The Words of Every Song
A Novel
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4.2 • 6 Ratings
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
From the acclaimed author of Long Bright River and Heft, a novel that allows us to take a peek behind the curtain of the music industry
Liz Moore shows us the inner workings of an industry we’ve been fascinated with for decades. In these fourteen linked episodes, we meet a cast of characters from all the corners of the industry that we’ve come to glamourize. There’s the arrogantly hip, twenty-six-year-old A&R man; the rising young singer-songwriter; the established, arena-filling rock star on the verge of a midlife crisis; the type-A female executive with the heavy social calendar; and other recognizable figures.
Set in the sleek offices, high-tech recording studios, and grungy downtown clubs of New York, The Words of Every Song offers an authenticity drawn from Liz Moore’s own experience and brings an insider’s touch to its depiction of the music industry and its denizens.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A series of vignettes depicting aspiring artists, hustling executives, the alternative underground and stage parents, the debut by Brooklyn singer-songwriter Moore misses the high mark it aspires to. Her characters, painted in broad strokes, follow the conventions of their type and are variously connected by corporate behemoth Titan Records. Theo, a talent scout in his mid-20s desperate to prove his legitimacy, discovers the Burn, a band that could be the next big thing. His aching self-importance is juxtaposed against the cool calm of Siobhan, the band's singer, who harbors deep pain rooted in her mother's death and Kurt Cobain's suicide. The Burn tours as the opening act for Titan's superstar Tommy Mays, who struggles to balance new fatherhood with life on the road. Several loose plot lines are woven throughout, but discovering how each character relates to the others provides the narrative's only consistent enticement, though to diminishing returns. By sacrificing a degree of realism, however, Moore comes close to creating a fantasyland where anything is possible. While the gimmicks overpower the work, there are moments that hint at Moore's novelistic ability.
