Turn Around Bright Eyes by
Rob Sheffield
Expected Publication:
August 6, 2013
Source: ARC via publisher
Publisher: It Books
Rating 4/5
Summary
via Goodreads
An emotional
journey of hilarity and heartbreak with a karaoke soundtrack, in the spirit of
Rob Sheffield's bestselling Love Is a Mix Tape.
Turn around
Bright Eyes picks up Sheffield's story right after Love Is a Mix Tape. He is a
young widower devastated by grief, trying to build a new life in a new town
after his wife's death. As a writer for Rolling Stone, he naturally takes
solace in music. But that's when he discovers the sublime ridiculousness of
karaoke, and despite the fact that he can't carry a tune, he begins to find his
voice. His karaoke obsession takes him to some strange places, whether that
means singing a Frank Sinatra song in a senior-citizen community in Florida,
attempting a Merle Haggard classic at a cowboy saloon in the Mojave desert, or
clearing the room at an after-hours dive in Chinatown. But he finds the music
leads him to the most surprising place of all--a new life and a new love.
Turn around
Bright Eyes is a story about finding the courage to start over, move on, and
rock the mike. It's about falling in love and navigating your way through adult
romance. It's about how you can learn the weirdest things about yourself just
by butchering a Hall & Oates song at 2 A.M. under fluorescent lights in a
room full of strangers. It's about how songs get tangled up in our deepest
emotions, evoking memories of the past while inspiring hope for the future. But
most of all, it's a book about all the strange ways music brings people
together.
My
Thoughts
Turn around Bright Eyes is
yet again another fabulous read by Rob Sheffield. I truly enjoy the way Rob writes
about his love of music and how a single song can always bring you back to certain
moment in one’s life. In this novel he explores his love for karaoke and the
songs, good or bad, that have become intertwined into his life. He speaks of
friends, his family and how he found love again after his wife’s death.
I’ve been a huge fan of
Rob Sheffield’s ever since I read his articles in Rolling Stone magazine and
especially after his first novel, Love is a Mix Tape. This man’s knowledge of
music amazes me. Every song isn’t just a song to him. It’s a memory, a story or
most importantly a slice of life.
While my heart will always
have a special place for Love is a Mix Tape, Turn around Bright Eyes doesn’t disappoint
by far. His novels make me so aware of why I love music. Music to me isn’t just noise in the background;
it’s so much more than that. It’s the thing I live for, besides books. It’s the
thing that picks me up when I’m having a bad day and it’s also the one thing
that can make a good day even better. Music to me is simply embedded in my
soul. It’s a part of me, just like the blood that runs through my veins. It’s
the one thing I begin and end my day with each and every single day.
So this is why I love this
book. I simply GET IT. I get how someone can take something as simple as a single song or music
and see how everything in this world can somehow always come back to it. I highly
encourage any music lover to put up Rob Sheffield’s books, you won’t be
disappointed. You will discover some great tracks and stories that you can relate
to and some that will indeed touch your soul.
Expected Publication:
February 18, 2014
