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A review by mochagirl
Joplin's Ghost by Tananarive Due
4.0
No one will know me until fifty years after I'm dead," Scott said. ~ Excerpt from Joplin's Ghost
Tananarive Due's latest release, Joplin's Ghost, exemplifies the restless and wandering spirit of musical genius Scott Joplin. The title says it all; however, this is more than just your typical ghost story. Due combines speculative and historical fiction with a splash of romance and urban drama to produce a great story - period. Joplin's Ghost centers on a young, eclectic, emerging Rhythm & Blues female musician, Phoenix Smalls, managed by an overprotective father and a flashy, high-profile, mega-record producer boyfriend. As a child, Phoenix suffered through an eerie accident involving a piano which led to months of agonizing rehabilitation. Shortly thereafter, a foreboding sleepwalking episode finds a ten-year-old Phoenix playing highly complex ragtime scores - years beyond her training. Nearly a decade later, as her star begins to shine, she somehow channels Joplin's ghost and composes what appears to be scores from his lost opera, A Guest of Honor, inspired by Booker T. Washington's visit to the White House. Phoenix avidly researches Joplin's life and discovers many uncanny parallels to her own, including a belief that she may be the reincarnation of his wife, Freddy.
The Ghost is relentless; the possessions rise in intensity to the point of near-death experiences. It is during her dreams that Phoenix is transported to Joplin's world, late 19th century Missouri. Here Phoenix learns that Joplin was hailed the "Ragtime King," and at one time celebrated as one of the most sophisticated and tasteful ragtime composers of the era, having unprecedented success with "Maple Leaf Rag" in 1899, and "The Entertainer" in 1902. He passionately pursued his great aspirations. Scott Joplin's only surviving opera, "Treemonisha" unfolds the proud story of an educated daughter of former slaves who rises to greatness in the post-bellum 1800s. Unfortunately, true greatness eluded Joplin; Treemonisha failed and bankrupted him shortly after its shaky start. The world was not ready to receive such a progressive tale, leaving the soft-spoken musical genius trapped and victimized by the social ignorance and racial politics of the era. At times, it seems like Joplin is foredoomed because the opera's failure was not Joplin's only exposure to bad luck, but also because it seemed to plague him all his life: his daughter died in infancy, his first wife abandoned him; his closest brother died prematurely, and his beloved second wife (Freddy) died after only 10 weeks of marriage. Joplin is portrayed as frustrated, yet still driven; as he suffers a prolonged and agonizing death from tertiary syphilis at age 49, tragically dying heirless and penniless in obscurity in a New York mental ward a few days before the outbreak of World War I.
Due is ingenious in that she fuses Treemonisha's message of courage, education, and self-motivation into Phoenix's modern day music to reach and teach today's youth about social responsibility and history. The duality of the novel is that it serves as a wonderfully imagined work on the trials and tribulations of Joplin; and through Phoenix's ordeals with Joplin and other leading characters, Due subtlety mirrors and demonstrates the ill effects of record label rivalry and the misogynistic, sexual, and violent lyrics commonplace in today's Hip Hop music. Phoenix and Joplin's bedeviled journey is weird and intense, evolving into a life-altering experience for both beings as Phoenix hurries to free herself and Joplin from their cursed bond.
No one knows for sure if Joplin ever stated the prophetic opening quote, but if he did, he was off by only a couple of decades. "Maple Leaf Rag" and "The Entertainer," featured in the 1974 film "The Sting", earned two Academy Awards for its musical score; and Treemonisha was adapted for a Broadway presentation in 1975, which earned Joplin a special posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 1976.
Tananarive Due's latest release, Joplin's Ghost, exemplifies the restless and wandering spirit of musical genius Scott Joplin. The title says it all; however, this is more than just your typical ghost story. Due combines speculative and historical fiction with a splash of romance and urban drama to produce a great story - period. Joplin's Ghost centers on a young, eclectic, emerging Rhythm & Blues female musician, Phoenix Smalls, managed by an overprotective father and a flashy, high-profile, mega-record producer boyfriend. As a child, Phoenix suffered through an eerie accident involving a piano which led to months of agonizing rehabilitation. Shortly thereafter, a foreboding sleepwalking episode finds a ten-year-old Phoenix playing highly complex ragtime scores - years beyond her training. Nearly a decade later, as her star begins to shine, she somehow channels Joplin's ghost and composes what appears to be scores from his lost opera, A Guest of Honor, inspired by Booker T. Washington's visit to the White House. Phoenix avidly researches Joplin's life and discovers many uncanny parallels to her own, including a belief that she may be the reincarnation of his wife, Freddy.
The Ghost is relentless; the possessions rise in intensity to the point of near-death experiences. It is during her dreams that Phoenix is transported to Joplin's world, late 19th century Missouri. Here Phoenix learns that Joplin was hailed the "Ragtime King," and at one time celebrated as one of the most sophisticated and tasteful ragtime composers of the era, having unprecedented success with "Maple Leaf Rag" in 1899, and "The Entertainer" in 1902. He passionately pursued his great aspirations. Scott Joplin's only surviving opera, "Treemonisha" unfolds the proud story of an educated daughter of former slaves who rises to greatness in the post-bellum 1800s. Unfortunately, true greatness eluded Joplin; Treemonisha failed and bankrupted him shortly after its shaky start. The world was not ready to receive such a progressive tale, leaving the soft-spoken musical genius trapped and victimized by the social ignorance and racial politics of the era. At times, it seems like Joplin is foredoomed because the opera's failure was not Joplin's only exposure to bad luck, but also because it seemed to plague him all his life: his daughter died in infancy, his first wife abandoned him; his closest brother died prematurely, and his beloved second wife (Freddy) died after only 10 weeks of marriage. Joplin is portrayed as frustrated, yet still driven; as he suffers a prolonged and agonizing death from tertiary syphilis at age 49, tragically dying heirless and penniless in obscurity in a New York mental ward a few days before the outbreak of World War I.
Due is ingenious in that she fuses Treemonisha's message of courage, education, and self-motivation into Phoenix's modern day music to reach and teach today's youth about social responsibility and history. The duality of the novel is that it serves as a wonderfully imagined work on the trials and tribulations of Joplin; and through Phoenix's ordeals with Joplin and other leading characters, Due subtlety mirrors and demonstrates the ill effects of record label rivalry and the misogynistic, sexual, and violent lyrics commonplace in today's Hip Hop music. Phoenix and Joplin's bedeviled journey is weird and intense, evolving into a life-altering experience for both beings as Phoenix hurries to free herself and Joplin from their cursed bond.
No one knows for sure if Joplin ever stated the prophetic opening quote, but if he did, he was off by only a couple of decades. "Maple Leaf Rag" and "The Entertainer," featured in the 1974 film "The Sting", earned two Academy Awards for its musical score; and Treemonisha was adapted for a Broadway presentation in 1975, which earned Joplin a special posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 1976.