Somehow, in the past few years, I’ve taken a turn from absolutely devouring novels at lightening speed to getting through maybe a handful in a year. There are a lot of reasons for this change – I’m reading more nonfiction books of the photography type, juggling essentially two jobs, and maintaining a social life that rivals the one I had in undergrad. So when I (finally) lay my head down on my pillow at night, instead of being plagued with insomnia as I have in the past (reading provided a calming respite to the tossing and turning), I’m usually asleep within minutes.
So these days, I pick my novels with care, knowing that it has to be something worthy to take the time to get through it. And I must say, I’m glad I did with this book.
I’m not that great at writing reviews, let alone reviews about books, so I’ll keep this one short and sweet. Summer of Sound is a great read for anyone who’s ever loved a band, believed in a band, needed a band.
I didn’t have much exposure to decent music growing up (mostly top 40 superfluous pop songs about everything and nothing). It wasn’t until I got to college that someone opened up my eyes to the astounding amount of music out there, so I can relate to the main character in that respect. I’ve never spent a summer in a city that wasn’t home searching for a band that I wasn’t sure existed, but I have my own stories, as we all do.
In the end, it’s a story about losing your blinders, realizing that the world is not perfect and that things are crumbling all around you, that people can betray you without so much as a thought. But in light of all that, when someone or something does come through for you, it makes it all the more triumphant. The author really captured the spirit of that time in someone’s life – that time when the bitterness is seeping in, but you’re still fighting wholeheartedly against it, trying to find a balance between being jaded and being used.