Atria Books
March 1, 2011
480 pages
Amazon
Music is more than an important part of Zoe Baxter's life, it's a marker for her memories (the fun of her childhood and the stressors of adulthood), but it's also her job. Zoe Baxter is a music
therapist.
Zoe and her husband, Max, have spent more than a decade trying to have a baby. Plagued by fertility issues on both sides, their have been miscarriages and other troubles. When one final tragedy pulls them and their marriage apart for good Zoe and Max go in very different directions.
Max finds himself more receptive to his brother's evangelical Christian church while Zoe takes a musical therapy job at the local high school job. The friendship she develops with the school counselor soon looks like it might become something more--even though the counselor is a woman.
All the while there's Zoe's want to become a mother and the frozen embryos at the IVF clinic from Zoe and Max's last attempt at a baby.
Sing You Home is a book that takes on so many heavy issues: religion (mostly the evangelical side of it), conception trouble, suicide, but mostly gay rights and what it really means to be a family.
It takes on all of these weighty issues but without ever feeling like you're reading a heavy book or one that's preaching to you. It finds the right balance between feeling light by not giving things the weight they deserve and feeling like it's about the issues and not the characters. Something, I believe, hard to achieve.
Sing You Home is a book that takes on so many heavy issues: religion (mostly the evangelical side of it), conception trouble, suicide, but mostly gay rights and what it really means to be a family.
It takes on all of these weighty issues but without ever feeling like you're reading a heavy book or one that's preaching to you. It finds the right balance between feeling light by not giving things the weight they deserve and feeling like it's about the issues and not the characters. Something, I believe, hard to achieve.
The amount of struggles in this book make us feel more for the characters and their problems and feel closer to them rather feeling like we're watching a PSA or 7th Heaven episode.
While I'll admit that Evangelical Christians might not love this book, I think that Christians still could because it was not a book that just said 'Christianity is bad because it does not all accept homosexuality.' Bible verses were quoted for both sides of the argument. More than anything it seemed an invitation to realize you might not know all of what it said on the subject.
I really appreciated actual facts/quotes being used and it not just being passionate, from the gut arguments because I think it really made the story (and the overall message) stronger. I'm also really happy it was worked in the way it was because it stopped it from being (pardon the pun) preachy.
While I'll admit that Evangelical Christians might not love this book, I think that Christians still could because it was not a book that just said 'Christianity is bad because it does not all accept homosexuality.' Bible verses were quoted for both sides of the argument. More than anything it seemed an invitation to realize you might not know all of what it said on the subject.
I really appreciated actual facts/quotes being used and it not just being passionate, from the gut arguments because I think it really made the story (and the overall message) stronger. I'm also really happy it was worked in the way it was because it stopped it from being (pardon the pun) preachy.
I'm happy to say that I really loved the ending of this book. There were times when I was sure I knew what should happen, that it seemed nearly cut and dry but then one character or another (or both) would do something or reveal something that would make it less obvious.
10/10 (and thank you to Jodi Picoult for writing a book that addresses these topics!)
received this book from the publisher & as part one of Atria's Salon partners, my blog is one of those hosting a LiveStream with Jodi Picoult tonight at 7pm!!
*I am tagging this 'adult' because it is & 'young adult' because I think it's appropriate for YA readers-maybe not the youngest ones, but most of them
And for whenever I catch this feature back up ;)
I don't even need to figure out a soundtrack for this book--it comes with it's own!!
I don't even need to figure out a soundtrack for this book--it comes with it's own!!
"INCLUDES A COMPACT DISC OF ORIGINAL SONGS
Music by Ellen Wilber
Lyrics by Jodi Picoult
All songs performed by Ellen Wilber"
Lyrics by Jodi Picoult
All songs performed by Ellen Wilber"
There are breaks in the book that tell you when each song applies/starts :)
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