Shout Down the Moon

by Lisa Tucker

Her acclaimed debut, The Song Reader, won her praise as a "brilliant new literary talent" (The Albuquerque Tribune). Now, Lisa Tucker returns with a starkly lyrical novel of page-turning intensity and rare emotional power.
Patty Taylor can handle anything. So what if the guys in her band dismiss her as just a pretty face, hired by their manager to make them more popular? She's already survived a bad childhood, a destructive teenage relationship, homelessness, and working twelve-hour shifts washing dishes. Traveling with the band gives her a way to provide for Willie, the two-year-old son she adores.
But on a hot summer day in Kentucky, when Willie's father shows up outside her hotel room, newly paroled from prison and intent on having her and his son back, Patty begins a journey that will change her from a girl who can put up with anything to a woman with a voice that can bring the house down. Shout Down the Moon is about following dreams and overcoming obstacles, about finding your voice and becoming the hero of your own life. In Patty Taylor, Lisa Tucker has created an unlikely heroine, a gutsy girl with a wry sense of humor, whose life will depend on having the courage to trust in her big talent and even bigger heart.

Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit, Music, Adult Fiction, Young Adult, Contemporary, Female Authors

292 pages, Paperback

First published March 29, 2004

About the author

Lisa Tucker is the author of six novels: The Winters in Bloom, coming this September; The Song Reader, Shout Down the Moon, Once Upon a Day, The Cure for Modern Life, and The Promised World.

Her books have been published in twelve countries and selected for Borders Original Voices, Book of the Month Club, the Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club, People magazine Critic’s Choice, Redbook Book Club, Amazon Book of the Year, Barnes & Noble Reading Group program, Target “Breakout” Books, Books A Million Fiction Club, the American Library Association Popular Paperbacks, the Indie Next list and the Book Sense Reading Group Suggestions.

She grew up in Missouri, and has lived in Philadelphia and Santa Fe, NM. She has graduate degrees in both English and math. She has taught creative writing at the Taos Writers' Conference and UCLA.

She's also a mom who says "raising my son has been the best part of my life".

Reviews

[Amani · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 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.

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second Lisa Tucker book I read (the first being Once Upon a Day), and I've decided that I just really like her style. I can't pinpoint exactly what it is--maybe the sheer honesty of her characters' thoughts and feelings. I loved the pluckiness and strength of Patty, the lead singer in a band, who is trying to make a decent life for herself and her baby. After reading this, I sought out another of Tucker's books, The Song Reader.

[Arlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

A psychopath, a singer, a child of two, a composer and his friends - put them together and you'll have a brilliant and beautiful story. My first book of Lisa Tucker.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shout Down the Moon has been sitting with a stack of other books in my house collecting dust for about six years. I’ve sworn to myself that this is the year to dust them off and get the reading done. Shout Down the Moon was on the top of the pile. Might as well start at the top and work my way down. Good or bad.

A friend gave me Shout Down the Moon six years ago when she had to move and had more books than she wanted to pack. I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of Lisa Tucker or read any of her books before now. I admit that I’ve probably avoided this book and, sadly, some of those in the stack beneath it because I thought they were too fluffy for my tastes. How wrong I was.

Shout Down the Moon was deeper than I expected. Easy to read, but really dealt with some tough subjects. Alcoholism, drug and domestic abuse, to name a few. The characters were interesting even if I didn’t like all of them. Sure, some were shallow and needed some work as did the plot, but all in all I liked Shout Down the Moon much more than anticipated. Shame on me for being such a book snob. This one is likable even if it is not perfect.

[Jage · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, but I didn't like the romance that was hinted at.

Rick... Rick had very deep psychological issues and while I don't agree with anything he did, I respect the author for showcasing his vulnerable moments and why the main character fell in love with him instead of just the bad. I like that we can see his 'love' even as we were able to see how possessive and unbalanced he was but in a way you could understand why someone who has never known a healthy form of love would accept it and bask in it until it all falls down.

One of my favourite aspects of this book was the way Patty put Willie first and the fact that Willie wasn't a perfect child. He was a normal two year old and while that could be frustrating and irritating it was the truth and what a lot of single moms have to deal with. The way she handled situations fit with her upbringing and I adore that she tried to make the best for Willie even as she second guessed her decisions.

I didn't like the fact that she kept allowing her mother back into her life. Personally I found her just as, if not more destructive, than Rick because even though Rick went homicidal if her mother wasn't such a jealous b**ch her daughter wouldn't have found herself with him in the first place. I can't even respect/understand her in anyway, especially after finding out how she was with Willie when Patty wasn't home.

