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The Song Reader: Summary and book reviews of The Song Reader by Lisa Tucker, plus links to an excerpt from The Song Reader and a biography of Lisa Tucker.

The Song Reader

The Song Reader
by Lisa Tucker
Paperback: May 2003,
320 pages.

Publication information
First book/First Novel


Author Information
Critics' Opinion:   
Readers' Rating:    Not Yet Rated
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BOOK SUMMARY

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She can hear the music in peoples' souls.

Mary Beth and her younger sister Leeann are trying to support themselves in their small Southern hometown. So Mary Beth works to make ends meet by practicing her own unique talent: "song reading." By making sense of the song lyrics people have stuck in their heads, Mary Beth can help people make sense of their lives. In no time, Mary Beth's readings have the entire town singing her praises, including the handsome scientist Ben, who falls hard for Mary Beth and her unearthly intuition.

What happens when she can't make out the lyrics?

When Mary Beth reveals a long-muted secret in the community, however, she turns off the music and gives up song reading for good. Soon everyone's lives are out of tune: Leeann worries she'll never graduate from high school, and Ben can't conduct his experiments. Without Mary Beth's music the town's silence is louder than ever. Could it be that all the lyrics to all those foolish love songs really aren't so foolish after all?

Media Reviews

  Albuquerque Tribune
Tucker's first effort out of the gate is a clear winner. . . a literary sensation.

  Library Journal - Patricia Gulian
In this incisive and ultimately startling work, Tucker very skillfully reveals the damage that family members can do to one another and the energy required to repair the damage—or not.

  Booklist
Leeann is the perfect narrator for this engaging and bittersweet story of compassion, forgiveness, and the search for redemption. This is a wonderful first novel.

  Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Tucker's assured debut novel is an achingly tender narrative about grief, love, madness and crippling family secrets.

Author Blurb John Dufresne - author of Louisiana Power & Light
Tucker turns an engaging premise into a fascinating novel ... could well end up to be one of the summer's hot beach reads.

Author Blurb Kevin McIlvoy
A novel of remarkable wisdom and tenderness ... Every splendid page inspires courage.

Author Blurb Margot Livesey - author of Eva Moves the Furniture
In this sparkling debut, Tucker takes a fascinating premise—the possibility of reading the future through songs—and uses it to tell the absorbing story ...a delightful and engrossing novel.

Author Blurb Silas House - author of A Parchment of Leaves
... this is a stunning debut by a major new voice for her generation.

Recent Reader Reviews

Readalikes Full readalike results are for members only

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In this funny, sad and somehow good natured book Jean Harfenist explores the interface between love and dysfunction through young Lillian whose voice will stick with you long after you turn the last page.

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In lush and elegant prose, Divakaruni has crafted a vivid and enduring dream, one that reveals hidden truths about the world we live in, and from which readers will be reluctant to wake.


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