Cassie Loves Beethoven

This heartwarming children’s book is about a piano-playing cow. And it is written by Alan Arkin.

Yes, the same Alan Arkin who made his screen debut tormenting poor, blind Audrey Hepburn in that chilling thriller, Wait Until Dark, and was lately seen trading quips with a clueless Steve Carrell in Get Smart.

That Alan Arkin.

“Cute” would be the operative word here.

Unsurprisingly for someone who communicates through different mediums (he’s also a composer and musician), Arkin does a pretty good job when it comes to just telling his story. But his writing is not always up to the same level as his storytelling skills. I found his overuse of dialogue tags particularly aggravating, made more so by the fact that I was reading the book show more aloud. After a little while, the reiterations of Cassie said and David said become unnecessary, especially if there are only two characters involved in the conversation.

Arkin is most effective when describing Beethoven’s music or having his characters describe it. It is clear that he is passionate about the subject, and somehow that makes the emotion deeper and the prose more fluid than they are elsewhere.

But with the exceptions of those sections, I’m afraid I just couldn’t dredge up much interest in the story Arkin was telling. I expected to love it—it sounded light and whimsical, and how could I say no to Beethoven?—but somehow it just fell flat for me. It may have a lot to do with when I read it; at the time I had just finished reading Eleanor Estes’ Pinky Pye with my sister, which was about a typewriting kitty. And then there was this, about a piano-playing cow. Far too much anthropomorphism all together.

I definitely prefer Actor!Arkin to Author!Arkin, and I’m not sure I’d recommend this book, particularly. But I may keep it around. Perhaps, a few years from now, I’ll pick it up and find the magic that I missed this time. show less