Trigger warnings: domestic violence, scenes with blood, self-harm fantasies (not acted on), and child abuse and neglect
Synopsis: An emotionally charged story of music, abuse and, ultimately, hope.
Beck hates his life. He hates his violent mother. He hates his home. Most of all, he hates the piano that his mother forces him to play hour after hour, day after day. He will never play as she did before illness ended her career and left her bitter and broken. But Beck is too scared to stand up to his mother, and tell her his true passion, which is composing his own music - because the least suggestion of rebellion on his part ends in violence.
When Beck meets August, a girl full of life, energy and laughter, love begins to awaken within him and he glimpses a way to escape his painful existence. But dare he reach for it?
Review: A Thousand Perfect Notes was not what I expected it to be, and I was completely fine with that. We follow Beck as he struggles with his mother's mistreatment and, especially, how she forces him to play the piano. I liked that Beck wasn't a great student. He was just barely getting by in school, and that's completely understandable. I also liked how, because of his mother's constant abuse, his brain kept telling him that he wasn't a good pianist or brother, but neither of these things are true. That hit extremely close to home, and I appreciated that element of Beck's character. A Thousand Perfect Notes is in Beck's point of view, but we also get to know August pretty well. She is, as you might imagine, the *thing* that shows Beck how to really love something. She's fun enough, but I didn't think she was as developed as she could be.
The overall story is extremely dark. We see firsthand exactly what Beck goes through on a daily basis. We also get to see how much Beck beats himself up when he makes small mistakes, or when he can't take pride in his work. It was fascinating to read, but heartbreaking too. Probably the best part of A Thousand Perfect Notes was seeing Beck realize how his actions, or lack of action, affects his sister. Between August and Joey, Beck starts to realize that people genuinely care about him and he wants to hold onto that. It's a really beautiful sentiment that I liked. Again, I know what it's like to have your brain tell you all the ways in which you fail. Having people around to constantly tell you that you're worth more than what your brain tells you is an incredible feeling.
Very dark story, but I related to Beck on deep levels.
4 howls
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