Johnathon. Kinda hate him. He feels like such a pretentious overdramatic douchebag and even when he 'gets over himself' I don't buy it. I just feel like he's found someone who is living that 'jazz' life and situations and as such he has a muse outside of the pain he's lived himself. I know it's also an earlier time period and they're creatives but I really hope he's not the person she winds up with because he skeezes me out something fierce.

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book.. I feel it needs more recognition.. it pains me that not many people know about it and that I stopped fervently recommending it to people, but I will start doing that.

One of the best realistic contemporaries I have ever read. So emotional, so heartbreaking, and so real!

[Caitlin Conlon · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was not good. It just wasn't. The writing was cheesy when it tried to be meaningful, there were a million storylines going on & it was hard to figure out which one to focus on, this called an abusive relationship love & never corrected it, I could go on. A huge disappointment, overall.

[Banah · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5

[Mich · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a messed up character and all she goes thru to protect her son and herself. Liked this author. Fast read

[Geoffrey Nutting · Rating 3 out of 5]

Patty gets knotted up in her feelings for Rick, Mama and Willie, seemingly trying to figure out if any of these feelings are allowed to her. Mama is the one (bad) constant in her life; Rick is a constant worry in her life; Willie is the one (good) constant in her life. Rick is constantly struggling with life, he's bad for Patty, I feel he does love Patty, even though there's too much of a "Me! Me! Me!" component to it. I , buthated to see Rick get killed in the end (although he deserved it; to me, he was a possibly redeemable character until the end of the book. Jonathan wasn't a well developed character, so to see Patty go with him was acceptable, but the author didn't let me get to know him well enough so that would feel that he was the 'obvious right choice'.Until the end, neither was Rick the 'obvious wrong choice': he seemed to care about Patty & Willie. I know that having Patty go with Rick in the end would have been much harder for the author, but it would have been a much stronger story for his redemption. I don't know what she might have don with Jonathan in that case.

[Phylisha Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that could certainly be read as an true crime story as an overcoming autobiography. Patty Taylor survives so much in this book (a bad childhood w/ an alcoholic mother, a teenaged relationship that was destine for heartache and future pain (troubled boyfriend who ended up in prison). She ends up a homeless single mom, traveling with a band as it's lead singer. She has a voice that can "shout down the moon" and it eventually gets her where she needs to be. Great story.

[Ren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It follows the trials a single mom faces in her career, growing up, finding her inner strength and dealing with a dangerous ex. I'll definitely pick up another book by this author if I come across it...

[Jennifer Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

So stressful, but good. Lots of twists and turns it feels like while reading it.

[Marilyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Would not recommend this one. Was a waste of time.

[Melissa Phung · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Shout Down the Moon” by Lisa Tucker is a novel about a strong, young woman, named Patty Taylor. Patty is a single mother and lead singer of a cover band. She grew up with an alcoholic mother, causing her to have a rough childhood, undergoing homelessness and working twelve-hour shifts washing dishes. The father to her two year-old son, Willie, was incarcerated. Patty was left alone to raise a child, which she successfully did by traveling with her band, who did not favor her much, due to the fact that she was hired to be a pretty face. Patty was the key to fame for the band.

During one of Patty’s gigs in Kentucky, her first love and Willie’s father, Rick, showed up at her motel. Freshly out of prison and on parole, he was determined to win Patty back and be united with Willie. From that point, Patty continues a life full of obstacles; from abuse, alcoholism, drugs, etc., she goes through it all, but saves herself through music – specifically jazz music. Jazz is about life, love, and pain, all of which Patty has experienced, causing her to have the ability to truly sing it. Her voice and her story will take the reader through her accomplishing journey.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. The text was easy to read, and I felt a strong connection with Patty. I could empathize and sympathize with many of her emotions. Instead of following the footsteps of her mother, I was proud to know that she used music as a cope mechanism. I loved that Willie came first; his safety was more important than her own. Patty is a role model to many young mothers.

What I did not like about this book was that is was very formulaic. It was very predictable at times. Patty’s actions were, at times, rash and brainless. Though, it was understandable, for Rick was her first love. His character angered me throughout the whole novel. He was an abusive psychopath, causing me to enter a haunting stage. It was unpleasant and I did take multiple breaks while reading.

Although “Shout Down the Moon” is a teen-fiction, I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys music. At times, one could mentally hear the jazz tunes. Tucker did a great job linking music to Patty’s life. However, I would not recommend this novel to anyone undergoing a rough time with abusive, alcoholism, heartbreak, etc. Patty’s experiences may be relatable and the emotions presented in the text are easily captivated. Overall, it was a good novel.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a HUGE Lisa Tucker fan (first reading Song reader) and not long after finishing The Song Reader picked up this book and devoured it.

This book will forever hold a very special place in my heart. I first read this book right out of college and fell in love with Patty's strength and determination to make a better life for her and her son.

