WARNING: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS BELOW
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| “The music kicks in and maybe the bad times kick out and maybe the world's a little better for them than it was before.”- A Little Wanting Song, Cath Crowley |
A summer of friendship, romance, and songs in major chords. . .
CHARLIE DUSKIN loves music, and she knows she's good at it. But she only sings when she's alone, on the moonlit porch or in the back room at Old Gus's Secondhand Record and CD Store. Charlie's mom and grandmother have both died, and this summer she's visiting her grandpa in the country, surrounded by ghosts and grieving family, and serving burgers to the local kids at the milk bar. She's got her iPod, her guitar, and all her recording equipment, but she wants more: A friend. A dad who notices her. The chance to show Dave Robbie that she's not entirely unspectacular.
ROSE BUTLER lives next door to Charlie's grandfather and spends her days watching cars pass on the freeway and hanging out with her troublemaker boyfriend. She loves Luke but can't wait to leave their small country town. And she's figured out a way: she's won a scholarship to a science school in the city, and now she has to convince her parents to let her go. This is where Charlie comes in. Charlie, who lives in the city, and whom Rose has ignored for years. Charlie, who just might be Rose's ticket out.
Told in alternating voices and filled with music, friendship, and romance, Charlie and Rose's "little wanting song" is about the kind of longing that begins as a heavy ache but ultimately makes us feel hopeful and wonderfully alive.
CHARLIE DUSKIN loves music, and she knows she's good at it. But she only sings when she's alone, on the moonlit porch or in the back room at Old Gus's Secondhand Record and CD Store. Charlie's mom and grandmother have both died, and this summer she's visiting her grandpa in the country, surrounded by ghosts and grieving family, and serving burgers to the local kids at the milk bar. She's got her iPod, her guitar, and all her recording equipment, but she wants more: A friend. A dad who notices her. The chance to show Dave Robbie that she's not entirely unspectacular.
ROSE BUTLER lives next door to Charlie's grandfather and spends her days watching cars pass on the freeway and hanging out with her troublemaker boyfriend. She loves Luke but can't wait to leave their small country town. And she's figured out a way: she's won a scholarship to a science school in the city, and now she has to convince her parents to let her go. This is where Charlie comes in. Charlie, who lives in the city, and whom Rose has ignored for years. Charlie, who just might be Rose's ticket out.
Told in alternating voices and filled with music, friendship, and romance, Charlie and Rose's "little wanting song" is about the kind of longing that begins as a heavy ache but ultimately makes us feel hopeful and wonderfully alive.
I don't know why, but it was a while before I picked this Cath Crowley novel up. I think the combination of unattractive cover and not being too invested in the plot kind of turned me off to it, and if I hadn't been such a huge Cath Crowley fan after reading both Graffiti Moon and Words in Deep Blue I wouldn't have even given it a second glance.
This is her debut, I believe, though it was out in Australia for five years before being re-released in either 2010 or 2011, when I think it was published world wide. This was probably due to the Australian success of Graffiti Moon. I believe it was also originally published as Chasing Charlie Duskin; that's what Goodreads tells me at least. And, being her debut, the writing isn't as gorgeously lyrical as it was in Graffiti Moon or Words in Deep Blue. It wasn't as easy to fall into her prose in this novel than it in her other books. There weren't as many beautiful, quotable moments either, and I ended up being disappointed by that.
I also found myself weirdly distracted while reading, and I don't really know why. Maybe because I read this book on my iPad and sometimes when I read books on there I can't concentrate as well.
The two main characters, Charlie and Rose, were like prototypes of the Cath Crowley MCs we would get in later books. Charlie is an artist, a musician, who thinks of her life in the context of songs and is has a dead mother whom she still talks to. Rose wants to escape from her small country hometown to go to a science school in Melbourne and become a marine biologist. Both have home lives that, while aren't completely typical, are extremely realistically done with beautiful nuance. And her characters are equally as realistic, with wants and needs that many teenagers could relate to. I especially loved it when Crowley would go in depth on their relationships with their parents.
The banter and relationships are something also done very well. I rooted for Charlie and Dave, and was sad when Rose and Luke didn't work out like I hoped it would. Sometimes I wish YA novels didn't always pit love against dreams; it would be nice for a little recognition that you can have both. I brought up the banter because Crowley is the only author who can write banter in a way that actually makes me laugh. I even also found myself tearing up at some points, though it wasn't on the same level as the amount of emotions I felt reading her other two books.
Cath Crowley hasn't been in my life for very long, but my adoration for her novels hasn't lessened. I find myself loving her books despite the fact that, let's face it, they aren't the best literature ever put out there. And this novel isn't as good as her other books. But, I think I've established myself as being completely irrational in my liking of her, so I ended up enjoying this one, not as much, but in a different way. I appreciate this book for what it is, the predecessor to her other wonderful books- though I admit that without that context this one is pretty forgettable.
8 out of 10
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