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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
After a slightly slow start, this book dives into the wonders of music and how it can make us feel. I loved the descriptions of various tracks throughout the book, and the last chapter is pure joy.
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book was perfect for post-holiday lazy reading. It's a sweet (and slightly dark) tale of a record store owner and the oddballs that live and work on hist street. Lots of great music reflections as well as some pretty good life ones.
I came to this thanks to a note saying "if you like High Fidelity ", but all this has in common with that book is music and broken male protagonists.
I came to this thanks to a note saying "if you like High Fidelity ", but all this has in common with that book is music and broken male protagonists.
Three and a half stars. Interesting. Quirky. Sweet. Throw back. What's old is new again.
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
Thoroughly enjoyed. The love of music, vinyl and community.
Rachel Joyce speaks my language. It's hard even to choose a quote to pull because they go on and extend through a full paragraph and onto the next until the entire page feels needed.
"As he listened, it was like doors opening, one after another. The notes started running when he thought they would go slow. They walked off to the side when he was sure they should go straight ahead. They grew fins and swam just as he had got used to them having legs. It was like knowing something and not knowing it at all."
The Music Shop has, what appears from the outside perhaps, as a haphazard narrative. Not precisely linear, for there are flashbacks and some short, quick changes in narrator—as if the captain of the ship is sleeping for the night, and the others of high rank take turns at the helm while he dozes.
More to the point, it's like a modern day playlist on shuffle. You're enjoying the current song, the new song begins, and at times the change can be sort of abrupt, making you wonder why that song play next at all. But once the song is at its midpoint, and you're fully enjoying the music, you think, "Ah yes, this was the perfect song after all."
Then, just like a sudden change in the music to which you’re listening, the story takes an unexpected turn. You’re on an unfamiliar street. But, fear not. As everyone knows: 1)Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast, To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak., 2)Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything., 3)Music is the shorthand of emotion., and so on and so forth.
Music will bring you home.
Then...
"The point, Kit explains, is that a flash mob event has no point. Its point is the sheer beauty of doing something joyful that is also unnecessary, unexpected, and free of charge."
"...but for one brief and irrational gap in time, there is this beautiful human madness. The world is not terrible after all."
"As he listened, it was like doors opening, one after another. The notes started running when he thought they would go slow. They walked off to the side when he was sure they should go straight ahead. They grew fins and swam just as he had got used to them having legs. It was like knowing something and not knowing it at all."
The Music Shop has, what appears from the outside perhaps, as a haphazard narrative. Not precisely linear, for there are flashbacks and some short, quick changes in narrator—as if the captain of the ship is sleeping for the night, and the others of high rank take turns at the helm while he dozes.
More to the point, it's like a modern day playlist on shuffle. You're enjoying the current song, the new song begins, and at times the change can be sort of abrupt, making you wonder why that song play next at all. But once the song is at its midpoint, and you're fully enjoying the music, you think, "Ah yes, this was the perfect song after all."
Then, just like a sudden change in the music to which you’re listening, the story takes an unexpected turn. You’re on an unfamiliar street. But, fear not. As everyone knows: 1)Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast, To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak., 2)Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything., 3)Music is the shorthand of emotion., and so on and so forth.
Music will bring you home.
Then...
Spoiler
Joyce went and inserted a flash mob. My joy. My soul joining hands with other people like a mother-fucking Coca-Cola commercial singing in perfect harmony on a hillside with all ethnicities in a glorious chorus."The point, Kit explains, is that a flash mob event has no point. Its point is the sheer beauty of doing something joyful that is also unnecessary, unexpected, and free of charge."
"...but for one brief and irrational gap in time, there is this beautiful human madness. The world is not terrible after all."
A delightful summer-read-with-substance sort of love story, rolled up within an ode to music and neighborhood communities past. Loved the characters Joyce created within the little neighborhood shops. Her writing just made me smile. There was a bit of the hit-the-brakes moment toward the end of the novel, with a shift change in time and focus that was jarring at first, but even so, the ever so unlikely, mostly predictable ending was a good one all the same.
I loved the quirky characters. I especially loved the descriptions of music. I am glad there was a playlist in the back of the book. The ending was a bit unbelievable but I cried happy tears.
With a written in playlist, I can confidently say I'd be surprised if the movie rights aren't already in the works to bring these pages to life on screen. I've never been more thankful to have my smartphone nearby while reading. I find myself looking up all the music mentioned and listening to each song before returning to the The Music Shop. Wow, what and experience, I could see marketing this book with the playlist..... so far I've noted...
1. Aretha Franklin- Oh No Not My Baby
2. Bill Evans- Waltz For Debby
3. Hildegard of Bingen- Canticles of Ecstasy
4. The Troggs- Wild Thing
5. The Beatles- A Day In The Life
6. Vivaldi- The Four Seasons
7. Joni Mitchell- Blue
And so many more!
1. Aretha Franklin- Oh No Not My Baby
2. Bill Evans- Waltz For Debby
3. Hildegard of Bingen- Canticles of Ecstasy
4. The Troggs- Wild Thing
5. The Beatles- A Day In The Life
6. Vivaldi- The Four Seasons
7. Joni Mitchell- Blue
And so many more!
ME COSTO LEERMELO UNA BOLA!
Pero el despues de la mitad se pone interesante
Un poco ladilla el lead
Me parecio que el timeline era muy largo
El final fue como meh… tenia potencial, pero fue como okay y?…
Solo tiene 3 estrellas por que un capitulo me exploto la cabeza (cuando explica porque ama los vinyls a pesar del boom de los CDs)
*Recomiendo? si: dependiendo… music lovers?*
Pero el despues de la mitad se pone interesante
Un poco ladilla el lead
Me parecio que el timeline era muy largo
El final fue como meh… tenia potencial, pero fue como okay y?…
Solo tiene 3 estrellas por que un capitulo me exploto la cabeza (cuando explica porque ama los vinyls a pesar del boom de los CDs)
*Recomiendo? si: dependiendo… music lovers?*
Ja, da ist viel Kitsch - aber halt auch SO viel Liebe zur Musik, dass ich am liebsten sofort in einen Plattenladen laufen und browsen möchte.