Customer Reviews

And My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

In the past few years, there have been only two books that have kept me awake all night to finish them. This is one of them. (The other was by Daniel Hecht.)

I stumbled across this book at the library, and checked it out, not even sure if I wanted to read it. By the next morning, I had finished it! It's an extremely readable story, but at the same time has a remarkable depth. The author writes very honestly and with great caring about her characters. The result is a sweet, funny, sexy, sensitive page-turner of a book.

I'm not sure what to say about the plot without spoiling the story. It's about a female country singer who suddenly and surprisingly hits it big, and yet doesn't at the same time. I was enthralled with the whole story (I keep saying that, don't I?) which surprised me since I have zero interest in country music.

When I finished the book, I felt lonely--I wasn't ready for it to end, despite it being 2:30 in the morning. I came here, hoping very much that the author had other books published, and was very disappointed to see that she does not.

Kathi, please write another one!

Music is compelling for almost all of us, but the lives of people who make it are too rarely written about in equally compelling human dimension. Oh, there is no shortage of burnout life on the road epics, a few of which are important -- such as "Crazy Heart" by Thomas Cobb.

But if you haven't met Sara Jean Pixlie yet, you're missing out on something truly special. She has known the road, the back up singing, the big time, and the number of vividly colorful characters whom you are likely to meet along that way. But she is fairly young, fully human, and nowhere near burnt out.

Kathi Kamen Goldmark writes about music, musicians and the special world they live in with an impressive authenticity. She's been there on the stage, and in the small clubs where everybody hopes to find out who they are.

And she also does it in a way which will make absolutely anybody enjoy it. Her story also made me laugh til I cried more times than I can count.

I found this book in the library, by the way, in Lake County CA where much of it was set. I've been looking for the club she wrote about ever since.

Kathi, was there ever such a place? Please write another book. Maybe the idea will catch on.

I can still hear the lonely twang of a guitar in the background as I write this. This book is an absolute riot . . . fun, FUNNY, and as sweet and charming as Sarah Jean herself. Worth it for the song lyrics alone. I read it from cover to cover on one lazy beach vacation. It is one of those books that is tailor-made for some good quality time curled up in a chair, like having coffee with your best friend. I can't recommend it enough!

I don't read too much of this type of fiction,but being a long time fan of Country Music;the fact that this novel was written by someone who was an actual Country Music singer ,enticed me to read it.I was hoping it would give me an insight into the type of lives these people lived and some of the hardships they faced ,not only on the way up, but while at the top and even after.The book did not disappoint me and surprised me how much these people go through to provide us with their music.After reading it,you will come to the conclusion that the people in the business love it in spite of all the problems and wouldn't trade it for anything else,and that particularly means a 9 to 5 office job.
Although many of the names in the book are familiar to me,I must admit that I've neverheard of Kathi Goldmark.That is not a problem since there are so many artists in recent years who appear for a short time or locally and then disappear.Kathi obviously knows what being one of the lesser known is like,and is a good writer and storyteller and gives ud a good novel.It is sort of an autobiography and would make a good generic movie of a Country music star.
I was also impressed by the comments on the back of the book by many writers and artists who have said good things about the book.It's hard to imagine such diverse people such as,Amy Tan,Roy Blount,Dave Berry,Olivia Goldsmith,Dave Marsh,Lynne Hinton,Roddy Doyle,P.J.O'Rourke,Carl Hiassen,Judy Collins,Scatt Turlow,Rita Mae Brown and Molly Ivens;would all like the same book. It is also a little surprising that there weren't more comments by better known Country Music Legends. Maybe it's just that they see so much of this life,they don't need to read about it.
For the rest of us with our comparatively mundane lives,it's a great read.

This is a really fun read, and it's very well written. We follow Sarah Jean as she goes from single back up singer to a country legend to being a star of her own, in addition to becoming a mother and trying to find a man. The cast of characters around Sarah Jean is fun and makes you wish there was such a honky tonk around your corner too. Very highly recommended.

I've been playing in Country Bars and Polka Bars and Blues Bars most of my musical life and when I read this book I felt like I could smell the beer and cigarettes. Good Job.

This is a great beach read--more intelligent than what people are calling "chick-lit," this story was fun for this guy to read. It also had the greatest pregnant sex scene I've ever read (and the only one).

And My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You is not a very good book; the plot is thin, the characters mostly stock, and sometimes the strain for comic effect is just too painful to bear.

BUT.

There's such a nice spirit in this book, an open-hearted warmth, that you might just like it in spite of itself. She nails the bar band atmosphere, and the camaraderie of people who play music together into the wee hours, and she treats her characters with kindness and humor even when she's having them do ridiculous things.

Mildly amusing, light, warm-hearted--so it's not literature. There are worse ways to kill a few hours and Kathi Kamen Goldmark is pretty good company, even it is just a road relationship that isn't going to go anywhere.

What a hilarious story! This book made me laugh out loud, and I'm not even a country music fan. Start reading this book when you have a good chunk of time - you won't be able to put it down!

I was intrigued by the glowing review of this book in the September 2002 Oprah magazine. It is a wonderfully satisfying and funny novel offering a female insider's view of the Country Western music scene. The characters are so well drawn and kooky, that you fall in love with each of them. I was rooting for the heroine, Sarah Jean Pixlie, as she takes on ex-boyfrineds, bad bosses, well-meaning family members, and even a crooked executive from the record industry. The song lyrics are hysterical, the story well paced, the situations madcap, and the heroine completely charming.