Morningsong Book

There are many lovely facets to this book, but I was really hoping Currey would drive a 5 star stake through my heart. With wonderfully poetic writing, the honestly portrayed hills of Appalachia, and a banjo picker holding on to his musical dreams as a protagonist, Currey wielded a formula that could easily shoot me to the moon. And while I still thoroughly enjoyed the book and the many things that Currey did right, there seemed to be a few corners cut which prevented my hopes of lunar experience. First, the organization of the text could be laid out better in my opinion and the writing tone was uneven in places. More importantly, Sapper's dichotomy between music and everyday life is a focal point early on, but at times it is not so tight and driven. In fact, Currey seems to let his foot off the accelerator and takes a bit of an easy way out with the conflict and resolution in this man's life. Mixing Sapper' musical interest conflict with his son's later involvement in the Vietnam War helped make the story go at that point, but it also entirely switched, and in my opinion cheapened, Sapper's music vs. life conflicts. Sapper's son could have made the same decisions, reached the same tragedy, whether his father had lived the life of a musician or not. Furthermore, as the Vietnam/war conflict comes into the book, Sapper's deeper issues with the music and a musical lifestyle are eclipsed. By the end, the musical side of Sapper's life seems to have developed with little issue or conflict. For me, I would have much preferred that the conflict of this book remain grounded in Sapper's life as a musician on the back roads of Appalachia. The tragedy/conflict switching to Sapper's son going to Vietnam lessened a lot of what I loved about this book....and ruined a lot of where I hoped it was going. Still, despite the criticism, I loved the book, loved Currey's ideas, loved his warm, passionate writing. I think if he had spent more time with the book, he could have turned it into something even more memorable.