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A review by leahnoel
Every Good Boy Does Fine: A Love Story, in Music Lessons by Jeremy Denk
4.0
At once a pretentious, self-depreciating, and reflective memoir. I’d probably classify it as a coming-of-age or self-discovery memoir. I frequently wondered if someone with no musical background would be able to follow the stories in this book, and I don’t know… But I think it would help the reader to have some musical experience or at least a deep interest in music in order to fully appreciate this memoir.
I really like the way Denk artfully draws parallels between making music and how he finds his way through life, without saying it directly. This would be a good memoir to study as an example of how the subject is used as a metaphor. The audio book had excerpts of music here and there to support what Denk was explaining, but nothing longer than a few seconds.
What I didn’t love is all of the abrupt changes of time and place, without a clear purpose. I’m not referring to the loose timeline he draws from, but the random references to different times and places when the mentioned detail seems like a red herring rather than a relevant detail. And toward the end, Denk’s narrative perspective shifts abruptly from first person to second without letting the reader in on who he is addressing and why it warrants the shift. He gives enough detail to piece together it’s his lover or partner, but it adds nothing meaningful to his narrative, and for me it was so jarring I lost interest in what he was saying.
Overall, I considered giving this book a 3 for how much I enjoyed it, but I didn’t because I do really appreciate what Denk is trying to do with this book and I feel it’s an important memoir in a lot of ways. I have not read anything else like it, and there’s plenty of substance to use in a deep study of the memoir genre.
I really like the way Denk artfully draws parallels between making music and how he finds his way through life, without saying it directly. This would be a good memoir to study as an example of how the subject is used as a metaphor. The audio book had excerpts of music here and there to support what Denk was explaining, but nothing longer than a few seconds.
What I didn’t love is all of the abrupt changes of time and place, without a clear purpose. I’m not referring to the loose timeline he draws from, but the random references to different times and places when the mentioned detail seems like a red herring rather than a relevant detail. And toward the end, Denk’s narrative perspective shifts abruptly from first person to second without letting the reader in on who he is addressing and why it warrants the shift. He gives enough detail to piece together it’s his lover or partner, but it adds nothing meaningful to his narrative, and for me it was so jarring I lost interest in what he was saying.
Overall, I considered giving this book a 3 for how much I enjoyed it, but I didn’t because I do really appreciate what Denk is trying to do with this book and I feel it’s an important memoir in a lot of ways. I have not read anything else like it, and there’s plenty of substance to use in a deep study of the memoir genre.