I am so glad I picked this up – day 2 of the Harvard Book Store warehouse sale, just looking to spend a little money, best decision I’ve made in a while. 

This was a lovely, sweet book, and it’s got everything: a grisly murder, coming of age, a few great twists, siblings, a bassoonist who also named his bassoon as I did… It’s not a flawless read (using all-caps in books bugs me irrationally) but I couldn’t put it down and I fell in love with everyone. The first twist was almost incidental, which I actually loved – it was less like a gotcha moment and more like the rest of the character building that happens elsewhere, but just a little more unexpected. The second was maybe a little predictable but still well executed. 

I won’t lie, when I started I was super hesitant about it being a “music book.” But much like The Goldfinch (a very very different book) and UNLIKE The Swan Thieves – two books about Art that waxed poetic about Art and talked obsessively about Art – this book didn’t get sappy or sentimental in ways it didn’t earn. 

I loved this the way I loved The World to Come last year – a really wonderful, genre-crossing book with just enough edge.