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Midnight's Sonata
Her whole life was keeping secrets. Now she finds out everything she knew was a lie
Mara is a sixteen year old with secrets. Her father makes them worse and her mother and best friend, Chauncey, try to save her from them. When things get bad at home, they come up with a plan to get her out of the house for the summer by sending her to an arts camp over the summer. She thinks things will be different there. No one knows her. But the camp director seems to zone in on her. Ms. Munroe knows she is keeping secrets and makes it her mission to find out.
Mara starts to feel like an outcast again under Ms. Munroe's watchful eye. One night, things get bad and she is indulging her demons and gets caught. Ms. Munroe confesses why she has been so focused on Mara all summer and Mara's mother and Chauncey's plan to send her to camp suddenly becomes clear.
It changes Mara's life forever. Nothing she knew about herself is true, not even her name. She now must make a new life with someone she knows hates her. She's being pushed to talk about things that used to be her deepest, darkest secrets
425 pages, ebook
First published May 21, 2016
4 people are currently reading
37 people want to read
About the author
J.B. Trepagnier
121 books814 followersUSA Today Bestselling Author JB Trepagnier is secretly 30 feral cats in a trench coat and combat boots writing romance with a shared feral cat hive mind.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
February 27, 2016
Michelangelo said, "Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it." I feel Midnight's Sonata has a story inside, but needs to be whittled away at so the art of the story will emerge.
What made this an intriguing read were the thoughts that the story provoked. Midnight, the title character, had my sympathy and respect. Her life story was horrible, and damaged her greatly. When she is reunited with her birth mother, she begins, in my opinion, another round of abuse. The mother is the story's narrator and she drove me crazy with her intrusions and demands on Midnight. The mother's suffocating and controlling demands are only rivaled by Hank, Midnight's sometimes boyfriend. If it were me, I'd have left those two energy vampires as soon as the dust cleared.
But that is the rub. One has to ask, given Midnight's "issues", was suffocation the best medicine? Did constant harassment and surveillance prevent Midnight from self-destructing? Interesting. I still conclude that the mother was damaged as much as her daughter by the separation, and she needed more therapy. Hank too. I was not routing for him to be Midnight's life partner.
What hindered my enjoyment of the story was the too frequent repetition of the same points, over and over. Often, the mother would think something. Then there would be a dialogue with the same wording. Then another dialogue, often with the mother's sister, saying the exact same thing. Several themes reemerged several times, with the same debates and results. The book length could be reduced by a third, or more. So, further editing would help an interesting story emerge.
What made this an intriguing read were the thoughts that the story provoked. Midnight, the title character, had my sympathy and respect. Her life story was horrible, and damaged her greatly. When she is reunited with her birth mother, she begins, in my opinion, another round of abuse. The mother is the story's narrator and she drove me crazy with her intrusions and demands on Midnight. The mother's suffocating and controlling demands are only rivaled by Hank, Midnight's sometimes boyfriend. If it were me, I'd have left those two energy vampires as soon as the dust cleared.
But that is the rub. One has to ask, given Midnight's "issues", was suffocation the best medicine? Did constant harassment and surveillance prevent Midnight from self-destructing? Interesting. I still conclude that the mother was damaged as much as her daughter by the separation, and she needed more therapy. Hank too. I was not routing for him to be Midnight's life partner.
What hindered my enjoyment of the story was the too frequent repetition of the same points, over and over. Often, the mother would think something. Then there would be a dialogue with the same wording. Then another dialogue, often with the mother's sister, saying the exact same thing. Several themes reemerged several times, with the same debates and results. The book length could be reduced by a third, or more. So, further editing would help an interesting story emerge.
February 9, 2016
An emotional rollercoaster that tells the tale of a troubled teen who is unexpectedly re-united with her mother. The author has done a good job in handling difficult issues with care and yet at the same time, doesn't hold back. This heart-rendering story is full of raw emotion, with characters that you care about. Gutsy, believable and told with passion. As a mother of a teenage daughter, it was a good reminder of the challenges todays teenagers are faced with and the view of the world through their eyes. I wouldn't be at all surprised if this book appeals to teenage girls as well.