A few years later, after becoming a single mother myself, I re-read this book and found a new connection to Patty and what it is like to fall so deeply in love; you miss all the warning signs.

What I loved first and after re-reading this book was Patty's strength not only in wanting to make a better life for her son, but working toward really trying to find who she is and not making the same mistakes.

This is a book that will speak to your heart. It will make you laugh, it will make you cry, and it will make you not want to put it down until you have finished the book. Well worth the read!

[Slone · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't believe I "fell" for this again. The lure of a book even somewhat about music and I'm a goner. And this was a total downer. I can see that Patty's heading for a world of hurt; why can't she? Her relationship with the band seems ... sketchy, as if only physical and emotional trauma could open them up. The healthier flirtation seems about as strong and believable as the water underneath my potted plants. The only "real" parts seem to be Patty's view of jazz -- who hasn't felt that way about some artform? That only scholars or the hip really "get" it and there's no way I could -- and her realization that it's the relationship with her son that has changed her life for the better, is true love.

Don't read any more, I say; she breaks the reader's heart. And like Patty, I got taken in again. Hate to relegate the author to the Robin Cook shelf, but ...

[Kelly Vincent · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book. I've read three of Lisa Tucker's other books and this is easily my favorite. She has a deep, thoughtful style (this is literary fiction after all) which sometimes can slow things down a little for me but I didn't feel that way about this one--it felt more like straight-up commercial fiction to me. I couldn't put it down. Perhaps a good place to start if you're interested in her.

The story is dark at times, and very raw, and there's a sense of foreboding throughout because you know that no matter what she does, something else bad is going to happen to Patty. You see her rocky efforts to escape a terrible childhood, and it's nice to see how she manages it. We can't always control what happens to us, but we can always try, and sometimes that will be enough.

[Mindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Ivannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not your typical, average, garden variety chic lit. It's much more than that. It is predictable at times, but more often than not it isn't. The protagonist is one gutsy girl, and her story is everything but ordinary, as are her circumstances. It's a solid story line, with a nice plot. I don't think anyone who reads this will be disappointed. It is actually well thought out, and interesting.

[Alexandra Bengtsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first book I read by Lisa Tucker, I have to say that I think that this is the best, so far. I chose it because I like music. Maybe I was too old to read this book, it feels like it's more suitable for teenagers, but I guess it depends on what kind of books you like...I give it four stars because I think it's a great story and the subject (music) suit the writer because of her own life experience, which gives full expression to the story.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

The interview with the author in the back of this book calls this "literary fiction" --- if I'd read that first, I would have skipped it. I don't really think it was, although some authors seem to think that if you add a lot of gratuitous pain and suffering, you're suddenly literary. Battered wife, rape, drugs, guns, blood...

(And mixed up in all that, there was a good story with good characters, but I don't think it was worth wading through the gore to get there.)

[karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was definitely a page turner but it was so hard for me to like Patty! I guess mainly it was hard for me to see what she ever liked about Rick, since he was a complete psychopath (and why she let him in, covered for him, etc.). It's hard for me to understand since I've never been in that position, I guess! Anyway it was an entertaining read.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Patty, the main character, is the singer in a band and has a hard life. Patty has a young son and between taking care of him, trying to get along with the others in the group, the reappearance of her son's father and other life changing decisions/experiences, I was enthralled with the story. The novel was compelling and interesting to read. At times the book made me a little emotional.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this over my labor day holiday weekend. It is the story of a jazz singing single mother trying to support her child while dealing with the drug dealer father of her son who is out of jail. It held my attention to the very end, though the end seemed quite out of context, too quick and perhaps implausible.

[Andrea · Rating 1 out of 5]

Patty sings with a disrespectful band, Willie’s father is out of prison and hunts her (violence ensues – why must women be defiled in EVERY “down-on-her-luck” book????) Shockingly brutal content (paired with tender scenes between her and her son – ugh) for book that says, “a gutsy girl...whose life will depend on having the courage to trust in her big talent and even bigger heart.” huh?

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jazz is singing about life, love, pain. You have to feel the music to be able to truly sing it. Patty comes from a dysfunctional family and is bringing forth a second generation of dysfunction. She sings in a cover band with muscians who dont really respect her. And ex convict baby daddy is coming on the scene causing chaos in his wake. The best Lisa Tucker book Ive read as of now.

[Bridget · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this is actually my favorite Lisa Tucker book to date. The pain in her characters felt very real and very heartbreaking. This was a very quick read and really quite suspenseful. It wasn't earth-shattering in plot, but I felt her character development was so much stronger than in some of her other books.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. I don’t know what is was…the story, the writing or both but it was a very quick read. I finished the book in about 2.5 hours and enjoyed every moment. Has a few heavy topics but I might consider it a light read.