Book Blog #233: The Weight of a Piano by Chris Cander

Title: The Weight of a Piano
Author: Chris Cander
# of Pages: 336 (ebook)
Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Contemporary
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: In 1962, in the Soviet Union, eight-year-old Katya is bequeathed what will become the love of her life: a Blüthner piano, built at the turn of the century in Germany, on which she discovers everything that she herself can do with music and what music, in turn, does for her. Yet after marrying, she emigrates with her young family from Russia to America, at her husband's frantic insistence, and her piano is lost in the shuffle. In 2012, in Bakersfield, California, twenty-six-year-old Clara Lundy loses another boyfriend and again has to find a new apartment, which is complicated by the gift her father had given her for her twelfth birthday, shortly before he and her mother died in a fire that burned their house down: a Blüthner upright she has never learned to play. Orphaned, she was raised by her aunt and uncle, who in his car-repair shop trained her to become a first-rate mechanic, much to the surprise of her subsequent customers. But this work, her true mainstay in a scattered life, is put on hold when her hand gets broken while the piano's being moved--and in sudden frustration she chooses to sell it. And what becomes crucial is who the most interested party turns out to be...
Review: I received an advanced copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. This story was much more complex than I thought it was going to be.

The Weight of a Piano tells two stories; one of Katya in the Soviet Union in 1962 and the other of Clara in 2012. Although their stories take place during different times, Katya and Clara are connected through a collection of complicated relationships, each revolving around music and a piano.

This story is told in third person, and each chapter alternates between Katya's and Clara's POV. For this story, I think it's appropriate. It felt like peeling two onions at the same time. There's some overlap in the telling of these two stories which is necessary since these stories are happening at different times with different people but is still a bit bothersome for the reader.

My biggest complaint for this book is Clara's romantic life. She's a mess, which is probably on purpose for the sake of the rest of the story. But she's so all over the place, it makes it hard for me to like her and how she treats those around her. Her journey is very much focused on her own healing, without much care for how this process is effecting others.

Overall, it was a good read. It's quick and entertaining, so I'd definitely recommend it!

Book Blog #232: A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult

Title: A Spark of Light
Author: Jodi Picoult
# of Pages: 352 (hardback)
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary,
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis: The warm fall day starts like any other at the Center—a women’s reproductive health services clinic—its staff offering care to anyone who passes through its doors. Then, in late morning, a desperate and distraught gunman bursts in and opens fire, taking all inside hostage. After rushing to the scene, Hugh McElroy, a police hostage negotiator, sets up a perimeter and begins making a plan to communicate with the gunman. As his phone vibrates with incoming text messages he glances at it and, to his horror, finds out that his fifteen-year-old daughter, Wren, is inside the clinic. But Wren is not alone. She will share the next and tensest few hours of her young life with a cast of unforgettable characters: A nurse who calms her own panic in order save the life of a wounded woman. A doctor who does his work not in spite of his faith but because of it, and who will find that faith tested as never before. A pro-life protester disguised as a patient, who now stands in the cross hairs of the same rage she herself has felt. A young woman who has come to terminate her pregnancy. And the disturbed individual himself, vowing to be heard.
Review: This book sits somewhere between three stars and four stars.

A Spark of Light is not just a story of an abortion clinic shoot and hostage situation. It’s about all the people who are somehow connected to the situation and how they ended up at the woman’s center in that day.

What’s strange about this book is how it is told. The book tells the story BACKWARDS; it starts at 5pm and then works backwards hour by hour until it gets to 8am of the same day. I don’t know see the benefits in telling the story this way; it might reinforce the importance of the journey over the outcome. If this is the case, a better way to organize the story is to start with the 5pm hour like Picoult already does, but the go back all the way to 8am and go through the hours in order. Going backward only confuses the reader, leads to repeated information, and bores the reader as the time gets farther and farther from the main event in the book.

Of course, another big issue is the third person POV switching. Usually the fact that it’s in third person would make the POV switching more tolerable (Picoult said it herself, third person makes POV switching less confusing than if it’s in first person), but she using a whopping 10 characters’ POVs. And to think she initially wanted to including 8 additional POVs! I get that Picoult wanted to tell multiple people’s stories, but sometimes it’s better to keep it simple.

With this book, Picoult is trying to create a dialogue about abortion. However, it is extremely clear that Picoult is pro choice (most of the characters are pro choice). Picoult tries to present both sides evenly and fails; the pro life representation in the book is significantly weaker than pro choice’s. You can tell just by counting characters; the only people who are pro life are the gunman, a spy, and a prosecutor who’s a jerk. There’s still very interesting arguments in the book, but it didn’t feel right with the pro life side not fairly represented.

Books like this should leave you thoughtful. It should have you seriously considering the other side’s perspective. This book did not do that for me. If you are interested in the topic of abortion, go ahead and give this book a shot. However, I believe there are better books out there to learn about the topic.