Comments on: Review: The Lucy Variations, Sara Zarr

By: harri3tspy

harri3tspy — Wed, 07 May 2014 10:33:07 +0000

I’m a musician by trade and started studying violin when I was 8 and I still play just about every day (although sometimes I may pick up a guitar or mandolin instead). As a kid, I read every book about kid musicians I could get my hands on, but they’ve all been pretty forgettable. I remember loving one Madeleine L’Engle novel (for adults, I think– I was thinking it was Camilla, but when I looked it up just now, the description said it was about a girl who wanted to be an astronomer, not a musician, so I may have it muddled) but can no longer remember what it was called. And Bruce Brooks’ young adult novel Midnight Hour Encores I loved for its engagingly prickly narrator, cello prodigy Sibilance T. Spooner. I’m not sure either of them was really a good book. There’s something about writing about prodigies that seems to bring out the worst in writers. Prodigies tend to be used as plot devices so character development is nearly always poor or full of holes, because the whole concept of a prodigy in American imagination is so limited (I also research writings about child musical prodigies in late 19th and early 20th c. US, and I can tell you that this problem has been going on for a long time). I was not, by any means, a prodigy, but the musical detail almost always bothered me. Midnight Hour Encores rang more true to me than others (although I haven’t read it in years, so I can’t speak for its accuracy at this point) in a mechanical sort of way, but it fell down on the descriptions of the why — why do you do this to yourself? What do you get out of this kind of devotion to musical art? Madeleine L’Engle was sketchy about her musicians, but not about music — she still has (again, I no longer remember which book but I really need to track it down one of these days) one of the best descriptions of the experience of playing Bach that I’ve ever seen, about the way it can force your body an mind into a reassuring order.

By: Jeanne

Jeanne — Mon, 28 Apr 2014 22:35:33 +0000

I had twelve years of enforced piano lessons and had to practice an hour a day by the time I was in HS. I reacted to this by never touching a piano again after HS, except to tune my violin (which I still play, in the local symphony) or to pick out a melody line or something. I played trombone in the marching band in Jr High and High School. To get out of study hall, I took up alto clarinet and cello (I could sign out to go “practice” which meant hanging out in the band room). I can pretty much figure out how to begin playing anything. I have a chanter for a bagpipe and taught myself to play it, although I never got good enough to want to get hold of the bags.

By: Anna

Anna — Sun, 27 Apr 2014 19:12:14 +0000

Has always BEEN a very physical thing, sigh.

By: Anna

Anna — Sun, 27 Apr 2014 19:09:32 +0000

What a nice opportunity to de-lurk! I played piano for a bunch of years as a kid but never really liked it. So I stopped.

My primary school was a cathedral choir school, which involved lots of singing. I still sing and like it very much, but only if I get along with the people I’m singing with. If I don’t, it can get uncomfortable at a physical level (singing has always be a very physical thing to me).

By: Heather

Heather — Sun, 27 Apr 2014 14:05:53 +0000

I agree mostly with your ranking of Zarr’s books, except that I haven’t read this one and I definitely liked Once Was Lost more than you did. I hope to read this one, but I need to wait a bit because I recently read Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez, which is also about a music prodigy (this time a violinist), and it was definitely good. So I don’t want to compare the two.

By: jenclair

jenclair — Sat, 26 Apr 2014 14:24:31 +0000

Like others have mentioned, the boundary thing makes me very uneasy. Otherwise, it sounds very interesting, and I like that you included your ranking and that Jessica did, as well. I like seeing the differences in the way we all rank books.

By: Readathon Spring 2014: My Fancy Frequently Updated Post | Xcuz Me

Readathon Spring 2014: My Fancy Frequently Updated Post | Xcuz Me — Sat, 26 Apr 2014 13:07:09 +0000

[…] to read my long overdue first Courtney Summers, Cracked up to Be, and also some Sara Zarr, because Jenny reminded me of how much I love her. Lastly, I’m dying to finally read Erin Bow’s Sorrow’s Knot. As for the children’s stack, […]

By: Jessica

Jessica — Sat, 26 Apr 2014 03:25:03 +0000

Lovely review. You managed to elucidate my thoughts on it really well. I liked reading it, but everything I came up with to say about it was negative.

I enjoyed checking out your rankings. I’ve read every Sara Zarr’s book too. Here’s how I’d rank them:

1. Once Was Lost
2. How To Save a Life
3. Story of a Girl
4. The Lucy Variations
5. Sweethearts

By: Christy

Christy — Fri, 25 Apr 2014 22:28:23 +0000

I played piano throughout my childhood and into college. I don’t play very much now despite the fact that I have a shabby upright now that I got technically for free, but have since paid to move it twice – so there’s the hidden cost. I also need to get it tuned one of these days. It’s starting to sound pretty bad in spots and that’s hardly encouragement for playing it.

What is it with YA books and their protagonists being terrible friends (and not fully owning up to that)? I keep coming across that whenever I read YA.

By: Words for Worms

Words for Worms — Fri, 25 Apr 2014 17:33:00 +0000

I played the oboe for three years in middle school! I quit because I was far too busy being an angsty teenager in high school to be in the band. Bad decision on my part, as members of marching band (you can’t march with an oboe, but you can carry a flag or twirl a flag or something) didn’t have to take gym class. I did. Booooo.