Just As Perfect As The Title Suggests! | A Thousand Perfect Notes Book Review
Hey friends! Anisha here. I’m going to be sharing with you a spoiler free review of A Thousand Perfect Notes by fellow blogger and friend @paperfuryor Cait G. Drews. I absolutely adore Cait, as a blogger and person, and after this book, as a writer.
About the book.
Author: Cait Drews
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Pages: 282
Publication date: June 2018
Pages: 282
Publication date: June 2018
Synopsis: An emotionally charged story of music, abuse and, ultimately, hope.
Beck hates his life. He hates his violent mother. He hates his home. Most of all, he hates the piano that his mother forces him to play hour after hour, day after day. He will never play as she did before illness ended her career and left her bitter and broken. But Beck is too scared to stand up to his mother, and tell her his true passion, which is composing his own music - because the least suggestion of rebellion on his part ends in violence.
When Beck meets August, a girl full of life, energy and laughter, love begins to awaken within him and he glimpses a way to escape his painful existence. But dare he reach for it? (source)
Genres: ContemporaryBeck hates his life. He hates his violent mother. He hates his home. Most of all, he hates the piano that his mother forces him to play hour after hour, day after day. He will never play as she did before illness ended her career and left her bitter and broken. But Beck is too scared to stand up to his mother, and tell her his true passion, which is composing his own music - because the least suggestion of rebellion on his part ends in violence.
When Beck meets August, a girl full of life, energy and laughter, love begins to awaken within him and he glimpses a way to escape his painful existence. But dare he reach for it? (source)
Trigger warnings: abuse
My thoughts.
I have read a lot of debut novels. Not trying to brag, but
as a blogger, I tend to read more debut novels than an average reader because I
keep an eye on new and upcoming releases and pick up books to read and review them
for the purposes of then sharing my opinion on the internet. This means I read
quite a few debut novels and am very aware of some of the pitfalls debut
novelists often fall into.
And Drews fell into none of them.
Her writing was clear and precise, never confusing me, even when
it gets poetic and metaphorical. It was very easy to read and there was not a
single time I had to go back and read a section because it wasn’t clear to me. The
writing was to the point and direct, the style that I quite like. It was clear
where the characters were, what they were doing and what they were saying.
And on that note, the characters! I loved how Drews’
characters didn’t fall into clichés. They were unique, adorable and very realistic
on the page. Beck was such an adorable marshmallow (as August describes him. I agree
with her). He is kind, talented, beautiful inside and out. I love how much he
cares for Joey, but it also seems realistic – he’s not this insane saint who
somehow manages to do everything – as readers you really get to experience his
struggle and pain. August was such an interesting character. She rescues all
sorts of animals, is such a tree hugger and doesn’t believe in shoes. She is
also incredibly determined and refuses to take no for an answer.
There were a lot of other aspects that I enjoyed in this. Firstly,
as Drews is Australian, the novel is set in Australia. This isn’t immediately
apparent, which maybe may be an issue for some who would want the story to reflect
Australian culture of ‘vegemite’ and using the word ‘mate’ too often BUT I personally
don’t mind it. Secondly, I loved that this had characters who were a bit
younger than what normally appears in YA with both of them being 15 years old and
Joey, Beck’s younger sister, being 5. I thought it was interesting to have some
slightly younger teens than the usual 17-18 year old. And last, I thought it
was so interesting how this book chose to focus on the topic of abuse. You really
empathised with Beck because he was the perfect cute marshmallow and you just
wanted to give him a hug! I hated how mean his mother was and the way she
treated him, it was just appalling. I think family violence and domestic abuse
is a topic that is very prevalent but not touched upon as frequently as it
should so I am glad Drews’ took this opportunity to present this in her novel.
As you can probably tell, I adored this book. But there are
a few (very few) comments I can give it.
It’s not that this book didn’t include
it, I just think Drews’ could have included it more:
- Greater description of Beck’s music in that there is more description about music, musical notes, harmonies, stanzas, famous composers, what music composing is and all that detail. Beck is so involved in his music in this and I feel like to really get super deep and involved in this, there had to be more detail.
- A slower ending would have been a bit better. While I loved the ending and was very pleased with it, I think the story may have benefited from a slighter slower ending as to build up the conclusion and not resolve it suddenly to make it more believable
- More past on Beck’s mother. While she was an awful person, I feel like I was told more than shown that. Through seeing her past and how she became the person she became, I would have seen her more as a multi-faceted but ultimately horrible character than a villainous figurehead
Are you excited for A Thousand Perfect Notes?
MY RATING:
★★★★
5 happy thoughts
AAAaah I have seen this book everywhere and I honestly can't wait to read it and Amazon India doesn't have it.....HOLY COW!!! IT HAS!! AMAZON HAS ATPN!! Sorry I'm just too excited but it's still expensive. But I really enjoyed reading your review! :)
ReplyDeleteI reallllly need to read this one. I love Cait and I have been waiting for her to be published because she is just so talented. I know this book is going to be amazing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing,
~Brittany @ Brittany's Book Rambles
I'm so glad you liked this one, Anisha! I agree that this book didn't really fall into the traps that a lot of other debut books do. It certainly didn't FEEL like a debut when I was reading it, which sometimes happen (and isn't bad, but just a Thing). I agree with you about wanting a bit more from Beck's mother. WHY was she so horrible? I know that her career tanked but is that enough to make her the worst mother ever? I think a little more exploration of her as a human being vs a villain would have made this book even better. Like you, I am super keen for Cait's sophomore novel! Lovely review ^.^
ReplyDeleteI love Cait so I am so excited to read her debut. Your reveiw has made me even more excited to read it! Happy new year, Anisha! <3
ReplyDeleteMegan @ http://www.booksbirds.com/
Hey, your review is great! I hadn't heard of this book before, but it sounds really good :)
ReplyDeleteLeave me a comment below! And feel free to leave your website URL so I can come visit!