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jennifer_mangieri 's review for:
The Music Shop
by Rachel Joyce
This sounded right up my alley for light reading. "A story of music, loss and hope." Quirky love story. Friendships between lonely, socially awkward characters. Set in an unnamed city in England. It's a great concept, but it didn't quite get there.
I liked the concept. Frank owns a run-down old record store where he sells only vinyl records. He has a healing ability: the ability to meet someone and know what piece of music they need - the piece of music that will heal them. He knows everything about music and can communicate not only facts but his passion for it, to others. He's friends with a variety of quirky, lonely people who live and work on his street. He meets a woman, Ilse, who happens to come into his shop, and instantly falls in love with her. That's all pretty good so far, though the requirement to suspend all sense of reality begins with wondering how on earth Frank can employ staff in his shop when apparently he makes next to no money!
But Ilse has a secret, and Frank is wounded by abandonment issues. So, they go back and forth, things happen, lots of time goes by.
Things I disliked: So many moments where you have to enlist your willing suspension of disbelief. Just too many for this type of book, which could have been successful while being more grounded in the obstacles people really face in their romantic lives. It ends up being almost more like a fairy tale of some kind.
Other dislikes: Frank is definitely no catch. The novel fails to successfully state why Ilse would love him so much, outside of "love at first sight", which honestly doesn't seem strong enough to carry her through all the obstacles of the novel. He's mostly kind and has this special talent about music, but damn is he a fixer-upper. I found Ilse's "secret" annoying and manipulative. As in, that's it?! That's your big secret?! Come on!!
And maybe its biggest issue for me is the undercurrent of sadness that runs through this novel. Maybe it should be marketed differently. I was expecting romance, joy and music, with of course some obstacles thrown in or it wouldn't be a story. What I got - a sad fairy tale romance. What's here? Childhood trauma. Broken dreams. Poverty. Gentrification. Loneliness. Homelessness. Depression. A little romance and friendship.
All, apparently, resolved in the last three pages!!
I'm making it sound pretty dire - because I think I'm more annoyed by its imperfections on reflection - but there were some things I enjoyed about it, and it didn't demand too much of me, which is a good thing right now.
I liked the concept. Frank owns a run-down old record store where he sells only vinyl records. He has a healing ability: the ability to meet someone and know what piece of music they need - the piece of music that will heal them. He knows everything about music and can communicate not only facts but his passion for it, to others. He's friends with a variety of quirky, lonely people who live and work on his street. He meets a woman, Ilse, who happens to come into his shop, and instantly falls in love with her. That's all pretty good so far, though the requirement to suspend all sense of reality begins with wondering how on earth Frank can employ staff in his shop when apparently he makes next to no money!
But Ilse has a secret, and Frank is wounded by abandonment issues. So, they go back and forth, things happen, lots of time goes by.
Things I disliked: So many moments where you have to enlist your willing suspension of disbelief. Just too many for this type of book, which could have been successful while being more grounded in the obstacles people really face in their romantic lives. It ends up being almost more like a fairy tale of some kind.
Other dislikes: Frank is definitely no catch. The novel fails to successfully state why Ilse would love him so much, outside of "love at first sight", which honestly doesn't seem strong enough to carry her through all the obstacles of the novel. He's mostly kind and has this special talent about music, but damn is he a fixer-upper. I found Ilse's "secret" annoying and manipulative. As in, that's it?! That's your big secret?! Come on!!
And maybe its biggest issue for me is the undercurrent of sadness that runs through this novel. Maybe it should be marketed differently. I was expecting romance, joy and music, with of course some obstacles thrown in or it wouldn't be a story. What I got - a sad fairy tale romance. What's here? Childhood trauma. Broken dreams. Poverty. Gentrification. Loneliness. Homelessness. Depression. A little romance and friendship.
All, apparently, resolved in the last three pages!!
I'm making it sound pretty dire - because I think I'm more annoyed by its imperfections on reflection - but there were some things I enjoyed about it, and it didn't demand too much of me, which is a good thing right now.