Addison Stone is legendary.

She’s the girl who isn’t just a budding talent, an artist on the rise. She is hot artist right now, no qualifiers necessary.

Except, Addison Stone is dead, and she died under some mysterious circumstances. No one knows for sure what happened, and what comes together in Adele Griffin’s The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone is the testimony of people who knew her as they attempt to put together the pieces of just what happened. How could such a young talent be gone?

The construction of this book is brilliant. Never do we get Addison’s voice because she’s dead; instead, we’re only allowed to get to know Addison through the voices of people who knew and associated with her, for better or for worse. Some of the people who get the chance to speak up loved Addison and wanted to see her get better and better with her art. Others, though, weren’t fans of Addison nor her life. Some, maybe, were downright envious. Bit by bit, Addison’s life comes together through these narratives, which are interspersed with both Addison’s art and photographs of her life.

Without getting Addison’s voice directly, it might feel like this book is a bit gimmicky. But Griffin manages to do something smart: she not only works with the set up to tell a huge story, but she simultaneously uses the format to comment upon the idea of art and artifice. Because who are these people to tell us who Addison is? What do their concepts of her as a person — and her as an artist — do to render a full person? Can they? What of their biases and connections with and to her do to getting at the heart of who she was?

Addison wasn’t without problems. Being talented came at a price, and much of it had to do with pressure. Internally, externally, and from the entire world around her. Being young and female didn’t help the situation. There’s much here about gender and about the unique struggles and situations that talented girls find themselves in and how that sort of lifestyle is destructive not because of the individual living it, but because of the way the world operates and puts expectations and demands upon girls. Further complicating the situation and tying right into that is the struggle Addison had with her own romantic life. She was (and was not) interested in more than one boy. The revelations those boys have about Addison and their personal relationships with her, because they’re so biased, tell us a lot about Addison and her interest in them.

We get the opportunity to see Addison’s growth through her adolescence, and we learn exactly how she came to hone her talents and find herself living the big city artist dream. But as much as it seems like it was a dream, bits and pieces come together to tell us as readers perhaps it wasn’t a dream after all. That perhaps there was something bigger warring within Addison.

The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone has a plot twist in it that comes through the bits and pieces we learn about Addison’s younger years. It’s spoiler to reveal what that twist is, but it might be fair to note that there’s a tiny bit of a supernatural element to the mystery of the story. That tiny bit of supernatural, though, may not be precisely what it seems to be. It might indicate a far bigger challenge to Addison and her struggles with creativity and the bigger questions that surround artists and creative inspiration. More, this delves into what might be the most provocative element of the story (and, as noted above, the bigger idea behind the book’s construction): the idea of performance. What is performance? Is it art? Is it life? Is it both? Who are the performers within one’s own life? At what point do you get to separate yourself from the work you do? Are you granted permission to do so, and if that’s the case, how do you protect that inner self from the bigger world taking in what it is you do and create?

Also, who owns a story once it’s out there? Is it the artist or is it those who enjoy the art?

The voices and perspectives in this book are unique and easy to navigate. Though we hear from a lot of people, it’s never confusing. Much of what emerges from the cast of characters is in itself the story: we get to see and experience what envy and love look, feel, and taste like without those things being described straightly to us. The immersive setup makes it easy to forget that this isn’t an actual story of a person who lived; this is a fictional account of a fictional character’s death.

Griffin’s novel is experimental but exceptionally successful at being so. This is the kind of book mystery lovers will want to get their hands on, as well any readers who are themselves creative and artistic and struggle with the internal and external manifestations of themselves and their art. It’s a complex, layered book, but it’s a lot of fun because of that. There are serious themes, but the way they come together and the way it’s put together and examined by the reader is the most enjoyable part. This is a book of pieces and characters, but it’s ultimately the reader who gets to put them together. Addison is an older character, so readers seeking stories at the upper end of YA or about teens who choose not to pursue traditional college/career paths will want to pick this up, as well. The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone asks more questions than it answers — and it begs to be discussed because of that.

If the book piques your interest, check out this great piece at School Library Journal between Liz Burns and Adele Griffin. Learning about how the book came together — and the girl who inspired the way Addison looks — is really fascinating.

For those who like a little story to your book covers, too, the cover of this book is not only fitting, but representative of an Addison habit you’ll come to discover. It’s a small detail, but it made the experience of the book that much more enjoyable.

The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone will be available August 12 — next Tuesday — from Soho Teen. Review copy received from the publisher.