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krasf's review against another edition
3.0
The Detroit race riots and their aftermath, from the perspective of a teenage white boy whose father has died, leaving him with his mentally unstable mother. But also with a metric ton of music references. It's a good read but I wouldn't go out of my way to find it. If you're looking for something, then go for it.
sandin954's review
3.0
A very enjoyable and readable coming of age story set in Detroit in the 1970s and filled with the rock music of the time period.
la_cantina_dei_libri_0's review
4.0
Un bellissimo romanzo di formazione da cui risulta difficile staccarsi dalle pagine. Lo stile semplice offre al lettore un quadro chiaro, definito e pian piano ci si affeziona a Danny, si fa il tifo per lui, si grida "non mollare!". Una storia di crescita, di brutte esperienze, di ribellione, di sbagli, ma anche di musica, forza di volontà e di non arrendersi mai.
pianorunner421's review against another edition
4.0
This was really 3.5 stars for me but I am giving it.5 more due to thinking it was going pretentiously written hiding a great story. How wrong I was!!! I sank into this book like a warm comforter. I could not stop reading. I even discovered some new(old) rock and roll to listen to and enjoy
debi_g's review against another edition
4.0
What I admire about this book:
the strong sense of place: home, work, the music store, the car, the neighborhood
the characters, whether likable or not, fully drawn or not, are interesting
the representation of music's pure, immersive quality
the way it reminds me, in some ways, of A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man
The book did not captivate me until I was about 70 pages into it, but I grew to become fully invested.
the strong sense of place: home, work, the music store, the car, the neighborhood
the characters, whether likable or not, fully drawn or not, are interesting
the representation of music's pure, immersive quality
the way it reminds me, in some ways, of A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man
The book did not captivate me until I was about 70 pages into it, but I grew to become fully invested.
dblue236's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
wombat_88's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
katiey's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
impybelle's review against another edition
4.0
Soooooo... I might be biased in favor of Beautiful Music because certain parts hit home, painfully and otherwise. That said, I couldn't read it all at once because some things still sting despite the years giving the illusion of distance. In any case, I mostly enjoyed the ride.
poisonenvy's review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I'm going to start off this review talking about the racism in it, along with this bit of advice: If you're going to feature the Detroit race-riots of the 70s relatively heavily in your book, you should probably have something you want to say about race.
Zadoorian does not. Instead, the Detroit race-riots are used as a backdrop to help further his white character's teenage angst, without at any point saying anything substantial about race, race relations, or racism. Every race-related conflict we see started in this book is by black kids over-reacting to totally innocent gestures made by white people. The character talks about how his parents, who were both super racist in the home, were actually totally civil to black people they met outside of the home, and, in fact, his mom makes a black friend so it's probably okay? I think? I don't know. There's a lot of talking about people's race (and, in, fact, any time a black character shows up even in passing he's like "And then this black kid walked past me" without remarking on anyone else's race), but at no point does he actually discuss racism.
This, unfortunately, is the running theme of this book. He talks a lot about different songs -- in fact, the entire novel is a litany of songs, just a bit song list (which I made an 11 hour playlist of on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/091kDMoyXxVsPt56mUhw8l?si=e258c4dda38c4241) -- but at no point does he talk deeper about any of it, and in fact, a good 98% of the songs don't add anything to the narrative to the book. There's no deeper meaning to "(You're) Having My Baby" by Paul Anka, it's just a song that he heard on the radio once so he listed it.
Mental illness is yet another theme that features prominently in the book, and yet another one that he never examines with any sort of depth.
That's not to say I disliked the book. Overall, i liked it, I think. It's a decent coming of age novel, the story of a boy who's world was turned upside down when he was 15 and who spent the next year trying to figure out his identity. But it's a book that tries to touch a lot of topics with a lot of depth and never does more than skim the surface.
Zadoorian does not. Instead, the Detroit race-riots are used as a backdrop to help further his white character's teenage angst, without at any point saying anything substantial about race, race relations, or racism. Every race-related conflict we see started in this book is by black kids over-reacting to totally innocent gestures made by white people. The character talks about how his parents, who were both super racist in the home, were actually totally civil to black people they met outside of the home, and, in fact, his mom makes a black friend so it's probably okay? I think? I don't know. There's a lot of talking about people's race (and, in, fact, any time a black character shows up even in passing he's like "And then this black kid walked past me" without remarking on anyone else's race), but at no point does he actually discuss racism.
This, unfortunately, is the running theme of this book. He talks a lot about different songs -- in fact, the entire novel is a litany of songs, just a bit song list (which I made an 11 hour playlist of on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/091kDMoyXxVsPt56mUhw8l?si=e258c4dda38c4241) -- but at no point does he talk deeper about any of it, and in fact, a good 98% of the songs don't add anything to the narrative to the book. There's no deeper meaning to "(You're) Having My Baby" by Paul Anka, it's just a song that he heard on the radio once so he listed it.
Mental illness is yet another theme that features prominently in the book, and yet another one that he never examines with any sort of depth.
That's not to say I disliked the book. Overall, i liked it, I think. It's a decent coming of age novel, the story of a boy who's world was turned upside down when he was 15 and who spent the next year trying to figure out his identity. But it's a book that tries to touch a lot of topics with a lot of depth and never does more than skim the surface.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Drug use, Racism, Addiction, Bullying, Death of parent, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Ableism, Sexual content, Homophobia, and Racial slurs