
Title | : | Grace Notes |
Author | : | |
Rating | : | |
ISBN | : | 0393318419 |
Language | : | English |
Format Type | : | Paperback |
Number of Pages | : | 288 pages |
Grace Notes Reviews
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The author Bernard MacLaverty was born in Belfast, and lived there until 1975, when he moved to Scotland with his wife and children This book was shortlisted for the 1997 Booker Prize I reread this novel as part of a 2017 reread challenge some of my GR friends are doing or at least talking about The novel opens with Catherine McKenna returning to Northern Ireland for her father s funeral She comes from a small unnamed town about 40 miles from Belfast, somewhere near Cookstown She is the o The au [...]
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GRACE NOTES 1997 Bernard MacLaverty I just discovered this writer That s like discovering America in 1493 probably the rest of the world already knew about him This novel, short listed for the Booker Prize in 1997, started out to be the best I d read in a long time, but somehow got lost along the way It s the story of Catherine Anne McKenna, a young woman from Northern Ireland who leaves to pursue her dream of becoming a composer a field famous for its scarcity of women We firs GRACE NOTES 1997 [...]
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Catherine is an Irish woman who is musical Her parents notice her talent when she s young and find her a wonderful teacher She becomes a pianist and a composer Unfortunately Catherine s parents also share their conflicted relationship and throw in some Catholic angst MacLaverty got the musical bits exactly right in my opinion Music is hard to describe in words yet he did so with excellence There were several pieces I d never heard of before and based on his descriptions I m going to search Cathe [...]
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Ever wonder how a musician composes From whence the inspiration comes This novel offers a glimpse, even as it also narrates the professional and personal challenges of being a post modern woman A lovely, honest, intensely real portrait that ponders questions of life, religion, and art particularly the question of where redemption is found or perhaps created.
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Stunning so far.This book, about a young, Irish composer who mainly lives on an island off Scotland, is absolutely pitch perfect I kept having to remind myself that the female narrator was written by a man.
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One of those books where you keep saying, This was written by a MAN The portrait of Catherine McKenna, composer, shows the ways her art intersects with the rest of her life The author knows a lot about post partum depression and music.
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This novel made me want to listen to classical music It is wonderfully well observed,honest and at times raw It tells the story of Catherine and how she recalls her young life through her musical composition The writing is superb and the rhythm of the book pulls the reader along as Catherine comes to terms with her depression and the tensions with her family at home in Ireland.