March 6, 2017
This is a grim story about abuse and recovery. 16 year old Mara/Midnight is sent to summer camp to remove her from a difficult home situation only to encounter a camp leader who over-reacts at the sight of her, feeding into the girl’s own feelings of insecurity. Or so it seems. That camp leader, Ms. Munroe, is her biological mother who has been searching for Midnight for the past 13 years. The girl has been raised by adoptive parents who called her Mara. The first third of the novel is told from Mara/Midnight’s perspective as a series of journal entries, which is reminiscent of Gone Girl (a book I didn’t like).
When Ms. Munroe takes Midnight home with her, it switches to the mom’s perspective and has chapters. Here the book gets more tricky. Midnight has been abused by her stepfather repeatedly and as a coping mechanism is into cutting. So her new mom sets out of fix her, rather heavy-handedly, I might add, which I didn’t like; pushing her into therapy, not allowing her to be alone, making her eat and going through her belongings. But in fairness there were parts where this approach was quite effective.
The story is compelling and the characters are very skillfully drawn out. Unfortunately the writing needs a bit more proofing. I usually ignore the first handful of grammatical errors or typos, the fact that I’m mentioning them at all means that they passed that benchmark.
I appreciated the mother’s voice and all of the anxiety she went through trying to reconnect with her daughter. There was a great deal of anger and dysfunction between these two women.
As a reader, I felt like there was too much telling rather than showing of the story, pages of the mother referencing conversations with Mara/Midnight in which the author wrote, “She said… she said… she said…she said.” Why not allow the conversation to actually take place? And not just the conversations with the girl but with Hank as well? A majority of the book feels like a one-person play with one character relaying to the reader everything that happens around her, rather than allowing it to simply play out. I personally found this frustrating and put the book down for several days before I eventually finished it.
And since Mara/Midnight’s POV is already established in the beginning of the novel it would have been appropriate to have some of the later chapters from her POV as well, especially when dealing with the other losses she suffered.
I know it sounds like I’m hammering this novel and believe me, I’m not. It’s a difficult subject matter that is incredibly, well-referenced and thoughtfully examined. It’s a good book as it is, but I think with a few carefully executed tweaks it could be a really great one.
When Ms. Munroe takes Midnight home with her, it switches to the mom’s perspective and has chapters. Here the book gets more tricky. Midnight has been abused by her stepfather repeatedly and as a coping mechanism is into cutting. So her new mom sets out of fix her, rather heavy-handedly, I might add, which I didn’t like; pushing her into therapy, not allowing her to be alone, making her eat and going through her belongings. But in fairness there were parts where this approach was quite effective.
The story is compelling and the characters are very skillfully drawn out. Unfortunately the writing needs a bit more proofing. I usually ignore the first handful of grammatical errors or typos, the fact that I’m mentioning them at all means that they passed that benchmark.
I appreciated the mother’s voice and all of the anxiety she went through trying to reconnect with her daughter. There was a great deal of anger and dysfunction between these two women.
As a reader, I felt like there was too much telling rather than showing of the story, pages of the mother referencing conversations with Mara/Midnight in which the author wrote, “She said… she said… she said…she said.” Why not allow the conversation to actually take place? And not just the conversations with the girl but with Hank as well? A majority of the book feels like a one-person play with one character relaying to the reader everything that happens around her, rather than allowing it to simply play out. I personally found this frustrating and put the book down for several days before I eventually finished it.
And since Mara/Midnight’s POV is already established in the beginning of the novel it would have been appropriate to have some of the later chapters from her POV as well, especially when dealing with the other losses she suffered.
I know it sounds like I’m hammering this novel and believe me, I’m not. It’s a difficult subject matter that is incredibly, well-referenced and thoughtfully examined. It’s a good book as it is, but I think with a few carefully executed tweaks it could be a really great one.
January 4, 2019
Mara is a sixteen year old girl with secrets but these secrets are not that of a normal sixteen year old. To escape the hectic situation at home Mara's best friend and mom have her go away to camp. This is where she finds out there's more secrets than she ever expected, there's secrets behind secrets. JB Trepagnier had me guessing the entire time, Midnight's Sonata was just perfect
February 3, 2017
Absolutely amazing!
