I felt like instead of it being an autobiographical novel, he should have written a memoir. The descriptions of ME were a little odd and almost felt like wishful thinking than grounded in reality. I didn't think that worked. I felt like we were told a lot of facts about his upbringing, parents and where he lived but I didn't get a full feel of him as a person which was odd for a book about a man and not a huge amount of plot

My thanks to NetGalley and Harper Via for an advance copy of this novel that tells the story of a boy who is almost brought down by disease, who finds support in friends, strength in music, and a willingness to keep going in himself, a story that limns the life of the writer, and his rise in the Scottish music scene.

In many ways humans have been doing Autofiction for most of our lives. Autofiction is a way of telling the story of a writer, but not having to get the facts right, maybe mixing people into one, eliminating uncomfortable moments. Even making one sound smarter than they usually are in the telling of the tale. This is most of my stories, though I tend to be more self-deprecating in the interest of not making my audience feel uncomfortable for me. Over the years I have come to enjoy reading autofiction. The mix of truth, lies, light fabrications, outright fable making, and pointed insight are something I enjoy. Especially when one is familiar with the writer. For a writer this must be liberating, and at the same time intensely difficult. Remembering good times, dark times, times in a bed for weeks on end. Old loves, lost loves, and mistaken love. And when the book is written by a crafter of songs filled with emotion, well one is really getting something special. Nobody's Empire is written by Stuart Murdoch, singer and songwriter for the Scottish band Belle and Sebastian, and tells of a boy who is stricken with a little understood disease, how it changes his life, and how he grows into a man from it.

The book begins with our main character Stephen at a loss. Once Stephen had energy, he ran marathons, and did things. Stephen had friends, and enjoyed both DJing, and promoting shows, working in record shops and collecting music. Stephen had the whole world ahead of him. Than he noticed he was starting to slow down, get tired, and worn out quicker. Stephen found he had chronic fatigue syndrome, and everything changed. Soon he couldn't work, couldn't go out, and couldn't find happiness in the music he loved. Living in his bed he began to waste away, and only time in hospital helped him put weight back on. However no one in the medical profession could offer him help for his condition so he kept wallowing. Until one day he tried to get better. Stephen left his parents house, and with his friend and fellow chronic fatigue sufferer Richard moved to Glasgow, a town that made him happy. He made friends in a support group of other people like himself, found love, found crushes, and refound music, writing songs gave his mind something to focus on. In that tale of all young men trying to find themselves Stephen and Richard went west, to America and California. where music brought him more friends, love, and hope.

A superb slice of life story that revels much about the writer, his muses and his life. The writing is very good, pulling one in almost immediately and never letting go until the end. One does not have to be familiar with the band to enjoy the book, though some references might help. Muroch has a way of describing things, weather, young love, hearing a song, even just wandering in a way that one hears music playing as if hearing a song, that hasn't been created yet. There is an assuredness that is rare in many books, maybe since some of this was lived through before being put on the page. What I enjoyed most was that another writer would probably add some whiney lines, or some come to Jesus moments. While Stephen does find a bit of religion, the book is pretty whine free. One can't get over the fact that even at his worst Stuart/Stephen kept trying to get better, even when his body and mind were plotting against him.

I have long admired the band, and knew a little bit about them. This book makes me want to know more. Also I would like to read more by Stuart Murdoch. I hope he continues writing. A great book for fans of the band, people who enjoy autoficton, and people who love to read well-written novels.

Thanks to HarperVia and NetGalley for this ARC of Stuart Murdoch's 'Nobody's Empire.'

This story of a young Scottish man trying to cope with the monumental changes a diagnosis of ME made on his life in 1990s Glasgow seems very definitely autobiographical. It feels like Murdoch is simply writing what happened but changing the names to protect the innocent and the guilty - it could have been culled directly from a diary, if the author was keeping one at the time..

It's very enjoyably told - honest and wry and with a very light touch about a very debilitating mental and physical condition. It felt very real - not just his description of his illness but the description of the places and times he lives in and through.

Stephen (Murdoch) finds himself emerging from a near forced stay in a psychiatric unit in Glasgow and trying to chart a life for himself while leaving behind most things about his past - apart from the music itself - and living at half speed while the world around him continues apace. It's a story about coping, hiding, and living with a condition that - even now - isn't universally acknowledged as being real and the sense of community that's established among fellow sufferers in Glasgow and farther afield. Maybe unusually, for a rock-and-roll tale, there's a strong element of the author developing a belief in god, religion, and spirituality as part of this efforts at survival and recovery.

In a counterintuitive move, Stephen and his flatmate Richard cash everything in to fund a three month trip to California in order to escape the Scottish winter blues and - ostensibly - seek fellow ME-sufferers in the US where there might be more advanced treatments. While there he continues to develop his songwriting and guitar playing and his confidence in his ability grows and allows him to make strong and instant connections with a variety of characters.

I feel like there could've been a stronger editorial hand, at times. The music was important to him and was important to the story but it felt like I didn't need to know every in-and-out of the various bands and scene at the time and it wouldn't have harmed the narrative and our understanding of his life and passions had we not had all of that.

That aside, Nobody's Empire is a lovely meandering account of a period in the author's life that he's probably now able to look back on with some affection but which, at the time, was obviously a physically, psychologically, and emotionally traumatic period.