Shadow Song [Hardcover]

Terry Kay (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1994

A moving new novel by the author of To Dance with the White Dog. In the summer of 1955, Madison Lee "Bobo" Murphy, a rural Southerner, went to work as a waiter in the Catskills, where he fell in love with a wealthy Jewish girl. Thirty-eight years later, fate brings them together, awakening dreams of love thought lost forever.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Perhaps destined to become this season's The Bridges of Madison County , this sentimental romance novel by the author of To Dance with the White Dog pulls on the heartstrings as it tells a bittersweet tale of thwarted love. Naive and gentlemanly Madison Lee ("Bobo") Murphy is 17 when, in 1955, he leaves rural Georgia to work at a resort in the Catskills, where he experiences instant culture shock among the inn's Jewish clientele. He comes under the influence of Avrum Feldman, an elderly eccentric who has devoted his life to the memory of Amelita Galli-Curci, the legendary soprano: "the voice of the music spoke to Avrum, and the power to wish, to dream, was released in him." Avrum is regarded by locals as a crazy old man; but Bobo cherishes him as a prophet and visionary, and Avrum encourages Bobo when he falls chastely in love with Amy Lourie, a rich Jewish girl from New York visiting the resort with her protective parents. Bobo and Amy spend an unforgettable summer, but then they part, ignoring Avrum's pronouncements about the importance of "one grand, undeniable moment of change." Now, 38 years later, Bobo has returned to the Catskills to bury Avrum--and discovers that Amy is there too. Though Kaye obviously models his narrative style on Pat Conroy, he does not have the same gifts for melodious prose. But he conveys his homespun truths and a heavy air of nostalgia with enough skill to make readers project their own wish-fulfillment fantasies onto his second-time-around lovers. Major ad/promo; film rights sold to Warner Brothers and the Lee Rich Company; audio rights to Simon & Schuster; Literary Guild selection; author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The immensely gifted author of the best-selling To Dance with the White Dog (1990) demonstrates his narrative versatility by offering a rare and wonderful love story. When Bobo Murphy, a middle-aged artist of moderate success and talent, revisits the Catskill Mountains to bury an elderly friend, he is haunted by memories of the magical summer he spent working as a waiter at the posh Pine Hill Inn. During the course of that idyllic sojourn, 17-year-old Bobo, a callow Southern youth who had seldom ventured far beyond the gentle red hills of Georgia, unexpectedly forged a powerful and enduring bond with Avrum Feldman, a cranky, insightful retired furrier from New York who had devoted his entire adult life to the unrequited worship of a renowned opera singer. In addition, Bobo had also found and lost the one great love of his life, wealthy and breathtakingly beautiful Amy Lourie, the pampered only child of protective Jewish parents. As the past and the present seem to coalesce, Avrum's death and Amy's sudden reappearance force Bobo to reevaluate the wisdom of his self-imposed compromises and to relearn the mystical life lessons taught to him by his extraordinary mentor. An absolutely enchanted and lyrical testimonial to the indomitable spirit of friendship and the tenacity of true love. Margaret Flanagan

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 388 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books; 1st edition (October 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671892614
• ISBN-13: 978-0671892616
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,070,937 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Makes you hear the voice of the music, July 13, 2004

By 

Larry Hand (Woodstock, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shadow Song: A Novel (Paperback)

Terry Kay has the ability to make you hear the music of an old dreamer, and make it your own. He can also make you believe in ghosts, and makes you want to welcome them home. Though briefly told, this story encompasses most of our century: from an opera house in 1918, to young love in 1955, and then on to matured love in 1993. I first heard of this book at a Terry Kay book-signing last fall, where I had him sign The Runaway, his latest, and To Dance with the White Dog, his best known. In the long line of waiting admirers (it took me three hours), some of them kept saying that Shadow Song was their favorite book by Kay. Strangely, they would close their eyes, as though they were listening to something. Now that I've finished the book, I understand. I also recommend to anyone planning to read this book that they acquire a recording of the "Ombra leggiera" (Shadow Song) from Giacomo Meyerbeer's "Dinorah" and listen to it before they begin reading. And then listen to it again WHILE reading the final scene. It is a remarkable experience. My CD version features the great Maria Callas. However, to make the experience authentic, I may look for a recording by Amelita Galli-Curci. I know that that old Jew, Avrum Feldman, would have it no other way. Come to think of it, I might even pick up a couple of candlesticks and pull out an old picture of a long-lost love. That would really make him happy. I can hear him now, urging from his bench, "Go, Go."

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Romantic novel rises above nostalgia, June 12, 2002

By 

Lleu Christopher (Hudson Valley, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shadow Song: A Novel (Paperback)

I was initially drawn to this book because it takes place in a region close to my own, the Catskills of upstate New York. Indeed, location plays a large role in this compelling story of love lost and possibly found many years later. Terry Kay's atmospheric novel evokes the lush scenery of this area and also the bygone days of thriving Jewish resorts. Shadow Song is about the very long (in time as well as space) journey of Bobo Murphy from the deep South to an upstate New York resort, where he falls in love with a beautiful but inaccessible Jewish girl named Amy Lourie. He also befriends an eccentric but wise older man named Avrum. These elements would probably not make a good film --the subtlety of the prose would be lost and all that would remain would be mushy sentimentality. This is, to be sure, a nostalgic and sentimental love story. Yet the novel manages to work anyway, most likely because the author really believes in his characters and their emotions. Nostalgia, after all, can be a part of real life. Shadow Song dives directly into this theme without flinching and makes us believe in it and care about the characters.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully told story, March 22, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Shadow Song: A Novel (Paperback)

I started reading this book in small chunks but the pace accelerated as I went on. Towards the middle, I could not let go of the book. The storytelling is superb. I especially liked the dual tracks separated 38 years apart. Dealing with the subject of true love and adultery is mature and quite intriguing.