Oh my gosh! This book is an absolute page turner that will leave you begging for more.
It is full of raw emotions that will pull at your heart strings and then turn and make your heart swell.
Mara is sent to came by her mother and best friend to escape her abusive father.
At camp she immediately begin to have trouble with the camp director.
Her coping mechanisms for stress kick in and she is caught. Things begin to spiral after that for Mara.
She finds out that the camp director is her real mother and is sent to live with her.
I love how the story give you both Mara's perspective and her mother's.
JP brings you face front with the raw emotions from both prospectives; a mother who's child was physically and mentally abused that does self harm and the daughter's prospective as the recipient of abuse, low self esteem, and feelings of self harm along with the rapid changes in her life.
Oh my gosh! This book is an absolute page turner that will leave you begging for more.
It is full of raw emotions that will pull at your heart strings and then turn and make your heart swell.
Mara is sent to came by her mother and best friend to escape her abusive father.
At camp she immediately begin to have trouble with the camp director.
Her coping mechanisms for stress kick in and she is caught. Things begin to spiral after that for Mara.
She finds out that the camp director is her real mother and is sent to live with her.
I love how the story give you both Mara's perspective and her mother's.
JP brings you face front with the raw emotions from both prospectives; a mother who's child was physically and mentally abused that does self harm and the daughter's prospective as the recipient of abuse, low self esteem, and feelings of self harm along with the rapid changes in her life.
July 30, 2016
This novel transpired as a result of a particular dream author had--and I have to say, the author has done such a good job in developing the subject!
After re-uniting with her mother, a teen is trying to cope up with a continuous nightmare her life has become. A mother's heart is filled with worries and thoughts of how she could help her daughter--yet the daughter doesn't seem to be be happy with her mom's attempts. As a result, it becomes a very complex problem to handle.
I also loved the artistic references in the book.
After re-uniting with her mother, a teen is trying to cope up with a continuous nightmare her life has become. A mother's heart is filled with worries and thoughts of how she could help her daughter--yet the daughter doesn't seem to be be happy with her mom's attempts. As a result, it becomes a very complex problem to handle.
I also loved the artistic references in the book.
July 12, 2018
Psychological trauma, physical abuse and the love of a mother who desperately tries to help her daughter heal are the theme of this book. It was hard to read most of the time, not because there was constant physical abuse but because it came across as very real. The aftermath of the abuse lives on long after it is done. The author protrayed the characters and the story well. Still...very hard to read because the story covers years and still the trauma lingers.
July 2, 2018
Her life is full of secrets and lies. Her parents and friend send her away to help her but what she finds there will make everything clear. See what was being hidden from her. Soon she understands everything better. See where this will go
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
June 5, 2018
Received an arc in exchange for an honest review. I loved this book. Read cover to cover because I couldn’t put it down. Characters were well written and the plot was exciting. I definitely recommend this book.
March 8, 2016
A Daughter Doing What is Necessary Now with a Mother Trapped in the Past
Midnight’s Sonata is about the reunion of a mother, Elisabeth, and daughter, Midnight, after 13 years of separation due to an adoption. During that time, the daughter was abused by her adoptive father and developed a coping mechanism that involved self-inflicted physical harm. It is, obviously, a dark and emotional story.
A question that was raised in at least one other review, and in my mind as well, is the appropriateness of Elisabeth’s rather over-bearing methods in her attempts to help Midnight. Personally, I would take this concern a step further. It seems to me that Elisabeth is largely trapped in the past – her capacity for change and understanding seems to have stopped when her lover, Midnight’s biological father, was critically injured.
To provide all the details that support this interpretation would be too much of a spoiler for the reader, but I’ll provide a few. First, Elisabeth keeps Midnight’s room open and available during the 13 years she is missing. Perhaps that is not that unusual. Then, she also updates the decor each year. OK, that’s a bit stranger. Then, each year on her birthday, Elisabeth, an accomplished painter, does a portrait of what she thinks Midnight would look like. I am not sure how any 16-year old would feel being in a room with 13 portraits of themselves, but it gives me a creepy, Alfred-Hitchcock chill. Then, you have Elisabeth consistently describing Hank, a somewhat immature, inconsistent, and occasionally violent friend, as Midnight’s “first boyfriend.” They played together when Midnight was three – it doesn’t sound like the most relevant fact to a teenager who has endured years of physical abuse. Also, consider the choice that leads Elisabeth to give up Midnight for adoption – that between the certainty of a life with a precocious 3-year old and the extremely slim odds that someone maintained only by life support will survive intact. And when the gamble fails, Elisabeth spends a year shut off from the world, which was probably her only window to overturn the adoption legally. Overall, the mother is obsessive, over-controlling, and detached from reality, and she seems incapable of understanding why Midnight cannot be the 3-year old she remembers.
