Book: The Music Shop
Author: Rachel Joyce
Rating:3.5/5
Publication Date: 2nd Jan 2018
Publisher: Penguin Random House(UK)
No. of pages: 320
“The silence at the beginning of a piece of music is always different from the silence at the end.”
The Music Shop is a musical love story of Frank and Ilse Brauchmann. Frank All his life he has been looking for, “normal” which he finally found in his music shop where sells Vinyl records. This shop is his life. Here, he isn’t just a shopkeeper rather a music therapist. He has music for every occasion, be it to settle a dispute between two souls or to bring back life into the relationship that got sour or to heal the soul of those who had been cheated on their wedding night.“Frank had helped them through illness, grief, loss of confidence and jobs, as well as the more daily things like football results and the weather. Not that he knew about all those things, but really it was a matter of listening, and he had endless patience.”
He had grown up learning about learning about Beethoven’s silences, Vivaldi’s funeral, Bach’s eyes, and Miles Davis’ sly sense of humor from his mother but he couldn’t relate Peg-like any other mother. He always missed warm and comfort of a mother, in her. Although, his life whole life was built around Peg’s teaching yet his innermost dissatisfaction of not having a normal life created a hole inside him. Even though he was always surrounded by friends like Father Anthony, Maud, Kit(assistant) and many other customers, yet he was all alone but satisfied with his role as a therapist.“Frank was so busy loving other people he had no room to accommodate the fact that someone might turn around one day and love him back.”
His life is upturned when a German girl in green coat faints in front of his shop. Frank is smitten by her presence but the irony is that she is engaged and she doesn’t listen to music. However, the love begins to triumph when “The Moonlight Sonata,” “Ain’t it Funky Now, Parts 1 and 2,” and even “God Save the Queen,” the Sex Pistols’ version become the lessons of the week.
Verdict:
It is a quirky musical love story by Rachel Joyce. The storyline is a bit slow but enjoyable with all the music in the background. I really liked that fact that the author has given a background story to all the characters without going into too many details. The author’s research of old tracks and artist’s stores is really impressive. Overall, it is a fun read but surely not a funny.
If you are looking for nothing too deep, yet enjoyable then this your book.
Suggestion: Read it while playing the songs mentioned in the book, in the background.
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