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Music Room Paperback – 1 July 2015

by Laura Kalpakian (Author)

3 ratings

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Young Marcella McNeill's family are always rehearsing: her father is an actor, her mother Valerie an aspiring opera singer, her grandmother Gloria a renowned violinist. During the summer of 1969 - after their parents' bitter divorce - Marcella and her little sister Rose-Renee are sent to live with their enigmatic grandmother in her decaying countryside mansion. Instructed never to disturb the formidable woman as she endlessly rehearses in the music room, the children are left to run wild. They form a relationship with their cheerful neighbour Dorothea, who convinces their grandmother to allow the girls to be home-schooled with her sickly son, Rodney. Dorothea recognizes and nurtures the children's gifts in ways they have never before experienced. That autumn, their wayward aunt Linda returns home with a drawling, Arkansas boyfriend in tow. The struggles between mother and daughter - Gloria angry that Linda has abused and denied her gifts, Linda attacking her mother's musical delusions - create a storm of clashing egos. The Music Room is a novel of arrogance and artistry, of sacrifice and negligence, of delusion and conviction, of interminable rehearsal and profound performance. It is a story of love muddied with need, expedience, and opportunism - as love always is.

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Product details

Publisher : Buried River Press (1 July 2015)
Language : English
Paperback : 320 pages
ISBN-10 : 1910208256
ISBN-13 : 978-1910208250
Dimensions : 12.9 x 3.5 x 20 cm

Customer Reviews:
3 ratings

Product description

About the Author

Laura Kalpakian is the author of twelve novels and three prize-winning collections of original short fiction. Her work has appeared extensively in the UK and the USA. She has been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a residency at Hawthornden Castle, Scotland, and her 2007 novel, American Cookery was nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. A native Californian, Laura was educated on both the east and west coasts of the USA, and lives in the Pacific Northwest. You can find out more about Laura at her website: www.laurakalpakian.com

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Roe Grave

Excellent writing and well-drawn characters. If you have any interest in music and fiction you will enjoy this novel.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 September 2015

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I have to confess to a certain bias as the author is a friend of mine, but I bought my own copy of the book (from Amazon) and I was in no way cajoled into writing a review here - it was my own idea to do so. I have read most of Laura Kalpakian's work but this novel is definitely a favourite - not just because it's the one I've read most recently. The theme of using musical rehearsal and performance as a metaphor for life is a good one and the characters are engaging, so the reader constantly wants to find out what happens. The occasional interruption to the chronological sequence of the children's lives with their grandmother to explain what happens later on in no way provided plot spoilers and worked for me. The whole book is well written, but there were 10 or 12 particularly fine pieces of writing including the final few pages of the novel. The author is also good at describing adult life as seen through the eyes of the child characters and obviously understands how children's minds work.

CJan

A great read!

Reviewed in the United States on 8 May 2018

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I love Laura Kalpakian's books and was delighted I was able to get a copy of this one. Her stories are full, deep and well-developed. This one, about the complex lives of two young sisters and their complicated family was engrossing -- a great read. I recommend it!

Hey, check out Linda Q.Lambert's one-star review. She says "Laura Kalpakian's work never disappoints. Read this one." She must have gotten confused about how to do the star rating, but her words are right on the mark!

Linda Q. Lambert

One Star

Reviewed in the United States on 10 October 2015

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Laura Kalpakian's work never disappoints. Read this one.

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Music Room Paperback – 1 July 2015

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