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emily_jade_reads 's review for:
A Thousand Perfect Notes
by C.G. Drews
*I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was an utterly heartbreaking and harrowing portrait of domestic abuse that was beautifully written and managed to end on a hopeful note. It was written in a way that was incredibly relatable even to those of us lucky enough to have never experienced abuse of this kind.
The story is about Beck, a talented pianist who is forced by his abusive mother to rehearse all day but is constantly reminded he will never live up to her high expectations and play as well as she did before illness ended her career. Beck suffers emotional and physical abuse from his mother and has to hide his real passion for composing as she is in charge of what he plays. When Beck is paired with August for a school project he finds someone who can give him relief from his daily cycle of torment.
This was a very quick read but it was not an easy one with some very difficult scenes of graphic abuse to digest. What Beck goes through is heartbreaking as he suffers at the hands of his terrifyingly cold mother. However, the book is still infused with hope and joy through the other characters in Beck’s life.
Firstly, his little sister Joey who is a wonderful character and the relationship between them shows the caring side of Beck as he is very sweet and protective towards his little sister. Then there is August who is incredibly supportive towards Beck and brings joy into his life through cake and music and gazing at the stars. A very strong friendship builds between the two as well as a romance, which I didn’t fully believe in, but they were very cute together. August’s parents were also excellent characters who I wish had featured more, showing Beck what a family should look like with the love and kindness and banter that is shared between them and August.
The book was completely interwoven with music and the complicated emotions of love and hate Beck feels towards music were easy to empathise with. Every time he sat down to play I could almost hear the music and the contrast between his performances of pieces of music he was forced to play and his own composed music.
Overall, this was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster but it is well worth a read. I highly recommend this book full of music and love and hope with absolutely gorgeous writing and excellent characters.
This review originally appeared on https://emilyjadebooks.wordpress.com/
This was an utterly heartbreaking and harrowing portrait of domestic abuse that was beautifully written and managed to end on a hopeful note. It was written in a way that was incredibly relatable even to those of us lucky enough to have never experienced abuse of this kind.
The story is about Beck, a talented pianist who is forced by his abusive mother to rehearse all day but is constantly reminded he will never live up to her high expectations and play as well as she did before illness ended her career. Beck suffers emotional and physical abuse from his mother and has to hide his real passion for composing as she is in charge of what he plays. When Beck is paired with August for a school project he finds someone who can give him relief from his daily cycle of torment.
This was a very quick read but it was not an easy one with some very difficult scenes of graphic abuse to digest. What Beck goes through is heartbreaking as he suffers at the hands of his terrifyingly cold mother. However, the book is still infused with hope and joy through the other characters in Beck’s life.
Firstly, his little sister Joey who is a wonderful character and the relationship between them shows the caring side of Beck as he is very sweet and protective towards his little sister. Then there is August who is incredibly supportive towards Beck and brings joy into his life through cake and music and gazing at the stars. A very strong friendship builds between the two as well as a romance, which I didn’t fully believe in, but they were very cute together. August’s parents were also excellent characters who I wish had featured more, showing Beck what a family should look like with the love and kindness and banter that is shared between them and August.
The book was completely interwoven with music and the complicated emotions of love and hate Beck feels towards music were easy to empathise with. Every time he sat down to play I could almost hear the music and the contrast between his performances of pieces of music he was forced to play and his own composed music.
Overall, this was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster but it is well worth a read. I highly recommend this book full of music and love and hope with absolutely gorgeous writing and excellent characters.
This review originally appeared on https://emilyjadebooks.wordpress.com/