The Lightning Bottles

 

The Lightning Bottles / Marisa Stapley 
TO: Simon & Schuster Canada, c2024.
294 p.

This has a little bit of mystery/suspense to it but it's really more about relationships, fame, trust and music. It's a Canadian novel but takes place mainly in the US and Germany - and a bit of the rest of Europe as well. 

Jane Pyre grows up stifled in small town Ontario. She wants to be a musician, a star, and finds a 'soulmate' on an online forum. Elijah Hart lives in Seattle and is there at the beginnings of the grunge movement. When Jane finally decides to leave home (still a teenager), she makes her way to Elijah. His bandmates see her as a bit of a Yoko Ono, but she and Elijah are magic together -- their songs (well, Jane's songs, really) shoot them into the stratosphere. But despite their soul connection, Jane can't keep fame from affecting Elijah in all the worst ways. He starts using, he's unreliable, and eventually he disappears. The fan base turns on Jane, blaming her, of course. 

Much later, Jane retreats to a tiny remote town in Germany. But next door lives Hen, a teenager and superfan of the Lightning Bottles, who recognizes Jane. Hen is convinced that Elijah has been leaving coded messages for Jane through street art across Europe, and somehow convinces Jane to check it out with her. And then the two of them go on a road trip across Germany, France and Iceland to find Elijah, if it is indeed him leaving obscure signs. 

This is a really entertaining read. There are some dark themes, and some sadness and exhaustion that permeates the pages, but it kept me reading. The look at 90s music, the cost of fame, misogyny in the music world, the world of street art, and the drive toward musical life especially in Jane -- it's all intriguing and slots together really smoothly. With this tough, hard world, I would have loved to see Jane more powerful and less forgiving overall. But it's a perfect rock n roll story if you're in the mood for something both nostalgic and edgy. There is a lot to think about, including the ending, and it made for a satisfying read.