While the plot provides good fodder for a compelling story, the execution is not what it could be. First, the book is littered with typographical errors. In general, the errors are minor and it is clear what the author is saying. But each slight break in the flow of the story takes a toll.
Second, and more importantly, the author’s writing style is quite repetitive. For example, the mother might think to herself what a great promotional opportunity it would be if she and her daughter played together in her orchestra (both mother and daughter are musically talented). Then, the author adds dialog in which these thoughts are conveyed to the daughter, using nearly the same words as her thoughts. Then, after this discussion, the mother will repeat the same idea, again almost verbatim to her sister, or to her daughter’s music teacher. Unfortunately, pivotal disagreements, like the commercial benefits of mother-daughter musical performances, are then repeated several more times in the chapters that follow. This writing tactic may be an attempt to show how resistant Elisabeth is to change, but the result is somewhat painful for the reader.
Overall, the book is a heartbreaking character study that would benefit significantly from an additional edit and a more efficient writing style.
Midnight’s Sonata is about the reunion of a mother, Elisabeth, and daughter, Midnight, after 13 years of separation due to an adoption. During that time, the daughter was abused by her adoptive father and developed a coping mechanism that involved self-inflicted physical harm. It is, obviously, a dark and emotional story.
A question that was raised in at least one other review, and in my mind as well, is the appropriateness of Elisabeth’s rather over-bearing methods in her attempts to help Midnight. Personally, I would take this concern a step further. It seems to me that Elisabeth is largely trapped in the past – her capacity for change and understanding seems to have stopped when her lover, Midnight’s biological father, was critically injured.
To provide all the details that support this interpretation would be too much of a spoiler for the reader, but I’ll provide a few. First, Elisabeth keeps Midnight’s room open and available during the 13 years she is missing. Perhaps that is not that unusual. Then, she also updates the decor each year. OK, that’s a bit stranger. Then, each year on her birthday, Elisabeth, an accomplished painter, does a portrait of what she thinks Midnight would look like. I am not sure how any 16-year old would feel being in a room with 13 portraits of themselves, but it gives me a creepy, Alfred-Hitchcock chill. Then, you have Elisabeth consistently describing Hank, a somewhat immature, inconsistent, and occasionally violent friend, as Midnight’s “first boyfriend.” They played together when Midnight was three – it doesn’t sound like the most relevant fact to a teenager who has endured years of physical abuse. Also, consider the choice that leads Elisabeth to give up Midnight for adoption – that between the certainty of a life with a precocious 3-year old and the extremely slim odds that someone maintained only by life support will survive intact. And when the gamble fails, Elisabeth spends a year shut off from the world, which was probably her only window to overturn the adoption legally. Overall, the mother is obsessive, over-controlling, and detached from reality, and she seems incapable of understanding why Midnight cannot be the 3-year old she remembers.
While the plot provides good fodder for a compelling story, the execution is not what it could be. First, the book is littered with typographical errors. In general, the errors are minor and it is clear what the author is saying. But each slight break in the flow of the story takes a toll.
Second, and more importantly, the author’s writing style is quite repetitive. For example, the mother might think to herself what a great promotional opportunity it would be if she and her daughter played together in her orchestra (both mother and daughter are musically talented). Then, the author adds dialog in which these thoughts are conveyed to the daughter, using nearly the same words as her thoughts. Then, after this discussion, the mother will repeat the same idea, again almost verbatim to her sister, or to her daughter’s music teacher. Unfortunately, pivotal disagreements, like the commercial benefits of mother-daughter musical performances, are then repeated several more times in the chapters that follow. This writing tactic may be an attempt to show how resistant Elisabeth is to change, but the result is somewhat painful for the reader.
