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Joint YA Review: The Lucy Variations by Sara Zarr

4/4/2013

13 Comments

 
The Lucy Variations book cover
The Lucy Variations
Author: Sara Zarr
Publication Date: 5/7/2013
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
[Goodreads|Amazon]

Blurb:
Lucy Beck-Moreau once had a promising future as a concert pianist. The right people knew her name, her performances were booked months in advance, and her future seemed certain.

That was all before she turned fourteen.

Now, at sixteen, it's over. A death, and a betrayal, led her to walk away. That leaves her talented ten-year-old brother, Gus, to shoulder the full weight of the Beck-Moreau family expectations. Then Gus gets a new piano teacher who is young, kind, and interested in helping Lucy rekindle her love of piano -- on her own terms. But when you're used to performing for sold-out audiences and world-famous critics, can you ever learn to play just for yourself?

National Book Award finalist Sara Zarr takes readers inside the exclusive world of privileged San Francisco families, top junior music competitions, and intense mentorships. The Lucy Variations is a story of one girl's struggle to reclaim her love of music and herself. It's about finding joy again, even when things don't go according to plan. Because life isn't a performance, and everyone deserves the chance to make a few mistakes along the way.

Reviews:

Readventurer C Signature
I love Sara Zarr's writing and I always will.  At my very first book club meeting with the fabulous ladies of Fairfax Forever YA, I listed her as one of my favorite YA authors (this after being told that I would be judged based on my answers).  I even got my club to go rogue one month and read Sara Zarr's How To Save A Life instead of the Forever YA selection.  I love that Sara Zarr’s novels will always find a way to reach right under my rib cage and rip out my heart, no matter how little I initially relate to any of her characters.  Her characters always, always find a way to get under my skin.  Sigh.  So why didn’t that happen with The Lucy Variations?  When I wanted to feel connected, I felt unconcerned.  When I wanted to feel the massive gut punch of Sara Zarr, I felt a fluttery twinge.  When I wanted to swoon, I cringed.  Unfortunately, I think a lot of the reason for my lackluster feelings lies in her use of the third person point of view, something that’s new for her.  Some authors are able to use third person to great effect, in a way that still feels very personal (Stacia Kane, I am looking at you).  The third person narration in The Lucy Variations feels distanced and impersonal.  Worse, it sometimes feels overly summarized in that way that says there isn’t enough action and dialogue.

Then they went over here.

Then she talked about this.

Then he left.

Know what I mean?  I want to know how they’re getting from place to place.  I want to see the movement.  I want to hear the conversation.  I need more description, dialogue, and action and less simple narration of events.

However, does this mean I will be abandoning Sara Zarr and striking her from my judgment-worthy list of favorite YA authors?  Hell no.  I can only speculate, but maybe this is Sara Zarr’s attempt at a new creative direction, something that I can only support.  Maybe this is the equivalent of her going up on stage and playing Philip Glass when we all expected to hear Bach.  It wasn’t a perfect, error-free rendition, but I appreciate her effort.  And I will keep reading and supporting whatever she decides to put out there.

3/5 stars
Readventurer F Signature
The Lucy Variations was, for me, a parade of unlikable characters. I do not necessarily need likable characters in a novel but I do need something to keep me going if I am not enjoying the characters, and that is usually a compelling story. What could have been a literary Searching for Bobby Fischer-esque rise and (at least quasi-) fall of a child prodigy ended up falling flat for me. Without Zarr's typical first-person narration, I missed hearing the main character's perspective throughout and from the outsider's view, I never truly understood how Lucy could not see her own situation for what it was. Instead, she was pretty insufferable to her friends and family and refused to problem solve so I was unable to sympathize with her character. Several families in Zarr's prior works have similar communication problems to the Beck-Moreaus of The Lucy Variations, but as I get farther and farther away from this book, the characters who resonated most for me were Lucy's younger brother and Lucy's best friend--the only two straight shooters in the novel. The rest of the characters had me turning page after page waiting, waiting, waiting for people to tell others what they were thinking or how they had hurt each other. 

In terms of the story, I was disappointed in the lack of resolution. The ending felt hurried and there were several loose ends--not "oh, I guess it could go either way and it's left up to interpretation" types of loose ends, more "why was this subplot even introduced if it was going nowhere?" types of loose ends. For example, the relationship between Lucy and her prior teacher felt like a speed bump in the story and I was not sure why it was included. And arguably the largest conflict in the book, that between Lucy and her grandfather, goes out with a fizzle. When it comes down to it, as a reader I felt that this novel was missing its emotional core, something Zarr is typically fantastic at cultivating, so I never really connected to the story, the characters, or the style. I'll still be first in line to read Zarr's next book, and in all likelihood, her next ten. 

**SPOILER**
How great would it have been if Lucy had sat down at the concert and played the song from her grandfather's record collection that reminded him of his late wife? That would've been a kick in the pants for him.
**END SPOILER**


3/5 stars
Readventurer T Signature
It appears the three of us are pretty much on the same page as to why this new Sara Zarr novel didn't work for us. Pardon me for repeating what has already been said.

