Don't the Moon Look Lonesome : A Novel in Blues and Swing (Vintage)

Rating:
Summary: A Jazz Beat To The Heart!
Review:
Carla is a successful white jazz singer in love with Maxwell, a black sax player. Their life was fine for a few years but now Carla can feel Maxwell pulling away. Maxwell seems to have doubts about their interracial romance. When they take a trip to visit Maxwell's parents, Maxwell searches his heart for the answers while Carla takes a trip back through her past.
This novel was nothing short of fantastic! Crouch fit his characters like a glove. The passion and emotions of Carla and Maxwell and the issues they face as a couple were real and emotionally charged. A romance fused with blues. A jazz beat the the heart.
Reviewed by Dawnny


Rating:
Summary: i tried to like this book.
Review: honestly, i did...i spent over a month trying to get into it, even skipped some chapters. sometimes i think crouch tries too hard to show readers that he can write, by utilizing multiple voices, flashbacks, etc. it left me confused and it made the story very hard to follow. i tried to stick with it, because i loved the subject of interracial love, but the convoluted telling frustrated me..i may go back to it later...sometimes, less is more, stanley...

Rating:
Summary: great on race
Review: I found "Don't The Moon Look Lonesome" to be a marvelous illuminating novel on America, and on race. I liked the wide sweep in the novel, and I find the fact that Crouch takes no one point of view, there are no stereotypes in this novel, amazingly refreshing. Crouch sees America to be an essentially mixed culture, and that our survival depends on ourselves accepting -- and celebrating -- that we are part of this mixed culture. Crouch's musical training -- his expertise on jazz -- serves him well, as there is a terrific undercurrent of the Blues and swing in this novel. Most important, the characters are original and great. Carla, the complicated white protagonist, carries the story forward. I think this is definetely a must book for those who want to know and understand what's happened to America since the l960s.

Rating:
Summary: Congratulations to Mr. Crouch
Review: I found this book to be an open minded one, expressing many different viewpoints from many different people, hammering home the idea that the invidual and his/her freedom to make decisions should be the goal and landmark of America... It is also clear to me that Crouch has an amazing scope of knowledge, from music to literature to culture. The book is full of racial stereotypes coming from the mouths of the characters. But for every one of these characters, there exists an open minded, analytical thinker to counterbalance them. These conversations are the highlight of the book in my mind. The other highlight is Crouch's attempt to dissect jazz and other musical forms on paper, to try and recreate the actual song being played on to paper, giving us a reason for each note, stanza, etc. The big problem in this book, in my opinion, was that it seemed that Crouch was trying too hard in some instances to create the perfect sentence, leading to excess and cluttered verbeage. Some passages flowed beautifully, others dragged very slowly. As a result, the book seemed choppy and discongruent. I've always liked Stanley Crouch. He's bold, unafraid to speak his mind, intelligent, and witty. These characteristics come out in his first novel, a book about an interracial relationship between two musicians, their biographical histories, and their difficulties they encounter trying to hold their relationship together.. I've seen Crouch many times on TV, and although I don't always agree with him, I've always wanted to go have beers with him..

Rating:
Summary: Don't the praise look dishonest
Review: I loved Stanley Crouch's book. It presents black characters in ways that are rarely presented in fiction, as people who talk about life with wit and humor on a very civilized level. They talk about justice and the purpose of existence. They talk about literature (Shakespeare), about classical music (Wagner), about painting (Leonardo and Picasso). And when they discuss jazz - as is to be expected in a book about a black jazz saxophone soloist and a white woman from Idaho who becomes a serious jazz singer - they talk not only about the feeling of jazz but about its content and the ideas that underlie it. Another strikingly original aspect of this book is that Crouch represents religion in our society as a powerful and stabilizing force (his description of a black church service in Houston is compelling and masterly). Is Crouch discursive?  Of course he is, but so was Shaw, and how about Homer?

Rating:
Summary: civilized talk
Review: I loved Stanley Crouch's book. It presents black characters in ways that are rarely presented in fiction, as people who talk about life with wit and humor on a very civilized level. They talk about justice and the purpose of existence. They talk about literature (Shakespeare), about classical music (Wagner), about painting (Leonardo and Picasso). And when they discuss jazz - as is to be expected in a book about a black jazz saxophone soloist and a white woman from Idaho who becomes a serious jazz singer - they talk not only about the feeling of jazz but about its content and the ideas that underlie it. Another strikingly original aspect of this book is that Crouch represents religion in our society as a powerful and stabilizing force (his description of a black church service in Houston is compelling and masterly).Is Crouch discursive?  Of course he is, but so was Shaw, and how about Homer?

Rating:
Summary: Congratulations to Mr. Crouch
Review: It is hard to begin to list the ways that I loved this book. I enjoyed it as a musician and as one who wants to learn about race relations. The BEAUTIFUL writing and expression made the book an experience to read at each sitting. Also, the unfolding of the story was more than enjoyable. That covers the surface. Congratulations to Stanley Crouch on a wonderful work of art and thank you for writing this book.

Rating:
Summary: this is a masterpiece
Review: Stanley Crouch's work has always provoked thought and animated ideas on either side of the spectrum. Just take a look at the rest of the reviews on this site! I'm a musician and I believe that Stanley Crouch is a genius whose debut novel is THE finest example of jazz fiction ever written. His characters are clearly a blend of major jazz figures (as Crouch probably knew them first-hand) and provide the reader with an intimate portrait of the complexity of the jazz life -- an analogy can easily be drawn from this to the complexity of American life. Carla ruminates over her failing inter-racial relationship in a profoundly introspective narrative that flips time around in a thrilling manner I've only experienced listening to Tony Williams' drumming. Read this book with an active attention to detail, plot complexity, and the lyrical beauty of the dialogue and your life will be enriched.

Rating:
Summary: this is a masterpiece
Review: Stanley Crouch's work has always provoked thought and animated ideas on either side of the spectrum. Just take a look at the rest of the reviews on this site! I'm a musician and I believe that Stanley Crouch is a genius whose debut novel is THE finest example of jazz fiction ever written. His characters are clearly a blend of major jazz figures (as Crouch probably knew them first-hand) and provide the reader with an intimate portrait of the complexity of the jazz life -- an analogy can easily be drawn from this to the complexity of American life. Carla ruminates over her failing inter-racial relationship in a profoundly introspective narrative that flips time around in a thrilling manner I've only experienced listening to Tony Williams' drumming. Read this book with an active attention to detail, plot complexity, and the lyrical beauty of the dialogue and your life will be enriched.