The Big Rewind
Libby Cudmore, 2016
HarperCollins
256 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062403537
Summary
Listening to someone else’s mix tapes is a huge breach of trust.
But KitKat was dead...and curiosity got the better of me.
When a mix tape destined for her friend KitKat accidentally arrives in Jett Bennett’s mailbox, Jett doesn’t think twice about it—even in the age of iTunes and Spotify, the hipster residents of the Barter Street district of Brooklyn are in a constant competition to see who can be the most retro.
But when Jett finds KitKat dead on her own kitchen floor, she suspects the tape might be more than just a quirky collection of lovelorn ballads.
And when KitKat’s boyfriend, Bronco, is arrested for her murder, Jett and her best friend, Sid, set out on an epic urban quest through strip joints and record stores, vegan bakeries and basement nightclubs, to discover who the real killer is.
However, the further Jett digs into KitKat’s past, the more she discovers about her own left-behind love life—and the mysterious man whose song she still clings to. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Libby Cudmore worked at video stores, bookstores, and temp agencies before settling down in Oneonta, New York, to write. Her short stories have appeared in PANK, Stoneslide Corrective, Big Click, and Big Lucks. The Big Rewind is her first novel. She is a reporter for The Freeman's Journal and Hometown Oneonta newspapers. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Heads up, vinyl-loving hipsters: Cudmore's debut is for you. Jett Bennett is a young New York City temp who came to the big city with dreams of becoming a music journalist.... [M]usic is the glue that holds the story together.... Cudmore has preserved for all time a slice of current, hipster Brooklyn.
Publishers Weekly
[A] murder mystery, romance, coming-of-age story, and exercise in 1980s and 1990s music appreciation.... However, the author packs many characters and subplots into less than 300 pages, which might set some readers spinning, just like a record. [F]ast-paced, hip, and seminostalgic. —Samantha Gust, Niagara Univ. Lib., NY
Library Journal
Cudmore’s funny, breezy first novel...deftly melds mystery, romance, and music. Jett makes for a very refreshing lead in a novel that will appeal to twentysomethings as well as those enamored with Warren Zevon and the Vapors.
Booklist
(Starred review). [This] might be a new mystery subgenre—the hipster cozy.... Stories of the murdered KitKat...add depth and soul to the story. By the end, readers will...mourn her passing. A mystery that will inspire more than one playlist and, hopefully, a sequel.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher. In the meantime, use our generic mystery questions.)
GENERIC DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Mystery / Crime / Suspense Thrillers
1. Talk about the characters, both good and bad. Describe their personalities and motivations. Are they fully developed and emotionally complex? Or are they flat, one-dimensional heroes and villains?
2. What do you know...and when do you know it? At what point in the book do you begin to piece together what happened?
3. Good crime writers embed hidden clues in plain sight, slipping them in casually, almost in passing. Did you pick them out, or were you...clueless? Once you've finished the book, go back to locate the clues hidden in plain sight. How skillful was the author in burying them?
4. Good crime writers also tease us with red-herrings—false clues—to purposely lead readers astray? Does your author try to throw you off track? If so, were you tripped up?
5. Talk about the twists & turns—those surprising plot developments that throw everything you think you've figured out into disarray.
- Do they enhance the story, add complexity, and build suspense?
- Are they plausible or implausible?
- Do they feel forced and gratuitous—inserted merely to extend the story?
6. Does the author ratchet up the suspense? Did you find yourself anxious—quickly turning pages to learn what happened? A what point does the suspense start to build? Where does it climax...then perhaps start rising again?
7. A good ending is essential in any mystery or crime thriller: it should ease up on tension, answer questions, and tidy up loose ends. Does the ending accomplish those goals?
- Does it grow out of clues previously laid out by the author (see Question 3).
- Or does the ending come out of the blue?
- Does it feel forced...tacked-on...or a cop-out?
- Or perhaps it's too predictable.
- Can you envision a better, or different, ending?
8. Are there certain passages in the book—ideas, descriptions, or dialogue—that you found interesting or revealing...or that somehow struck you? What lines, if any, made you stop and think?
9. Overall, does the book satisfy? Does it live up to the standards of a good crime story or suspense thriller? Why or why not?
(Generic Mystery Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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