Sing You Home
Emily Bestler Books
Washington Square Press
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Reprint edition (October 18, 2011)
Contemporary Fiction
Paperback: 496 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1439102732

 

Every life has a soundtrack. All you have to do is listen.

Music has set the tone for most of Zoe Baxter’s life. There’s the melody that reminds her of the summer she spent rubbing baby oil on her stomach in pursuit of the perfect tan. A dance beat that makes her think of using a fake ID to slip into a nightclub. A dirge that marked the years she spent trying to get pregnant.

For better or for worse, music is the language of memory. It is also the language of love.

In the aftermath of a series of personal tragedies, Zoe throws herself into her career as a music therapist. When an unexpected friendship slowly blossoms into love, she makes plans for a new life, but to her shock and inevitable rage, some people—even those she loves and trusts most—don’t want that to happen.

Dollycas’s Thoughts

This book sat on my To-Be-Read shelf way too long and I am kicking myself. What a fantastic story! Picoult again shines as she takes on several hot topics, gay rights, alcoholism, Evangelical Christian beliefs, divorce, troubled teens and more. Same-sex marriage/definition of family was the main issue and the author showed all sides. This book came out in early 2011 and people’s views on the main premise of the story continue to evolve and had the outcome of the election been different this evolution may have stopped and took a giant step backward.

Zoe Baxter battle with infertility was heartbreaking and after 10 years of in vitro fertilization, several miscarriages, and a stillborn baby, her marriage just crumbles. Her husband, Max, is ready to give up on having a child and Zoe just can’t.

This story took me on a emotional roller coaster which is what this author’s stories always do. I become heavily invested in these character’s lives. I really wanted to hate Max but couldn’t. I hated the bigotry of the people around him and the way they used him to promote their own agenda at a time in his life when he was weak and needing guidance. Zoe’s life from her music therapy clients to her life with Vanessa warmed by heart. After all she had been through to be strong enough to still put other people’s needs first was so inspiring.

Sadly the accompanying CD did not come with my copy but it was not necessary to have music for me to be moved by this story. I devoured the almost 500 pages very quickly. I am sure many excellent book club discussions have taken place about this book as people’s feeling on these issues will run the gambit.

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*This book was from my private collection.