Greatest Hits - book and album
Nov. 27th, 2017 02:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearGreatest Hits is the new book by Laura Barnett, which has an accompanying album of songs by Kathryn Williams. It tells the story of Cass Wheeler, a singer/songwriter looking back over her life as she compiles a greatest hits album. The author decided she wanted the songs in the book to have a life outside the pages, and so proposed a collaboration with a songwriter, who would compose an album to accompany the novel. I listened to the audio version of the book, stopping every now and then to listen to the next song on the album at the appropriate time, and this worked really, really well.
I loved the whole experience of this book, especially being able to listen to the songs referenced in the narrative. It's a fantastic idea, brilliantly executed, and I think listening to the audio version of the book added an extra dimension of enjoyment.
What I liked most about Laura Barnett's previous novel, The Versions of Us, was that it combined both good and bad elements in all three possible timelines, so that none of them were labelled as the right or wrong choice. They were all just possible ways the characters' lives could have played out, and were much more believable for that, since they were fully rounded stories.
With Greatest Hits, Barnett manages a similar feat with just one retelling of a life. The narrative is split between various points of Cass' history - the present of her preparing the album for release, and multiple strands of her youth and adulthood - which gradually build up a picture of her whole life. There is tragedy in her past, but also hope for the future, both of which are hinted at early on, so no one emotion is given too much importance as the story unfolds. It's a beautiful patchwork of despair and hope, showing how all the events in someone's past add up to who they are in the present. It's a masterfully woven tale, which absorbed me completely.
I also very much liked the accompanying music. Kathryn Williams has a lovely voice, and has created a large range of different songs to fit the different periods of Cass' life. I will definitely be looking up more of her music, and will also probably listen to the Greatest Hits album again, as a whole.
I loved the whole experience of this book, especially being able to listen to the songs referenced in the narrative. It's a fantastic idea, brilliantly executed, and I think listening to the audio version of the book added an extra dimension of enjoyment.
What I liked most about Laura Barnett's previous novel, The Versions of Us, was that it combined both good and bad elements in all three possible timelines, so that none of them were labelled as the right or wrong choice. They were all just possible ways the characters' lives could have played out, and were much more believable for that, since they were fully rounded stories.
With Greatest Hits, Barnett manages a similar feat with just one retelling of a life. The narrative is split between various points of Cass' history - the present of her preparing the album for release, and multiple strands of her youth and adulthood - which gradually build up a picture of her whole life. There is tragedy in her past, but also hope for the future, both of which are hinted at early on, so no one emotion is given too much importance as the story unfolds. It's a beautiful patchwork of despair and hope, showing how all the events in someone's past add up to who they are in the present. It's a masterfully woven tale, which absorbed me completely.
I also very much liked the accompanying music. Kathryn Williams has a lovely voice, and has created a large range of different songs to fit the different periods of Cass' life. I will definitely be looking up more of her music, and will also probably listen to the Greatest Hits album again, as a whole.
