(Reviewed by Pat Luboff)
#CommissionsEarned
“Find your focus and the story may write itself: music and drugs, race and gender, a tragic barn fire and a missing body. It’s all much more dramatic than one usually sees in a dissertation….”
As I approached the final chapters of Songs by Honeybird, I had mixed emotions. On the one hand, I couldn’t wait to see how it ended. On the other hand, I was already mourning having to leave behind the fascinating worlds this book explores.
What can you say about a book that slides as easily as a laughing brook through the subjects of academia, songwriting, the music business, race relations in the South in the 60s, Buddhist philosophy, reincarnation, sexism, modern romance relationships, friendship, the story behind how history gets written, parent/child dramas, among other things – and has (a bonus) a talking dog!?
Read it!
Every page is adventure. There are surprises galore. The characters are real people with real reactions to their own lives and to the people in their lives. The dialogue is witty and bright. The pace is perfect. One of the best books I’ve ever read.
I have made a couple of attempts to give you an idea of what the plot is, but I really cannot do it justice. The main characters are Ben and Nina. The first chapter starts two weeks after their break-up. Their relationship was going well, and they were looking at an apartment with the idea of moving in together, when Nina gives in to her need for total disclosure. She tells Ben a secret and he walks out of the apartment and her life. The rest is her story and his story. A delight!
(Note: I wrote this review before I was informed that the book has a soundtrack! Even more interesting! The cherry on the whipped cream on the cake….)