Overall, the book is a heartbreaking character study that would benefit significantly from an additional edit and a more efficient writing style.
August 19, 2016
My initial thought at reading the first page is that not every thought that pops into an author's mind should make it to the page unless there is some reason for it. But I guess with a 950-page book; she never got that memo. There is a stream of consciousness narration about minutiae that is beyond tedious ranging from who likes who, where the protagonist put her books, to whether the protagonist slept on her back or her belly, the food ate at breakfast or whether she drank all her orange juice; spoiler alert, she does. Apparently, the author has never heard of developmental editing. Okay, so the plot is that some young musician gets dropped off at the band, I mean music camp, by her friend with the very believable name of Chauncey. The camp seems a bit more like the Hanoi Hilton than Camp Pinewood, given all the incidents of physical violence directed at the young protagonist.
She finds out the head of the camp is her estranged mother, who apparently likes to crush the girl’s fingers with a piano lid, much like the head Vietnamese guard in the movie I mentioned earlier. So, we have a case of child abuse as the girl is a minor. She calls her adopted mother, but never mentioned the Camp Commandant crushing her fingers, because that would make too much sense. Her adopted mother insists she stay at the prison camp, and later the girl states she can't leave her adopted mother. The entire plot strains credibility, from her friend Chauncey, not the Gardner, leaving her without a word, to her would be mother crushing the girl’s fingers without being slapped with a charge of child abuse, to the especially strained explanation for the girl having two mothers.
Apparently, since no one had physically abused the girl for a page or two, the would-be boyfriend slaps her face. With all the self-mutilations, slapping, and crushing, this gal is probably getting to look like Detective John McCain in the first Die Hard movie. But I read on because that's what I'm obligated to do. We learn the girl's name is adopted name is Mara, and her original name is Midnight. She gets in trouble and Ms. Monroe, the evil Stepmother; sorry, wrong story, makes Mara move into her room. Then we find out Mara is a cutter, she uses a razor blade to cut herself, and I'm out. But, I'm obligated to read on because I'm going to give people an honest review of this book. The repetition goes on, paragraph after paragraph about how pale she is—We get it; she doesn't like the sun, how she hates oatmeal; mentioned three times in one paragraph.I agree with one of the other reviewers in that this is a raw piece of stone that needs to be carved to reveal an enjoyable read, which it is not now, at least to this reviewer. It's ridiculous length, the destructive behavior exhibited by the protagonist, the convoluted back story and its pointless trajectory make this an especially difficult read. Instead of finishing the book's almost 1000 pages, the thought of cutting myself seemed preferable. Please have this book developmentally edited and there actually may be a good read left over after all the wheat is separated from the chaff.
She finds out the head of the camp is her estranged mother, who apparently likes to crush the girl’s fingers with a piano lid, much like the head Vietnamese guard in the movie I mentioned earlier. So, we have a case of child abuse as the girl is a minor. She calls her adopted mother, but never mentioned the Camp Commandant crushing her fingers, because that would make too much sense. Her adopted mother insists she stay at the prison camp, and later the girl states she can't leave her adopted mother. The entire plot strains credibility, from her friend Chauncey, not the Gardner, leaving her without a word, to her would be mother crushing the girl’s fingers without being slapped with a charge of child abuse, to the especially strained explanation for the girl having two mothers.
Apparently, since no one had physically abused the girl for a page or two, the would-be boyfriend slaps her face. With all the self-mutilations, slapping, and crushing, this gal is probably getting to look like Detective John McCain in the first Die Hard movie. But I read on because that's what I'm obligated to do. We learn the girl's name is adopted name is Mara, and her original name is Midnight. She gets in trouble and Ms. Monroe, the evil Stepmother; sorry, wrong story, makes Mara move into her room. Then we find out Mara is a cutter, she uses a razor blade to cut herself, and I'm out. But, I'm obligated to read on because I'm going to give people an honest review of this book. The repetition goes on, paragraph after paragraph about how pale she is—We get it; she doesn't like the sun, how she hates oatmeal; mentioned three times in one paragraph.I agree with one of the other reviewers in that this is a raw piece of stone that needs to be carved to reveal an enjoyable read, which it is not now, at least to this reviewer. It's ridiculous length, the destructive behavior exhibited by the protagonist, the convoluted back story and its pointless trajectory make this an especially difficult read. Instead of finishing the book's almost 1000 pages, the thought of cutting myself seemed preferable. Please have this book developmentally edited and there actually may be a good read left over after all the wheat is separated from the chaff.
