Overview:
Isabel Delancey, a classical violinist, has always taken her comfortable life for granted. But when her husband dies suddenly, leaving her with a mountain of debt, she and her two children are forced to abandon their home and move to the Spanish House, a now-dilapidated manor Isabel inherited in the English countryside.
With the house falling down around them, and the last of her savings disappearing fast, Isabel turns to her neighbors for help, not knowing that her mere presence there has stirred up long-standing obsessions.
As she fights to make her house a home, passions and lives collide. Isabel will discover [More…]
Would I Recommend It?
If you’re a Jojo fan, the type who must read all her books, then yes. (This person being me.)
If you work in real estate then you might find some of your clients’ stories within these pages and will delight in them.
Thoughts?
“It’s-just-a-house.”
To which I’ll say, “it’s-just-a-story.”
This wasn’t one of Jojo’s masterpieces. It was just a simple, fun, hearty read. Sprinkle in some small town hilarity over its obsession about a house. Lots of remodeling. I would say really-really light on romance — this being disappointing.
I was quite bothered that Isabel never thought ill of her husband with regards to his frivolous spending and leaving them with mostly debts after his death. I found it really strange that she not once* blamed him for this. She kept repeating how well he looked after her and took care of everything. Pretty sure if he wouldn’t have died they were about to be in financial ruin quite soon.
There are a lot of characters in the book: Isabel, Byron, the daughter, the son, Matt, Laura, Henry, the other shop guy, Nicholas, Anthony, Fred, and many more. Too many to keep track. If you’re someone who doesn’t like a ton of characters and reading their stories then probably best to stay clear of this book.
The cover of the book. Oh, how I dislike you! At least have a violin in her hand or a sledgehammer. The dress kept making me think this story takes place in the 60s when in fact it’s in the now – the cell phone era. It just kept creating a stupid disconnect in my brain and I had to keep reminding myself that these characters are of my age and time.
Overall, I totally enjoyed reading the story. It just didn’t create the same strong feelings about the characters as Jojo’s later writings do. But! Definitely way better than her first book, The Peacock Emporium. Isabel’s character is much-much more relatable.
[*Isabel did once bring up his spending, but don’t want to mention the details of that here as it would be a spoiler. But it was a very minor and brief thought of Isabel’s so I simply can’t count it as it’s diminished by the number of other times she put her husband’s handling of things on a pedestal.]
Quotable Quotes:
“All the rest of it is stuff. Just stuff.”
Book:
Night Music
Author:
Jojo Moyes
Genre:
Fiction, Romance-Very Light
My Rating:
3 Stars
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