What do You think about Shout Down The Moon (2004)?
Tucker's follow-up to her BookSense bestseller, The Song Reader, is even more commercially appealing, thanks to a ratcheted-up suspense angle that still allows for well-drawn, emotionally nuanced characters. Once again, music is the motivating factor for change in Tucker's world of jazz musicians singing the blues. Patty Taylor is determined not to settle for dead-end dishwashing jobs and life with her emotionally abusive, alcoholic mother. Her new job as the lead singer in a traveling jazz band, though hardly glamorous, provides hope for a future for her and her two-year-old son, Willie. But when Willie's drug-dealing father, Rick, is released from prison and breaks his parole to track them down, she must fight being pulled back into his violent world. Patty's tentative romance with Jonathan, the head of the band, builds her confidence as a performer and woman but also maddens Rick, who wants Patty by his side, even if he has to kill her to keep her. Tucker's unsentimental portrayal of Patty's conflicted loyalties-she once genuinely loved Rick, who saved her from her mother-gives the novel depth and complexity, as does Patty's struggle to learn the ropes of the jazz world and become more than just a pretty pop singer. It is her love for music and her devotion to her son that give her the strength to resist Rick and get her through the novel's surprisingly violent climax. Tucker's compulsively readable tale deftly moves over the literary landscape, avoiding genre classification; it succeeds as a subtle romance, an incisive character study and compelling woman-in-peril noir fiction.
—Kevin
Page-turner with interesting characters that include a single mom with a dangerous ex-boyfriend and a set of struggling jazz-music musicians that would provide great content for a heartwarming suspense movie along the lines of Where the Heart Is or Sleeping With the Enemy. Written in the present and lacking poetry--"It's Saturday morning, and we're in the middle of a bad thunderstorm."--nonetheless, I stayed up late to find out how it ends. I certainly found myself rooting for the good characters, saddened by their childhoods, glad for their victories.
—Mindy
I don't even know how start this review. Shout Down The Moon was just brilliant. The story was so.. real, and raw. The story was amazing and the characters were all so convincing.The story was about a girl called Patty and how awful her life is, dealing from an alcoholic mother to homelessness. She has the most adorable kid, Willie (who's about 2, I think?). She's in a band, but all the band members don't like her because they think she's just a pretty face, a marketing scam by their manager. When her exboyfriend, Rick, is out of jail, he's hellbent on getting her and their son back. At first, I thought Rick didn't seem so bad. He's just had a crappy childhood and ended up dealing, but he truly loves Patty. But then his love for Patty turns into the possessive and controlling love. I was convinced that he's just really in love with her until (view spoiler)[ he found her, and raped her. I hated that Patty couldn't tell anyone about it, it was clear that she was confused about her feelings. I don't think she was still in love with him, but clearly she wasn't completely over him either, or she would've reported him. I absolutely loved Jonathan. From the very beginning, even when Patty thought he was so arrogant and mean. I had a feeling they'd fall in love. I love being right :)I could go on gushing over how amazing this book is. But I think I'm still in awe of how powerful the story was and how beautiful Lisa Tucker's writing is. (hide spoiler)]
—Amani
