Charming Animals

by Jeff Putnam

At the end of the school year at Oberlin two music professors and their star pupil set out on a lecture tour and voice demonstration that will take them up the coast of California. In California all three singers proceed in different directions. Professor Rosas, in his 60s, the originator of the Rosas Method (which is propelling both his pupil, Melissa “Chip” Templeton and his young colleague Brad Swain to brilliant careers) keeps to himself except for attempts to win back the wife who had left him last year and is presently living with a soccer coach near Santa Barbara. Brad, the narrator, thrilled to be a soloist again, embarks on an affair with a beautiful Italian-American girl after being tackled by her in a karaoke bar. Meanwhile the Californian Chip, with the help of old friends , her ageing hippie parents, and a vastly wealthy student, realizes an earlier ambition to fast-track her career on TV. All succeed in realizing their immediate goals but soar even higher when they join forces in the end. “CHARMING ANIMALS represents Putnam's writing at its finest--anybody's finest, for that matter--especially for those chapters, rising in intensity as they go along, concerning Brad's preparation for, and ultimately the grand performance he gives, as Scarpia, the evil figure in TOSCA... The novel carries authority and conviction, probably because he's dealing with a subject--opera singing--that he knows well, as a professional. The characters--Brad, the narrator; Chip and Chip's still-hippie parents; Ernie, the originator of the Rosas Method; the wealthy Martin Haskell, and others--are all clearly defined. Chip is the most complex. I had to overcome an early dislike of her, for her self-centeredness...But she has a generosity of spirit... If she weren't such a complex figure, with antithetical elements, there wouldn't be the dramatic suspense to her relationship and love for Brad, who has a few difficulties of his own. Congratulations to Mr. Putnam for a major achievement. - JAMES McCONKEY, long associated with the MFA program at Cornell, is the author of the memoir COURT OF MEMORY (now four separate books) and of the novel THE TREEHOUSE CONFESSIONS (among more than a dozen others)“CHARMING ANIMALS is a powerful and original work. Among other things Putnam successfully integrates fiction and philosophy—as few writers do, though, of course, there is Proust. For me Chip’s betrayal of trust and authenticity is something even Henry James would have envied...” -Alexander Blackburn, prof. emeritus, Univ. of Colorado, novelist, biographer, critic and founder of The Writer’s Forum“What a tremendous work it is! So many aspects to the the singing technique, the love story, the opera life. It is a wonderful achievement and Jeff Putnam has captured so much of the truth of the business... I am guessing that it would appeal to a very wide readership given the central love story with all of its operatic highlights.” -Wendy Nielsen, the Canadian diva (who has sung many roles at the Met), is now a professor at the Univ. of Toronto

366 pages, Paperback

Published June 16, 2020