Customer Reviews

Rhythm: A Novel

5 star:		(53)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a beautifully written excerpt, alive with the sound of drums and various percussion instruments, yet expressively and tenderly telling the tale of a girl who lost her mother in a tragic accident, but who continues to feel the rhythm in her life.

Music was always a part of Jane's world, compliments of her mother Helen, "a hard playing, heavy-hitting Latin-jazz conguera" and her grandmother Isabella, "a sizzling singer in a Cuban mambo band" back in the day.

The story so far focuses on Jane, her relationship with her family, and her life following the passing of her mother, but also takes the time to develop the other characters, and provide an excellent backdrop for the story yet to come.

Regardless of the outcome of the ABNA competition, this one truly deserves a book contract, if only for my selfish reason of wanting to read the rest of it.


Note: This review is based on the excerpt submitted for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, and awarded a place in the semi-finals.



Amanda Richards, January 30, 2008


October 12, 2008

Just a note to say that the review above was based on a short excerpt, and not the entire book. I've now had the honor and privilege of reading this book, and I consider it one of the best books I've read this year.

I read it in one sitting, unable to put it down, and by the end I was sobbing like a baby.

I can't recommend it highly enough.

"Rhythm is a dancer,
it's a soul's companion,
you can feel it everywhere"
(Snap)

Jane's a fifteen year old girl still grieving from the loss of her Mom. Truth be told, she will grieve that loss all her life.

"These days, memories of Mom sneak up on me." Time doesn't heal the grief, current events just capture your attention and then the grief comes fresh when you see a photo or hear a scrap of music that reminds you of a time you spent together. "There's no rhythm more hollow than a broken heart..."

She and her father have made a 'museum' of their home, where her Mother's pictures are everywhere. She conjures images of the sparkle of drum kits with silver framed photos next to them--that faery shine holding her Mother's memory.

The story is beautifully written with strong emotional language. The author keeps hold of the musical theme clear through the piece and it's so strong, you can hear scraps of her playlist in your head as you're reading. Each chapter ends with a line that engraves itself on your mind.

This is another excerpt that I believe is ready for publication and should go straight to the finals. It's beautifully done and well worth the read--and listen.

Good luck to you, Robin Melody Goldsby. You have an amazing gift and I hope that I will hear from you soon.

Being an avid reader and having read Goldsby's Memoir, Piano Girl, I have been looking forward to another book. Ms. Goldsby's writing is not only refreshing and honest but also totally captivating. My priority for reading a book is good characterization. Already, Jane Bowman, who tells her story in Rhythm, has consumed me with the need to see how her life evolves while encountering different people and experiences. Everything in life seems to fall into varying categories. In the first pages of Rhythm, Jane Bowman has shown how she tries to handle read life while dealing with her frailties. I look forward to more and know that I will not be disappointed.

I love when novels take me on an insider's tour of a new world, and "Rhythms" is one of those great reads that opens up the world of professional musicians in a way I've never seen before. It also reimagines the traditional musical "Bildungsroman" as a girl's story--something my teenage daughter and I can groove on. Go Piano Girl!

I liked everything about this excerpt. The prose itself had a rhythm that made me think the author must herself be a drummer. The narrator's voice managed to be fresh and colloquial at once. The narrator described wanting to dive headfirst into a photograph. I wanted to dive headfirst into this prose. I liked the peek into the world of nightclub musicians. Here's a description of the protagonist's mother: "She was also a wicked tambourine player, which sounds like a joke if you never got a chance to hear her play the tambourine, but she could make that thing speak, I swear." Fabulous stuff.

The first 5,000 words of Robin Meloy Goldsby's new novel, "Rhythm," pop off the page like a drummer's rim shot: clear, distinctive and echoing with promise. As with her charming and entertaining memoir, "Piano Girl," Goldsby's writing is filled with freshness and spontaneity, which must be inspired by her love of jazz.

In these first few chapters it's already obvious that Goldsby has created a character, a drummer who as a young girl has lost her beloved mother, that readers will immediately embrace - and most important for a novel, care about. Goldsby has a knack for examining the serious side of life while remembering that humor is what often helps us cope in the most difficult times.

As with a jazz standard in the hands of a great improvisational musician, I don't want to leave the room until I hear the last notes of this story.

Author Robin Goldsby has created an original and very engaging character in the young drummer Janey Bowman, a teen mourning the death of her beloved mother. Janey uses the love of percussion that her mother passed on to her to discover the rhythms that will help her find her own, motherless way through the world. The images in this charming excerpt are just right: the 50 photographs of Janey's mother; the two housekeepers at odds with each other; the grandmother afflicted with Alzheimer's who remembers only her music and her sexy red dresses; and, of course, the drums that stand in the corner of the living room, catching and reflecting the light, silent and brilliant shrines to Janey's mother. I didn't want to stop reading this generous and well-written novel, and I look forward seeing the entire book!

I write this review from the privileged vantage point of knowing Robin as a friend and colleague in years gone by. Reading this wonderful novel of hers makes me want to sing out loud. Her writing is at once imaginative and absolutely true to her beautiful being. If you were to know her, you could see her grace, energy and skill on every page. Yet the world she has created in Rhythm is an invention that came from who knows where inside of her funny brain. This is a brilliant novel, a tough story, and an engaging look into the world of performing musicians. I have read the entire manuscript, and I promise you - it delivers. In Rhythm, Robin skillfully allows the reader to travel a deeply emotional road from barely a safe distance. Along the way, the eclectic array of characters give us the ways and means to deal with what ever comes along - and a whole lot does!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Robin Meloy Goldsby's first book "Piano Girl" and recommended it to several friends. From reading the online excerpt, "Rhythm" is another such offering from Robin that is capturing my imagination. I know from listening to her music recordings that she is a talented musician. Now she has clearly validated her place as a wonderful author. The story line from the excerpt is engaging and I look forward to reading what happens next to Jane Bowman, the novel's main character. Her descriptions of the physical settings evoke powerful mental images and I can see, smell, sense and hear what Robin is describing. I can't wait to read the entire book!!

This novel catches you unawares from the very beginning. I am in the living room, watching the dust float over the drums. I can hear the two Marys going about their daily routine. I feel a little lost, like Jane trying to search for the next thing.... Just as "Piano Girl" did, this book has you hooked from the very first sentence.Piano Girl: Lessons in Life, Music, and the Perfect Blue Hawaiian