February 25, 2017
I felt this would have been an amazing book except the constant and very repetitive bickering between Midnight and her birth mother. If it could have been scaled back, and I wasn't reading the same arguments over and over I would have enjoyed it more.
February 26, 2016
An abused girl is reunited with her birth mother who is isn't just a helicopter parent, she's the Mil Mi-26 (the largest helicopter ever built) of parents. There is actually is a good story in here trying to get out, but technical problems get in the way.
The first part was pretty good, told from Midnight's point of view, as she goes to camp and meets the camp director who is actually her birth mother. There are no chapter breaks, just dates. It took a little while to get used to that, but it was okay. One part I had a problem with is the boy she meets, Hank, gets into an argument with her and outright slaps her. For this story something less, like grabbing her shoulders and shaking her would have worked better. He is the romantic interest and she would have every right never to speak to him again if he slapped her. But everyone tells her she is over-reacting.
In part two, the entire rest of the book, technical problems drag it down. I had just gotten used to not having chapter breaks when "Chapter 2" popped up. I don't remember seeing a Chapter 1, so it threw for a loop. There was no formatting, so it is easy to miss the little chapter breaks in bold.
I often was dragged out of the story, thinking the author should have given the work at least one more read through as words were added or left out frequently.
Midnight's settling in to her new home with her super helicopter parent was fairly well done. Then she went off to college. Months were told about not shown. Then continuity issues took over.
When we first meet Midnight's mother Elisabeth, she has brown hair and even though her age wasn't told I pictured her in her early forties. Midnight mentions Elisabeth grew up in the sixties. When Midnight was at home she was given a Kindle, which came out in 2007 but wasn't really available until 2008. That would put Elisabeth in her mid-sixties, near retirement age.
When Midnight graduates college, it was told she did it in four years, but she is twenty-five. The author might have told us what happen in the two missing years, but since she covered years in straight telling not showing, I could have missed it.
This could have been a good book, but all these technical issues dragged it down.
The first part was pretty good, told from Midnight's point of view, as she goes to camp and meets the camp director who is actually her birth mother. There are no chapter breaks, just dates. It took a little while to get used to that, but it was okay. One part I had a problem with is the boy she meets, Hank, gets into an argument with her and outright slaps her. For this story something less, like grabbing her shoulders and shaking her would have worked better. He is the romantic interest and she would have every right never to speak to him again if he slapped her. But everyone tells her she is over-reacting.
In part two, the entire rest of the book, technical problems drag it down. I had just gotten used to not having chapter breaks when "Chapter 2" popped up. I don't remember seeing a Chapter 1, so it threw for a loop. There was no formatting, so it is easy to miss the little chapter breaks in bold.
I often was dragged out of the story, thinking the author should have given the work at least one more read through as words were added or left out frequently.
Midnight's settling in to her new home with her super helicopter parent was fairly well done. Then she went off to college. Months were told about not shown. Then continuity issues took over.
When we first meet Midnight's mother Elisabeth, she has brown hair and even though her age wasn't told I pictured her in her early forties. Midnight mentions Elisabeth grew up in the sixties. When Midnight was at home she was given a Kindle, which came out in 2007 but wasn't really available until 2008. That would put Elisabeth in her mid-sixties, near retirement age.
When Midnight graduates college, it was told she did it in four years, but she is twenty-five. The author might have told us what happen in the two missing years, but since she covered years in straight telling not showing, I could have missed it.
This could have been a good book, but all these technical issues dragged it down.
April 9, 2016
This was a very challenging book for me to read, since it was raw and emotional and unrelenting in its expression and language. It very often described events as though it was directly lifted from the diary of the main character, a very bright, articulate and misunderstood teenage girl. And therein lay the problem for me. Reading more as a memoir than a work of fiction, the intense descriptions and minute detail came across as a record of the main character’s life, rather than a story to be told. Along with the repetitive nature of the style, I found myself skipping over parts, in an effort not to get bogged down in the ruminative thoughts.
