd been promised - or at least the story I felt I'd been promised from the blurb and the title, and what I got instead wasn't nearly as entertaining as what I'd expected. I wish the author all the best in her career, but I cannot in good faith recommend this one.
Posted by Ian Wood at 14:36 Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest
REVIEW: Resurrecting Sunshine by Lisa A. Koosis - Valeria
Posted by Jenn Christensen at 5:54 PM
Rate: 5/5
Goodreads Description:
At seventeen, Adam Rhodes is famous, living on his own, and in a downward spiral since he lost the girl he loved. Marybeth stage name Sunshine was his best friend from the days they were foster kids; then she was his girlfriend and his band mate. But since her accidental death, he's been drinking to deal with the memories. Until one day, an unexpected visitor, Dr. Elloran, presents Adam with a proposition that just might save him from himself. Using breakthrough cloning and memory-implantation techniques, Dr. Elloran and the scientists at Project Orpheus want to resurrect Marybeth, and they need Adam to "donate" intimate memories of his life with her. The memory retrieval process forces Adam to relive his life with Marybeth and the devastating path that brought them both to fame. Along the way, he must confront not only the circumstances of her death but also his growing relationship with the mysterious Genevieve, daughter of Project Orpheus's founder. As the process sweeps Adam and Marybeth ever closer to reliving the tragedy that destroyed them, Adam must decide how far he'll go to save her.
It is all too easy for me to give this book a 5 out of 5 rating but let me tell you why.
I thought this book would include an element of magic which is how they would be bringing Sunshine (Real name Marybeth) back but I was wrong. The book is set a bit forward in the future and the way they plan on bringing her back is through science
Through clonning and memory planting to be specific.
The main character, Adam starts off a year after Marybeths death and how he is struggling with her death and had issues with alcohol and such when he is contacted by a Doctor to bring her back.
He skeptically agrees to help, they need his memories as well, and leaves to a hidden location where Sunshine is being regrown
The book from the middle to the end starts making you question and realize if it is the right thing to do or if you would allow it to happen. There is a particular quote in the book that was kind of the changing moment, where the author starts to point out something else.
Marybeth is being clonned but she is still dead. There is still a dead girl on the ground.
In the book Adam meets Gen, who helps him cope with the whole process by being his friend
We also learn the truth of Marybeths death and again, brings the question to mind of, is it right and would you do it and allow it whether you would allow that to be done to yourself or someone you love.
This is a bitter sweet read that really submerges you into this whole idea, this whole world of things that other books simply fail to do.
And that, is why it is so easy for me to give a good rate to this book without a second thought.
Recommend it?
Completely