Customer Reviews

Shadow Song

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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."

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.

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.

I want to comment on the cover first - what a beautiful work of cover art! I make no secret I love Terry Kay. This book started a bit slow, but so do many books, even mine (laugh), but as momentum and the story built, so did my interest. I do see the reviews that questioned the 'romance' between the two characters, and while I understand this, I think I was so enthralled by Kay's storytelling that I didn't care. If I am interested in a character, engaged, I'll follow them anywhere, and that's what I did. *muwah* love you Terry Kay and will be happy to meet you at the Blue Ridge Writer Fest this summer!

For a non-native English speaker, it is quite difficult to find an English-written book able to have your heart and soul working at top speed. "Shadow Song" is one of them. Its message gets deep inside of you since the very first pages, and makes you follow the story of the protagonist's search of his own truth --his way back home.

It is an accurate description of people's need to face their destiny no matter what. "Shadow Song" is not only a story of love and friendship; it is a story that shows that happiness is a matter of taking the chance.

Once I got into this story, it had me captivated by the eccentricity of the primary characters. Flip-flopping between then and now, 1955 and 199? was an effective technique for this book. The antics the teenage characters pull remind me of the days when I was their age. As the characters show themselves as adults, it is obvious how a true love really impacts us, regardless of time or age. Terry Kay had me going from laughing out loud to crying tears near the end. I am sure my children thought I, too, was as off the wall as Avrum was thought to be. A friend loaned me the book, now I am buying a copy for myself to re-read!

I read the hardback AFTER I heard this book on tape. I played it in the car on a 200 mile trip and was so enamoured of it that I checked it out of my local library again, a month later. I have listened to it at least half a dozen times and never seem to tire of it. I am now considering purchasing my own copy, something I have never done with any book on tape! The story is simply beautiful and I identified with much of it.

This book really took my breath away and I find that I keep returning to it for a good read over and over again!! I reccommend it to anyone who has ever realized how important one event can be in changing your life---what a winner!!!

I couldn't stand to read this book that is filled with foul language, profanity, obcenities and vulgar sex. It's too bad that what could have been a good story had to be ruined by so much offensive material. Why?

I really enjoyed the book, at first it was a little confusing and hard to understand, but as the pages started turning I fell in love with the book. The whole idea that Bobo and Amy Lourie met and fell in love in the Catskills with so many things against them intrigues me. His friendship with Avrum was weird but made the story more interesting. My favorite part of the book was when Amy and Bobo meet each other 40 years later and still are in love. This is my 1st Terry Kay book and I loved it, I hope to read another one of his books soon.