The subject matter is one that is painful and only too common, and I believe that there is a substantial story to be told here. If the writer could abandon some of the detailed notes and observations and open herself to more creative writing, I would have been more emotionally engaged within the story. For readers seeking to understand this particularly difficult and challenging time of a teenager’s life, and the influence this can have on all the people around her, the intricate detail and recording of emotions could almost be read as case notes – but at the end of the work, I felt that I had served a cathartic role for the writer, rather than the role of a reader to be entranced and entertained by a memorable book.
I would love the writer to put this in the hands of a good, trusted editor, who could guide her to find the outstanding story that exists within, for there certainly is one. And I would definitely read it again for the sake of the story that needs to be told.
I received a free book in exchange for a fair review.
The subject matter is one that is painful and only too common, and I believe that there is a substantial story to be told here. If the writer could abandon some of the detailed notes and observations and open herself to more creative writing, I would have been more emotionally engaged within the story. For readers seeking to understand this particularly difficult and challenging time of a teenager’s life, and the influence this can have on all the people around her, the intricate detail and recording of emotions could almost be read as case notes – but at the end of the work, I felt that I had served a cathartic role for the writer, rather than the role of a reader to be entranced and entertained by a memorable book.
I would love the writer to put this in the hands of a good, trusted editor, who could guide her to find the outstanding story that exists within, for there certainly is one. And I would definitely read it again for the sake of the story that needs to be told.
I received a free book in exchange for a fair review.
January 19, 2016
I just finished this novel and I have to say it completely blew me away. It's fantastically written and contains a lot of deep and meaningful sections that are full of raw emotion. The characters are all developed strongly and have vivid personalities, and none of them are all good or all bad.
It's told as a first person story and shows a lot of character insights so that we can see what is going on in the head of our main character. She is trying to help her daughter overcome the hell of her life and rebuild some semblance of her existence, but it's especially hard because her daughter doesn't want the help. All of this is blended together in a story about art, music, and overcoming all of the terrible things the daughter has gone through and trying to find peace and happiness.
The struggles that the family went through are very modern and current, the sort of things people go through on a regular basis. This book really made me stop and think about life and the sort of problems people face. The sections about music were very entertaining and make me wish I learned more instruments when I was younger.
I recommend it highly for anyone interested in contemporary literary novels or who know a young woman going through issues.
It's told as a first person story and shows a lot of character insights so that we can see what is going on in the head of our main character. She is trying to help her daughter overcome the hell of her life and rebuild some semblance of her existence, but it's especially hard because her daughter doesn't want the help. All of this is blended together in a story about art, music, and overcoming all of the terrible things the daughter has gone through and trying to find peace and happiness.
The struggles that the family went through are very modern and current, the sort of things people go through on a regular basis. This book really made me stop and think about life and the sort of problems people face. The sections about music were very entertaining and make me wish I learned more instruments when I was younger.
I recommend it highly for anyone interested in contemporary literary novels or who know a young woman going through issues.
September 12, 2016
A skeleton with too much meat on its bones.
Midnight's Sonata is about the relationship between a severely dysfunctional teenager and her severely dysfunctional biological mother. This poor girl, Mara/Midnight has it sprung on her that the person she has been calling mother for her entire life is in actual fact not her mother. And everything continues to tumble from there.
Both main characters seem selfish and angry. I found it hard to relate to either of them. Like other reviewers though, I feel that there is a good story in here somewhere, but it just needs to be found. This book feels like more of a draft copy that is in need of some fervent editing. It is very long and repetitive. If it was cut back a bit, to reveal more of the bones of the story then maybe it could be worked on from there.
Lots of serious subjects are touched on in this novel (domestic abuse, self-harm, etc) that are important and I feel that the repetition and the inner dialogue of the protagonists takes away from this. Plus, I was not super impressed with the ending. If the characters were real people I would suggest that they seek counselling.
I would have enjoyed this book more if it had not been so long and "filled in."
