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kelly_e's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Title: The Farewell Tour
Author: Stephanie Clifford
Genre: Literary Fiction
Rating: 4.25
Pub Date: March 7, 2023
T H R E E • W O R D S
Absorbing • Musical • Redemptive
📖 S Y N O P S I S
It’s 1980, and Lillian Waters is hitting the road for the very last time.
Jaded from her years in the music business, perpetually hungover, and diagnosed with career-ending vocal problems, Lillian cobbles together a nationwide farewell tour featuring some old hands from her early days playing honky-tonk bars in Washington State and Nashville. a few new ones. She yearns to feel the rush of making live music one more time and bask in the glow of a packed house before she makes the last, and most important, stop on the the farm she left behind at age ten and the sister she is finally ready to confront about an agonizing betrayal in their childhood.
When she reaches her Washington hometown for her very last show, though, she’ll undergo a reckoning with the past that forces her to reconsider her entire life story. The Farewell Tour asks us to consider how much of our past we can ever leave behind.
💭 T H O U G H T S
I was immediately intrigued by this novel because of the country music aspect. I initially thought it this was going to be a light, fun time. But this book has a lot of depth and deals with many serious topics.
The Farewell Tour is a come back story about Lillian Waters, a country music singer who decides to set out on her final tour despite having fallen from her glory years. Told through alternating timelines - flashbacks to her past and present day- this story has lots of extensive historical detail of the era, which took me by surprise yet was one of my favourite aspects. I enjoyed learning more about the evolution of country music and a behind the scenes look at the music business. Lillian certainly wasn't always likeable, nonetheless I was rooting for her to find peace with her past and ride off into the sunset. Her friendship with Charlie was another strong pillar in this novel. I was glad she had him in her corner from despite their rocky journey.
Additionally, I really appreciated the musical aspect (the audio is great as it contains musical excerpts). There's quite a bit of social commentary on racism and sexism within the country music industry. The plot touches on the struggles of female artists making it in Nashville, which is something that mirrors reality for so many female singers in a male dominated genre to this day. Additionally, it tackles the discrimination faced by people of colour within the industry, which I thought was really well done.
This story had a lot more emotional depth than I had been anticipating, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised as I'd been expecting something a little more surface level and light. The plot also took a turn I never saw coming, and to me that just made the book so much more powerful.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• readers who like an older MC
• country music fans
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"But here is the thing about music. When you need it, you need it. Like a pill, like a slug of whiskey. There’s no way to moderate it."
"But there's always another choice."
Author: Stephanie Clifford
Genre: Literary Fiction
Rating: 4.25
Pub Date: March 7, 2023
T H R E E • W O R D S
Absorbing • Musical • Redemptive
📖 S Y N O P S I S
It’s 1980, and Lillian Waters is hitting the road for the very last time.
Jaded from her years in the music business, perpetually hungover, and diagnosed with career-ending vocal problems, Lillian cobbles together a nationwide farewell tour featuring some old hands from her early days playing honky-tonk bars in Washington State and Nashville. a few new ones. She yearns to feel the rush of making live music one more time and bask in the glow of a packed house before she makes the last, and most important, stop on the the farm she left behind at age ten and the sister she is finally ready to confront about an agonizing betrayal in their childhood.
When she reaches her Washington hometown for her very last show, though, she’ll undergo a reckoning with the past that forces her to reconsider her entire life story. The Farewell Tour asks us to consider how much of our past we can ever leave behind.
💭 T H O U G H T S
I was immediately intrigued by this novel because of the country music aspect. I initially thought it this was going to be a light, fun time. But this book has a lot of depth and deals with many serious topics.
The Farewell Tour is a come back story about Lillian Waters, a country music singer who decides to set out on her final tour despite having fallen from her glory years. Told through alternating timelines - flashbacks to her past and present day- this story has lots of extensive historical detail of the era, which took me by surprise yet was one of my favourite aspects. I enjoyed learning more about the evolution of country music and a behind the scenes look at the music business. Lillian certainly wasn't always likeable, nonetheless I was rooting for her to find peace with her past and ride off into the sunset. Her friendship with Charlie was another strong pillar in this novel. I was glad she had him in her corner from despite their rocky journey.
Additionally, I really appreciated the musical aspect (the audio is great as it contains musical excerpts). There's quite a bit of social commentary on racism and sexism within the country music industry. The plot touches on the struggles of female artists making it in Nashville, which is something that mirrors reality for so many female singers in a male dominated genre to this day. Additionally, it tackles the discrimination faced by people of colour within the industry, which I thought was really well done.
This story had a lot more emotional depth than I had been anticipating, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised as I'd been expecting something a little more surface level and light. The plot also took a turn I never saw coming, and to me that just made the book so much more powerful.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• readers who like an older MC
• country music fans
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"But here is the thing about music. When you need it, you need it. Like a pill, like a slug of whiskey. There’s no way to moderate it."
"But there's always another choice."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Alcohol, Mental illness, Child abuse, Alcoholism, and Addiction
Moderate: Grief, Abandonment, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Child death, and Rape
Minor: Sexual content, Drug abuse, Racism, and Drug use
PTSD, sibling deathsarahyjackson's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I realized I have a lot of expectations about how country music is written about in fiction - as being somewhat inextricably linked to Southern identity/the southern experience.
Once I released those expectations and settled into the story, I enjoyed it! Kaori & Charlie were my favorites, and I ended up rooting for Water Lil, too.
Once I released those expectations and settled into the story, I enjoyed it! Kaori & Charlie were my favorites, and I ended up rooting for Water Lil, too.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Child death, Abandonment, and Racism
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