Customer Reviews

A Song I Knew By Heart

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For those who love beautiful writing and a quiet read, Bret Lott's A SONG I KNEW BY HEART, a tender contemporary retelling of the biblical Ruth and Naomi story, is a competent exploration of grief and healing.

Lott's narrative opens as Ruth loses her husband in a terrible accident. Her mother-in-law, Naomi, a widow whose husband died eight years before, is plunged into renewed grief (the song she knows by heart). Throughout the book, Lott uses the image of light and darkness to illustrate deeper meanings. As the two inconsolable widows wait for morning together, "Shadows outside eased and shifted, made way for new shadows, all of this movement only the empty fruit of that faithless sun." Later, as Ruth and Naomi try to do ordinary things, such as see a movie, they find it devastating, "like sitting in the dark and watching a life played out just beyond your reach, that life your own."

Seeking healing from her pain, Naomi declares her intention to go back home to South Carolina, "called by the force of whatever mystery the place I'd once called home and would call home again held out to me." As readers of scripture will quickly guess, Ruth vows to go with her. After a yard sale where the women divest themselves of almost everything, they journey back to Naomi's childhood region.

Other themes unfold. Naomi grieves over a secret from her past for which she is unable to forgive someone --- and herself. She finds the area she was nostalgic for from her childhood is not as she recalled it. Now, there are satellite dishes, video stores, tattoo parlors, sushi bars, Taco Bells. "Time moved, whether you liked it or not." Naomi also realizes she is not the same person she once was in this place. She has run, but "I hadn't run from me. I'd only run from our home, and from the death of our son, and from God for having taken from me the last evidence of the love Eli and I shared," reflects Naomi.

Things have changed. Yet, "It's still beautiful here," Ruth tells her. "The light is just like you said it would be." It is the light --- and descriptions of the light --- that serve as a reminder by Lott that God can pierce the darkness of grief by his love and grace. "Still He was with me," says Naomi.

Readers will enjoy how Lott adapts the Old Testament story to a contemporary setting. Ruth gets a job as a checker at the Piggly Wiggly grocery store, then finds a better one as a shift supervisor at a Harris Teeter. Naomi finds some peace in returning to her family, full of interesting characters, and Ruth finds a welcome as well. A quilt serves as a symbol of the relationships left behind, and the possibilities for mending their lives. When Ruth falls in love with a fireman, the quilt becomes the proverbial blessing/covering passed on by Naomi for their new relationship.

Although readers have criticized Lott for choosing style over plot substance in A SONG I KNEW BY HEART, the joy of this book is exactly that --- in how Lott can take a familiar subject (both the biblical account and the loss of a loved one) and make it sing. Of his early Oprah-pick novel, JEWEL, the Boston Globe noted, "Bret Lott has a gift for making the ordinary seem luminous." This gift is in full evidence here, as Lott illuminates the ordinary landscape of grief and reminds us that light always overcomes the darkness.

--- Reviewed by Cindy Crosby. (...)

After Naomi's son is killed in a New England winter car crash, her daughter-in-law is cast into the pit of grief, just as Naomi had been 8 years before when her Eli had died. This is a song she knows by heart.

When Naomi decides to move back to South Carolina, the land of her childhood, Ruth utters the Biblical words: "Where you go, I will go. Where you live, that's where I'll live too." & the two women say their goodbyes to their marriages & head south.

Written in 70-year-old Naomi's voice, Bret Lott takes us into the grey, cold world of grief where numbness & despair dwell. Then, in the plans, actions & journey hope blossoms, as the Southern sun melts their frozen hearts & souls.

Rebeccasreads highly recommends A SONG I KNEW BY HEART as a rich, dreamy & memorable read, superbly written.

I was surprised when I started reading A Song I Knew by Heart to find it a retelling of the Naomi and Ruth story from the Bible (see the Book of Ruth). Some names are the same - Naomi and Ruth - and some are different - Beau instead of Boaz, but in essence it is a modern telling of an ancient story. The story challenged me to think as Ruth and Naomi . . . what would I do if I was widowed? I enjoyed Bret Lott's writing style and encourage anyone who wants a good romance without sappy endings to pick up a copy.

Imagine this: you are an aging woman whose beloved husband died eight years ago from a heart attack. Your only child--a son--has just been killed in an automobile accident. How MUCH can your heart endure? This novel is a tale of love. Naomi, the widow and mother, is faced with the crushing burden of grief, and the emptiness in her heart because of it. In steps her widowed daughter-in-law Ruth, who gives Naomi the comfort, devotion and love that will set her on a course to a renewed life. This book is about being open to the reception of the gift of love from others, and about then giving the gift of love back, in return. Kind, supportive, forgiving, merciful love is given to Naomi by family and friends. They are able to extend this love because of the ultimate gift of love from God. When Naomi acknowledges God's blessing on her through the blessings of those around her, and then she returns that blessed love, her heart is joyful and full once again. She sees that in order to know love, she can't merely accept it...she has to give it away. If you are familiar with the Book of Ruth in the Bible, you will recognize the basis for Mr. Lott's story. I urge you to read Ruth in the Bible. Read it again if you already know the story. Read it either before or after you read this heart-wrenching, soul-satisfying blessing of a book.

