Book Review: The Lucy Variations by Sara Zarr

Take the regular struggles of being a teenager, add the eyes of the entire professional music performance community, plus an intense family pride in excellence and it’s no wonder that piano prodigy Lucy Beck-Moreau cracked under the pressure.  Now, months after her very visible exit from music, Lucy’s brother is in need of a new piano teacher.  Will Devi is able to bring out the best in Gus’s playing, but also in Lucy.  Lucy has to navigate her complicated family dynamics (particularly her grandfather’s stern judgment), the tentative friendships she still has, and her growing attachment to the married Will as the joy of making music begins to reawaken her soul.  Zarr deftly captures what it feels like to be moved by music, down in the deep part of your soul.  Describing the artistic spirit is indeed an elusive task.  Lucy’s journey is reminiscent of gradually un-clenching a fist, and her self-rediscovery is marked with moments of Zarr’s clever and clear insight.  However, moments are all we get.  The principal character is tragically dull for the first third of the book.  The relationship that develops between Lucy and Will is understandable at times, but more often concerning, considering that he’s a 30 year old married man accepting the emotional baggage of a teenage girl.  While the finale finds Lucy confidently facing the future, the penultimate action sounds discordant and forced.  Zarr certainly gave herself a difficult task with this story of emotion and intangible things, but Lucy’s tale falls short of what it could be.

I read this book months ago, when it first came out.  I absolutely loved Sara Zarr’s previous novel, How to Save a Life, and I had high hopes for The Lucy Variations.  Fairly disappointing, but I won’t lose faith in Sara Zarr.