I'm giving this novel five stars because, although I expected to like it and to find it well-written, I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. It took me by surprise, and I like (most) surprises.
The jacket copy tells you what you need to know about the story and its interlocking timelines in the late 1980s and 2009. What struck me most about this tale of music and magic was Moreno-Garcia's own ability to conjure. I have never been to Mexico City, yet somehow, in prose that is almost spare and never purple, she pulled off the trick of making the place seem simultaneously familiar and new. Familiar in the sense that I easily experienced it as her characters do, as the landscape of home and school and everyday life, and new in the sense that the environment felt fresh, unused-up by layers of other stories, a place where anything could happen, and where the music I listened to in 1989 bumped up against Mexican music I'd never heard but felt, from context, that I understood. (I loved the evocation of the physical aspects of music in the late 80s: albums, a Walkman. I still have a drawer full of mix-tapes from that era.)
Something similar happens with the characters. As teenagers who are outsiders and yearn to be insiders, they navigate the familiar terrain of the coming-of-age story, realized with pitch-perfect accuracy; at the same time, they discover and are forever changed by something marvelous and unique. Although we experience several points of view, the main character, and the heart of the story, is Meche. She is smart, obsessed with music, struggling with family and feelings, crackling with energy. She is also, at times, vengeful, mean, and manipulative. A complex character, in short, and one whose fate mattered to me. Some of my favorite parts of the book were the conversations of Meche and her two friends when they were just hanging out: these exchanges were seemingly aimless, always revealing, often funny. Like teenagers.
SIGNAL TO NOISE is not epic or world-spanning. It's the story of a handful of people, a wild magic, and the unpredictable alchemy of time. Moreno-Garcia tells that story beautifully.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Similar items that ship from close to you
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
- Velvet Was the NightPaperback$9.52 shippingGet it as soon as Thursday, Jan 23Only 11 left in stock - order soon.
About the author
Products related to this item
Page 1 of 1Start overPage 1 of 1
perfect for anyone who is deeply into music, or looking for friendship and redemption
Genre: magical realism, historical fictionMexico City, 1988 & 20092009 - Meche is back in Mexico City for her father’s funeral, even though she hadn’t spoken to him in twenty years. Her mother and stepfather can’t go through his things, so Meche needs to sort his records herself, which digs up more memories of the past than she’s comfortable remembering.1988 - Meche and her best friends Sebastián and Daniela discover the roots of power in music; real magic that can cast revenge spells and grant wishes. As Meche grasps for more, though, she drives away the friendships that were dearest to her.I originally read this book five years ago, and I was nervous to pick it up again, because I remembered loving it so much. I shouldn’t have been nervous because Kyla Garcia’s narration still brought me to tears. I was glad to revisit it as an audiobook this time around. It’s not my favorite SMG at this point, but the whole book is tinted with nostalgia in such a beautiful way that I loved to reconnect with it, like meeting an old friend.As always, with a Silvia Moreno-Garcia novel, it features an intensely unlikeable female main character, absorbed by the selfishness of youth and the allure of power (and in this case, magic). Meche, Sebastián, and Daniela are high schoolers in 1988, and they make the hurtful mistakes that young high schoolers do. And while the 1988 storyline verges on immature at times, because Signal to Noise is an adult novel, it’s palatable to those who don’t pick up YA, because the passion of youth is balanced by the measured view of adulthood twenty years later.Part of the magic in Signal to Noise is Mexican witches, legends and magic that Meche learns from her grandmother. The other part of the magic is the music itself, and the way Meche connects to her world through vinyl. She has a song for everything. This book is perfect for anyone who is deeply into music. But it’s also a great read for anyone looking for friendship, grief, redemption, and just a touch of magic.
Top reviews from other countries
-
-
Tatiana Alejandra de Castro PérezReviewed in Spain on November 2, 2021
Buenos personajes, gran forma de presentar la historia
