Night Music

Night Music by Jojo Moyes was a unique, contemporary read.

I found this book to be very relaxing. It was a book I could escape into and there wasn't any real stakes. Yes, there was a horrible man named Matt totally trying to screw over Isabel by destroying her house, but I just had this calm feeling that everything would turn right in the end.

The book is "soft and sweet" to me. It's an easy read that just flows as I kept going along.

We follow Isabel, who is a very talented violinist, once she inherits an old Spanish house in the middle of a very small torn. She moves there with her kids after her husband has tragically died. Isabel is a bit of an odd duck. Clearly, she wasn't the one wearing the pants in the relationship. She was show more focused on her music career while her husband handled everything and their hired nanny watched the kids.. Now, she has to take care of her teenaged kids and house, which is not something she ever did. What makes things worse is the house is falling apart.

And you'd think that with all of that going on some nice people would swoop in and help. Well, they say they are going to "help", but really, the man who offered to help fix her house (Matt McCarthy) keeps wrecking the house and trying to make it to be the house he wanted - since he swore he was going to inherit the house. If he can screw over Isabel just enough, she might leave and let him take the house away from her.

I truly liked the story - it was an interesting slice of life that made me emphasize with Isabel and the kids while also want to smack Matt right across the face and tell him to bugger off. There's other wonderful characters to who deserved so much better, and most of which is due to Matt being a complete jerk to them. The story is very sweet, very heartfelt, and just an all around women's lit kind of book. I really liked Jojo's writing style and I will definitely be seeking out more books by her in the future.

Four out of five stars! show less

A book about obsessions and family life. Matt is obsessed with owning Spanish House, and coerces his wife Laura into pandering to its cantankerous owner, in the hope of inheriting it. Isabel is obsessed with her violin, and is bewildered by mounting debt when she unexpectedly loses her adored husband Laurent in a car accident.

It's a story of maturing, of finding out what really matters in life. The ending is a bit over-dramatic, and the conclusion perhaps too tidy for real life, but overall I very much enjoyed this book. Four and a half stars really.

Joyo Moyes knows how to put a lot of twists and turns into a plot. London-based Isabel Delancey, who has devoted her life to her violin and the Symphonia she plays in, has left the raising of her children to her husband and the nanny. When his sudden death reveals he left more debt than assets, she and her two children are forced to move to rural England and live in a decrepit house she inherited. And into a hornet’s nest she moves. Caretakers for the old man living their until his death assumed they would inherit it. Matt McCarthy had dreamed of the day he could remodel it for his family. He offers to make renovations, but in reality, he’s trying to get Isabel to give up and return to London. Both her son and her daughter have show more grown to love living “rough” without even finished bathroom. When Isobel wises up to what is happening, its too late to save the house. I enjoyed this book with some reservations about the ending. It seemed to me like there was a publishing deadline and the bits and pieces needed to be tied together. show less

Zwischendurch lese ich gerne Bücher von Joyo Moyes und hole gerade einige ihrer früheren Romane nach. Dieser hat mir allerdings nicht so gut gefallen.

Einige Figuren schienen mir unglaubwürdig, überzogen oder inkonsistent beschrieben, andere blieben seltsam blass, gemeinsam hatten zumindest die Hauptfiguren, dass sie mir durchgängig unsympathisch waren. Auch mit Klischees wurde nicht unbedingt gespart.
Die Vorzüge des Lebens in einem kleinen Ort (statt in London, wo die Protagonistin und ihre Kinder vor dem Umzug gelebt haben) wurden mir zu einseitig hervorgehoben. Die engeren persönlichen Kontakte, die Tatsache, dass jeder jeden kennt, hat nicht nur Vorteile.
Das Trauma des Sohnes, das immerhin so schlimm war, dass er am Anfang show more des Buches überhaupt nicht mehr gesprochen hat, wurde quasi auf zwei Seiten abgehandelt und behoben, nicht zuletzt durch die Hilfe eines Hundewelpens.
Das Happy End war ziemlich vorhersehbar und hätte besser in eine Seifenoper gepasst.

Dieses Buch ist definitiv nicht auf dem Niveau einiger ihrer späteren Bücher. Wird mich aber sicher nicht davon abhalten, weitere Bücher der Autorin zu lesen. show less

Marie Claire listed this as a perfect summer read. I disagree. In my mind a perfect summer read is basic chic lit - something you don't have to think too much about and doesn't cause strong emotions. This book is deeper and a bit darker than that. It deals with death, grief, infidelity, and madness. I did enjoy this book and it's variety of characters. I felt the author explored the emotions surrounding these issues quite well, in spite of the fact that it appears in her opinion most people are unfaithful to their spouses.

Nothing special but a pleasant diversion. Easy reading romance with a frustratingly disconnected professional violinist left broke by her philandering spouse who died suddenly. A great uncle left them a house that his neighbors thought they’d get, setting up competition and bad feelings. Several half-explored plot bits detract from the story but Moyes has fans who will enjoy this novel.

Classical violinist, Isabel, is devastated upon the death of her husband. After most of a year she has still not taken responsibility for her life, her children or her finances. She lives in cotton waiting for everyone to take care of things. When she finally learns the truth of her finances, she has the solicitor handle everything and determines to move to the inherited mortgage free derelict that remains. The couple next door, Matt and Laura, who thought they would get the house, plan on sabotaging her to get her to sell. The one decent person, Byron has a prison record and is afraid to take a real stand. I found the plot had potential, but I just couldn't warm up to these characters.