Body and Soul Book

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Body & Soul is a stand alone novel written by Frank Conroy.

This book is about a child prodigy named Claude Rawlings, set in the 1940's in New York. I was so enchanted with the expressive content of the book that I reread it more than once. Claude's alcoholic mother left him alone. With no encouragement from his mother, music mentors discovered him and tutored him without charge.

BOOK DESCRIPTIONS:

This saga of a son of the working class who grows into a piano prodigy is "hypnotically readable . . . The best story I know of in a long, long time" (Vanity Fair).

As a boy, Claude Rawlings looks up through the grated window of his basement apartment to watch the world go by. Poor, lonely, supported by a taxi-driver mother whose eccentricities spin more and more out of control, he faces the terrible task of growing up on the margins of life, destined to be a spectator of that great world always hurrying out of reach. But there is an out-of-tune piano in the small apartment, and in unlocking the secrets of its keys, as if by magic, Claude discovers himself. He is a musical prodigy.

Body & Soul is the story of a young man whose life is transformed by a gift. The gift is not without price'the work is relentless, the teachers exacting'but the reward is a journey that takes him to the drawing rooms of the rich and powerful, private schools, a gilt-edged marriage, and Carnegie Hall. Claude moves through this life as if he were playing a difficult composition, swept up in its drama and tension, surprised by its grace notes. Music, here, becomes a character in its own right, equaled in strength only by the music of Frank Conroy's own unmistakable and true voice.

Bristling with character and invention, Body & Soul is Dickensian in its range and richness. This is a novel with all the emotional appeal and moral gravity of a classic bildungsroman, but with a tone as contemporary as a jazz riff'an unforgettable achievement by one of the great writers of our time.

Claude's musical abilities and ambition lead to him playing piano at a very young age, mastering multiple piano techniques and composing. His talent was presumably passed down from a birth father he never knew. He spent hours each day engrossed in practicing with intent in order to achieve all his goals.

This novel is a clean, historical coming-of-age saga based on a extraordinary musician. This compelling drama was a most entertaining narrative.

I was enthralled with this book and would recommend it!

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Body & Soul: A Novel Kindle Edition
by Frank Conroy (Author)
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 1st edition
Published: (September 29, 1993)

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