Midnight's Sonata is about the relationship between a severely dysfunctional teenager and her severely dysfunctional biological mother. This poor girl, Mara/Midnight has it sprung on her that the person she has been calling mother for her entire life is in actual fact not her mother. And everything continues to tumble from there.
Both main characters seem selfish and angry. I found it hard to relate to either of them. Like other reviewers though, I feel that there is a good story in here somewhere, but it just needs to be found. This book feels like more of a draft copy that is in need of some fervent editing. It is very long and repetitive. If it was cut back a bit, to reveal more of the bones of the story then maybe it could be worked on from there.
Lots of serious subjects are touched on in this novel (domestic abuse, self-harm, etc) that are important and I feel that the repetition and the inner dialogue of the protagonists takes away from this. Plus, I was not super impressed with the ending. If the characters were real people I would suggest that they seek counselling.
I would have enjoyed this book more if it had not been so long and "filled in."
August 16, 2016
The subject of this book, the Mother-Daughter relationship is arguably one of the most rewarding but also can be the most difficult one to get right. In this story the relationship has incredible difficulties to overcome.
I preferred the first part of the book, which is written from the daughter's perspective. Her self-esteem issues and her self-destructive mechanisms were very well described.
In the second half it switches to be the mother's story. As a mother of a daughter who had problems in her teens and is now in her twenties, I could not in any way relate to the mother on an emotional or practical level. I simply couldn't believe the character or her behaviour (at one point I checked to see whether the writer might be male) so the second half of the book became a very flat read for me. I think this may be the type of book where if you identify with the mother you will find it a very different read.
Generally the writing is at a reasonable level but there are quite a few instances of repetition.
I preferred the first part of the book, which is written from the daughter's perspective. Her self-esteem issues and her self-destructive mechanisms were very well described.
In the second half it switches to be the mother's story. As a mother of a daughter who had problems in her teens and is now in her twenties, I could not in any way relate to the mother on an emotional or practical level. I simply couldn't believe the character or her behaviour (at one point I checked to see whether the writer might be male) so the second half of the book became a very flat read for me. I think this may be the type of book where if you identify with the mother you will find it a very different read.
Generally the writing is at a reasonable level but there are quite a few instances of repetition.
April 24, 2016
Midnight’s Sonata explores the trials and tribulations of dysfunctional family relationships. Mother, daughter, and boyfriend make up the main characters. A forced separation of the daughter from her mother for many years leaves the daughter emotionally scarred. Her return is fraught with difficulties as the mother desperately tries to deal with her troubled teenage daughter and make up for past traumatic events.
The story covers a roller coaster of emotions; every conceivable problem appears to be conspiring to derail the mother’s attempts to establish normal relationships. I found it very easy to become embroiled in the mother’s frustrations. Many parents dealing with teenage problems will relate to this story. It is an easy read; the mother-daughter conversations are very believable. Does it have a happy ending? You’ll need to read for yourself to answer that.
The story covers a roller coaster of emotions; every conceivable problem appears to be conspiring to derail the mother’s attempts to establish normal relationships. I found it very easy to become embroiled in the mother’s frustrations. Many parents dealing with teenage problems will relate to this story. It is an easy read; the mother-daughter conversations are very believable. Does it have a happy ending? You’ll need to read for yourself to answer that.
May 22, 2016
Midnight's Sonata is a touching psychological novel, the kind that moves you and stays in your memory for a long time. It’s a sad story about a troubled teenage girl who secretly engages in self-injury. She cuts herself with a razor when she feels upset or can’t cope with problems. This is her way of expressing and dealing with deep distress and emotional pain that she encounters throughout her life. She is also very talented. She has a great musical talent.
The characters are well developed, realistic and credible. The way the story is told, I could almost feel their pain and their emotions. The writing is engaging and flows smoothly. The narrative voice is very strong. All those things make this book an intriguing read. It’s hard to put it down, once you start reading it. I’m looking forward to more books from this author.
The characters are well developed, realistic and credible. The way the story is told, I could almost feel their pain and their emotions. The writing is engaging and flows smoothly. The narrative voice is very strong. All those things make this book an intriguing read. It’s hard to put it down, once you start reading it. I’m looking forward to more books from this author.
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