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."
"...an Indian blue-haired, vegetarian, Catholic convert"--OOH, boy. That's a lot of peculiarities and a fertile field to grow a character on.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds fantastic with well-developed characters! I wish there were more music books out there. I really enjoyed Second Fiddle by Roseanne Parry. I'm not much of a musician myself, but my older son and sister are, so I've lived in the world vicariously.
ReplyDeleteMirka, the blue-haired girl was my favorite and all her peculiarities didn't feel tacked on at all like in some other books where they feel they have to have a diverse character. Each of the characters was so well-developed.
ReplyDeleteJenni, I'll have to get Roseanne Parry's book. She's one of my favorites. And if you want more musical book recs for your son, see: https://vijayabodach.blogspot.com/2019/03/reading-writing-singing.html
Oh, this sounds fascinating, just the kind of book I'd like. (The King's Speech was one of my favourite movies, appealing to my interest in speech therapy.) Thanks for the recommendation.
ReplyDeleteBarb, I didn't know your interest in speech therapy. I esp. appreciated the aspect of owning stuttering in Pick Up Notes. King's Speech is one of my favorite movies too.
ReplyDeleteVijaya, I briefly flirted with post-graduate studies to take science courses before entering Speech Pathology, but I dropped out because of Statistics. I had no math background, had taken languages and music in high school, but did okay in statistics--until the prof decided to use a bell curve on the marks.
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