This book was beautifully written; I found myself pausing to admire the language frequently, with images clinging quietly but powerfully. I also enjoyed the dialect that Naomi uses to express herself -- at least at first.

That said, very little happened. I'm more in favor of character-driven versus plot-driven novels, but the character here wasn't strong enough to drive things and there was way too much repetition. Both the infidelity theme and the forgiveness theme were driven into the ground. A much better novella than novel.

I also wonder if a woman who spent 60 years away from the South would still be so very, very Southern in her voice. I've lived away from my home for only 25 years and have lost much of my local accent. "Might could" and "fixing to," "couple three" seem as if they might have dropped by the wayside after that long a time. Also, they became irritating after a while rather than charming -- a big reason most authors avoid dialect.

We come upon a woman named Ruth who tragically, in a moment of time, is now a widow. Losing her husband to a senseless car accident, she clings to the one person she knows understands,Naomi, her mother-in-law.
Naomi lost her own husband a mere 8 years ago and for her life has never been the same. Now she must face another loss. Perhaps burdened with too much grief, too much to bear, she searches inside herself for some form of peace and comfort.
We travel with them as they try to make sense of what is left of their lives, try not to be bitter at what seems so unfair and desperately cling to small fibers of what they can find is good.
Naomi decides to return to her childhood home in South Carolina and Ruth decides to go with her. To Naomi this place holds memories of love, of happiness and of hope. It is here that these two women are finally able to be set free from the clutches of pain and sorrow and perhaps understand the motion of what we call life.
A moving story of raw emotion, of two women, a story of death and living again.

I found it fascinating that a male writer could enter the female psyche with accuracy. I admired his sharing the experiences of Naomi with such poignancy. The first half of the book elicits sympathy through compelling descriptions of hope, love and despair. I thought Lott did a wonderful job drawing the reader in and painstakingly describing difficult emotional moments using the first person point of view. Initially, it was not apparent to me that I was reading a story with a Biblical foundation--Gradually, remaining focused on the story of Naomi and Ruth overshadowed Lott's sensitive writing throughout the first half of the book. The material that followed did not do his talent justice.

By the second part of the book, I was reading simply to finish. I did not think the use of repetition was effective as a device and was unnerved by passages that were inserted with qualifying information (as if supplying sticky notes for the reader). I lost track in some of the later chapters and could not be sure what was happening. In all honesty, the first half of this novel was full of wonderful writing and then all that got dismantled when the later chapters (none of which were psychologically thoughtfull) turned into narrative reports about mundane family interactions. There also was a liberal dusting of Christian messages in the second half of the book, which if you are not Christian became overzealous.

Personally, the first half of this book could have stood alone with its powerful and authentic emotional content. Somehow, Lott's effort disintegrated as a literary work after the midpoint and became a treatise on sin, forgiveness and love. This is not a book for escapism. Much of the story is extremely sad and depressing; it recasts an old tale in a modern setting that many who have experienced loss will identify with.

Make sure you have a sunny outlook on life and a cheery disposition because when you read this book, it will bring you down! It is very depressing. Yes, it is well written; however, you keep waiting for some cheery bit to come along and make it all better and it doesn't. I had to skim through the end just because I'd had enough. I seriously thought about putting it down for good many times; not sure why I wanted to finish it....curiosity that it HAD to get better and happier? Not one of my favorites.

My first foray into Bret Lott's literary world was inspiring. Almost immediately I loved his masterful use of language including a lovely southern dialect and many cleverly turned phrases. The writing itself was a joy. The story line though interesting could hardly live up to the story-telling. Style over substance I'm afraid -- but then the substance wasn't half bad. Very worthwhile summer reading!

Naomi has lost her husband, Eli and then loses her son, Mahlon. She and her daughter-in-law, Ruth, are forced to deal with their grief and build a new life. Naomi decides to leave MA and return to her SC home and Ruth goes with her. Complicating the story is Naomi's betrayal with Eli's friend Lonny just before Mahlon was conceived. She struggles with this secret and that Eli knew and forgave this transgression. A year after moving, Ruth finds new love and Naomi is the one to help her see that it is ok to love again - it is not betraying Mahlon.

This was one INTENSELY religious story. I should have realized from the character names, but it was a struggle to deal with the preachiness. The fact that Lonny dies without Naomi there doesn't seem right. And Ruth getting together with yet another family member only a year later is kind of offensive. Apparently the message here is you can sin and be forgiven and you can carry on when a loved one dies, but this is a twisted way to get to this message.