Shadow Song [Paperback]

Terry Kay (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: New York Pocket 1994.; 1St Edition edition (1994)
• ASIN: B000KPY7RM
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)

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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 "www.liminalworlds.com" (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.