Generally, it's a good thing when authors try to experiment and explore new points of view and styles of writing. But sometimes when they try something new, it just doesn't work as well as the old. This is the case with The Lucy Variations I think. The thing I disliked the most about this novel is its POV, specifically its 3rd person POV instead of Zarr's signature 1st. It was a challenge for the author herself (she talked about this in her blog post), and the challenge, in my opinion, not well met in this case. I am still scratching my head in an effort to understand why Zarr chose to write this new novel this way. 3rd person POV added nothing to the narrative (it is a very close 3rd person, with only Lucy's perspective used, we never get insight into any other character's mind) and added unnecessary feeling of detachment to the story.

As for everything else, while the book was still enjoyable to a degree, the plot felt a bit  stale. I never finished Virtuosity, but these two novels sound fairly similar - artistic girls in creative and personal crisis and all that . Whatever new and interesting Zarr had in her version - mainly Lucy's inappropriate relationships with older men - never materialized into anything tangible and punchy. Lucy's friends were a waste and underutilized in the plot, and so were many other plot lines which started out promising but ended wit.

All in all, The Lucy Variations is just an average read and by far Zarr's weakest. Fingers crossed, her next effort is better.

3/5 stars
13 Comments
Keertana @ Ivy Book Bindings link
4/4/2013 07:45:07 am

Oh, dear. I think I'll check this out of the library instead of pre-ordering it. I just finished <i>How to Save a Life</i> by Zarr and loved it, as I did her debut, <i>Story of a Girl,</i> and I have to agree that the narration makes it so personal. While I don't have any qualms with a third person narration, it does seem strange to use when we have no insight into any other characters but the MC anyway. I was particularly looking forward to this since it featured music, which I love, and while I did enjoy <i>Virtuosity,</i> I was hoping this would be a much more subtle, deeper, layered, and less romance-intense novel on a remotely similar subject. *sigh* Thanks for the honest reviews, ladies! If all three of you felt this way, I suspect I'll think the same, although I will be reading it for sure when it releases. Like you three, I'll probably read everything Zarr publishes, no matter how different from my expectations and hopes the book winds up being.

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Tatiana (The Readventurer) link
4/4/2013 09:48:36 am

To be fair, it's not romance-intense at all, in fact it's very low on romance, maybe to its own detriment. The one potentially romantic plot line is basically abandoned by the end.

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Nomes
4/4/2013 04:48:57 pm

oh, i really hope i am the odd one out on this and love it regardless (although i am glad my hopes are lowered). i loved reading all your opinions, which were so similar even though you ladies often have differing feelings about a book.

on another note, i really love the UK cover for this. i have never liked the US edition. the cover seems unfinished to me.

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Maggie, Young Adult Anonymous link
4/4/2013 05:26:39 pm

Hmm... so this probably shouldn't be my first Zarr? I had high hopes for this one because I used to play piano and compete in California. Is there one you guys recommend I start with?

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Tatiana (The Readventurer) link
4/5/2013 03:56:23 am

I think How To Save a Life is the best to start (everyone seems to like it a lot), even though Story of a Girl is my favorite.

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Bonnie link
4/5/2013 05:57:41 am

I still have to read a Sarah Zarr but I'm thinking this shouldn't the first one I pick up. Wasn't it you Flann that told me to listen to her books on audio since she narrates some of them?

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Regina link
4/5/2013 12:54:00 pm

She narrates all of them but How to Save a Life. However, the performance of How to Save a Life is fantastic. I started with Story of A Girl and it will forever be one of my favorites. Although, I love everything she wrote (thus far). I have to admit I did cancel my pre-order based on your reviews. I will be getting this from the library. I am not a fan of 3rd person and I agree, my attraction to Zarr's writing style is the personal gut punch.

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VeganYANerds link
4/5/2013 06:34:28 am

The first thing I did was scroll down to see each rating, three 3's isn't too bad!

But, this does sound a little disappointing. I too love Sara's previous books and am willing to give this a go, despite the 3rd person POV, which I also find hard to connect with if it's not done right.

Great reviews, ladies!

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Reynje link
4/6/2013 02:18:22 pm

I'm such a fan of Sara Zarr - her books are among my absolute favourites - so I'm really looking forward to reading this one soon. That said, I'm a little hesitant about the choice to move to third person. What I love so much about Zarr's previous novels is her skill with first person, the way she puts the writer right under the skin of her narrator.. I would miss experiencing that, I think.

And I'm with Catie on the massive gut punch that Zarr's books usually punch. I've come to associate her novels with quiet devastation, but this sounds much less emotionally flooring.

But great reviews - especially since I know you've all really enjoyed Zarr's other work - it makes these seem especially qualified ;)

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Kara link
4/7/2013 07:54:11 am

Seriously disappointed, ladies. I was really looking forward to this one as a huge Sara Zarr fan. How to Save a Live and Sweethearts are absolutely amazing and I push them on practically everyone I meet. I was so excited when I heard she was writing a music focused contemporary YA. Now I'm sad. I think it's still worth reading because 3/5 stars isn't that bad of a rating, but I am going into it with lower expectations now and my heart is a little broken. :(

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Anna link
4/9/2013 01:12:54 am

I kind of embarrassed to admit that I've never read a Sara Zarr book before, but I'm guessing that this one won't be the first I pick up. Such a shame because the synopsis sounds fantastic and very different. But I trust you ladies more!

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Michelle link
5/20/2013 05:02:51 pm

I've only read Sweethearts so far, but I was quite excited for this. I think I might go into it with lower expectations now and of course I will have to read How to Save a Life and Story of a Girl soon! Great reviews ladies :)

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