Skip to main content

Private Lessons by Cynthia Salaysay

3 out of 5 🌟 Craving for love

Claire is a 17-year old teenager whose father died of cancer and whose mother has been depressed ever since. Her best friend got a boyfriend and consequently, they're spending less and less time together. Claire finds her escape from all these problems in music. She's a talented pianist and being the best piano player is her chance to get a scholarship. Claire's new piano teacher impress her in every possible way. He is an accomplished musician and teacher, and he is nice to her, which in these circumstances is enough for Clair to become fond of him.

My main issue with the 'Private Lessons' was that for at least 80% of the book I wasn't sure what the story is really about. It gave me the creepy 'Lolita' vibes and I wasn't really sure if the book wants to be a romance or a cautionary tale. Towards the ending, things got clear, and Claire's behavior started to make so much sense from the retrospective. She was not a troublesome teenager but the lonely child craving for some love and mistaking sex for real emotions.
The book also mentions the problem of racism and how the white Americans approach non-white people and what assumptions they have about Asians (Claire is also Filipino). Although, that topic was described only briefly and I wish it was explored more.

'Private Lessons' touches the issue of rape vs consent sex in relation to age and power. This is a powerful topic and it should've been better executed. I would rather know about the incident from the very beginning and learn all the circumstances and history behind it in retrospect. I feel I would've better understand Claire and all her choices, knowing about her longing for a real relationship from the very beginning.

Nevertheless, it was an eye-opening book and I was as shocked as the main character when I realized (in retrospect) that it was indeed rape and not just a bad sexual encounter. 
The book encouraged me to have some in-depth conversations about that with my husband and made me think about my past experience with not-so-100%-consent encounters. And with that in mind, I'm sure that book can be highly triggering for a lot of people.

As for the author's style, the book is well written and I read it in just a few days. The storytelling was captivating and I'll be looking for the next books by Cynthia Salaysay.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher Candlewick Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and feelings are my own.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Call Me American (Adapted for Young Adults) by Abdi Nor Iftin

5 out of 5 🌟 Life as we don't know it  'Call Me American' made me astounded since page one. It a memoir of Abdi Nor Iftin, a Somalian man who immigrated from his home country to the USA. The story starts with Abdi's parents who were nomads living in Somalian wilderness herding camels, hunting and, occasionally, fighting with lions and hyenas. His family has settled in the city of Mogadishu where their hard-enough life was brutally interrupted by the war in 1993 and - long story short - anarchy that comes after. Abdi has been always fascinated with American culture and taught himself English watching Hollywood movies. His lifelong dream was to move to the United States and this memoir tells the story of his long and dangerous journey through war and bureaucracy. This book left me speechless and while I'm gathering my words to write this review, I know I won't be able to do it right. 'Call Me American' tells about a life that's an exact opposite of an...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jesse Owens by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara, Illustrations by Anna Katharina Jansen

5 out of 5 🌟 Educational and nicely illustrated Little People, Big Dreams  are short books for children about exceptional people who shaped our world. They're enjoyable pieces of non-fiction to enjoy by children. I love biographies of people who dared to be different, and these short books are one of my favorites. What I especially like about the series ‘ Little People, Big Dreams’  are simple and friendly illustrations to make children feel it was truly made for them. Graphics to 'Jesse Owens' were made by Anna Katharina Jensen and they're fit perfectly amid the spirit of the first half of the XXth century with their sepia warm colors. The biography is highly educational and besides Jesse Owens' history, it touches problems of segregation and racism in the United States and in the World. It should be read along with children to help them explain the struggles Jesse Owens had because of his skin color. I love the most in 'Little People, Big Dreams...
Post a Comment
Read more

Everything Here Is under Control by Emily Adrian, Narrated by Madeleine Lambert

3 out of 5 👯‍♀️Female friendship tale 'Everything Here is Under Control' tells a story of two BFFs who's lost track of each other's lives somewhere along their way to adulthood. Carrie's got pregnant and gotten birth to a daughter while still in high school. Amanda has been helping her for the first years but right after graduation she left their small Ohio town and moved to NYC with her boyfriend. Several years later, overwhelmed with being a new mother herself, Amanda ran away from her baby father right to Carrie's house. I have mixed feelings about Madeline Lambert as narrator. While her narration with normal speed was monotonous and bland, with 1.5x speed it gave that nonchalant irony which matched perfectly with my character of Amanda. I wish I've heard more tone changing and modulating. Overall, I subtracted 0.5 points of my original score for the audio version. Reading about the struggles of a new mother reminded me of the first months (weeks? years!...
Post a Comment
Read more