Several layers of complexity. Always entertaining

Beautifully written. Very entertaining from the beginning to the end. No attempts to add in unnecessary plot twists.

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Lovely narrator and a story that is worth listening to

Beautifully narrated, the story is one well worth listening to. Without preaching, without invoking righteousness or anger on behalf of others, it offers a glimpse into an uncomfortable reality

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Beautiful!

Heart-warming, funny and beautiful story. Excellent narration. Looking forward to the next book by the author.

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A masterpiece

This book stands as an extraordinary masterpiece, weaving together complex, beautiful, and profoundly human narratives into a magnificent tapestry. It is flawless in its execution, and my only regret is not having read it sooner.

The narration is exceptional, providing distinct and recognizable voices for each character, along with a palpable portrayal of their emotions. My sole critique of the audiobook is the narrator's love for whispering, often employed unnecessarily. However, this minor issue pales in comparison to the overall brilliance of the work.

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difficult

this book deal very heavily with trans trauma, one character is misgendered, and verbally or physically abused but almost everyone she meets making her parts of the story hard to get through. If this is something that is triggering or even just upsetting to you I'd say go read/ listen to something else.
Other than that, the story was fine. Narrator did a great job.

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3 people found this helpful

2 story elements didn't mesh well enough

narration is almost whispered. not amazing range of character voice. overall OK but a little disappointing

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Unexpected

Came into this knowing nothing about it, the story was engaging and the relationships between Shizuka, Katrina and Astrid is beautiful.

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Light-filled storytelling!

A beautiful and heartfelt story of families and found families with a little twist of magical realism all wrapped up in music.

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story is ideologically correct but poorly written

the author is tediously trying to incorporate current topics at the expense of having a well written story and characters with depth.

The main character Catrina constantly finds herself in a victim role. but fair enough, a lot of terrible things happened to her.
Confusingly, to me at least, being misgendered is more problematic for her than the fact that she had to (?) resort to (child) prostitution. she didn't even entertain the thought to earn money any other way (maybe busking?). just very briefly it is mentioned that this is the fastest way to earn a reasonable amount of money. her past is quite colorless and cartoonish: some mean kids at school, her parents are exclusively evil (her father) or just barely mentioned (her mother).

another recurring character also is cast as an unlikely victim. a female luthier (violin builder) who was told by her father and grandfather that this was not a girls job.
despite all these older male relatives being dead she still does not entertain the thought that SHE herself could possibly do this job and take over the family business. this is ludicrous in a story set in the 21st century in California - regardless how conservative your family is.

then there is an alien family that is so much like a human family that it is unintentionally funny and terribly contrived. despite having just arrived and not having grown up with any of Earth's conflicts and racial predjudices they are outraged when someone is called "gook" (who even uses that type of insult these days?). they are not even Asian! they are wearing human costumes! also someone gets called "dyke". but so what?! is homophobia even a concept for their species? The completely over-the-top reaction is that one of the aliens kills two people to... preserve honour?

but then, the book is very ruthless with any non-PC characters: someone else who insulted a violin and did a misgender gets struck with a supernatural heart attack.
while someone who literally dedicated their life to sell people out for their own benefit (but not for racist motives, phew!) gets a chance to redeem themselves.

The plot twist in the end is not terribly smart and a bit mediocre.

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1 person found this helpful

Narration ruined it for me

Lots of reviews enjoyed the narration but it just ruined the story for me.

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