Much of Music of the Ghosts explores how we survive in the face of inhumanity but it doesn't sugarcoat the lasting effects on its characters' psyches. Would you say that the novel has an optimistic message?

Much of the novel explores how we adapt to and survive in the face of inhumanity. Still, it doesn't sugarcoat the lasting effects of fear, desperation, and ruthlessness on its characters' psyches. Would you say that Music of the Ghosts has an optimistic message?

I did find Ratner's tone optimistic. She portrays the value of beauty - in nature, art, music and relationships. The ending, which has a young couple in love and ready to form a new family, is highly optimistic and is a testimony to the durable spirit of people who have lived through great loss and also intentional cruel actions.

If you make it through to the end, the novel is very hopeful. Teera and the Old Musician have finally faced and faced down their demons and are now content although saddened by their past.

We can find optimism in the story as we see healing in the Old Musician and in Teera. They face the truths of their lives and begin to move beyond them. That doesn't mean they will forget what happened, but that they can and will deal with it. That is always a positive.

The story is optimistic, but, hopefully, so are most people. Throughout history people have somehow survived the unimaginable. They come through it with changes that very often make them a better and stronger person than they were.

If optimism includes the belief that we can come out on the other side of war, atrocity, loss, and tragedy, yes, the novel is optimistic. It also shows beauty existing in the midst of horror - the art, music, and poetry that endure in spite of horror and evil.

I find that from the start of the book she was trying to find how to survive and be human. The inhumanity that was rampant, and the humanity that moves forward from such horror is an old story for the human race and psyche. Her story is an intense and horrible one, yet the beauty she has found in her writing, in her descriptions, in the humanity of coming face to face again with that time, through seeing and hearing other stories, watching, seeing, and being with families who have moved beyond that time. It is an optimistic message, because we are human, highly intelligent animals, with an instinct to survive, so we do move on.

A society still very much in turmoil, where perpetrators and survivors of unfathomable violence live side by side, striving to mend their still beloved country. I feel this is definitely an optimistic message for all of us.