Jane Lebak gave a fantastic talk on character development at the Online Catholic Writing Conference, so of course I had to check out her books. I picked up Pick-Up Notes because it's about a string quartet and I love stories set in a musical milieu. The narrator is a violist and the butt of many jokes, including self-deprecating ones. But it's the second violinist who steals the show--what a great character! And not just because she's an Indian blue-haired, vegetarian, Catholic convert, but because she can improvise on the spot and that's what takes the quartet to a whole new level. The cellist is a stutterer and boy, as a life-long stutterer, did I feel the words stuck in his throat (I speak more fluently now, but stress and nerves can trigger horrible stuttering). The first violinist is the alpha male--rich, spoiled, but talented, generous, and driven. Ms. Lebak has done meticulous research on both quartets and stuttering (I thought it strange the violist was analyzing the celllist's speech--but it's educational for those who don't know anything about it so I'll give it a pass). There's also family drama and romance.
Music lovers, I encourage you to pick up this book for its excellent storytelling. It is difficult to write about music, because as Victor Hugo said, "Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent."
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