Music From Beyond The Moon by Augusta Trobaugh

Music From Beyond The Moon Reviews

• 
  Marija

  I was pleasantly surprised at how well Trobough crafted the beginning of her book. She was almost Dickensian in the characterization of her characters. Everything described is so visual...the little boy left behind, scared by the sudden appearance of the dark figure with the egret feather peering at him through the bushes...the soothing quality of the dark figure’s voice...the image of Fiona and Glory, two old ladies who are essentially the female version of the Odd Couple, finding little Victor...it’s wonderful! The writing is so vivid and real. It is well done.
  
  However, the momentum Trobough developed during the first third of her novel somehow manages to dissipate as the reader progresses through the latter parts of the book. I think the main reason why the first section of the book worked so well, is its focus—the story centered around the boy and those two elderly ladies who adopt him. Together, they made an amusing trio. Though as the story progresses, Trobough continuously adds to her supporting cast of characters, which in turn, helps the story lose its focus. Rather than the prior focus on character, the story becomes heavily focused on plot, told from different points of view. Because of this, the characters became flat and listless, almost shadows of their former selves, as the plot meandered to its end. Too much happened, causing the story to feel cluttered. I found this change disturbing.
  
  As well, I think all of the shifts in time and the addition of the various storylines of these new characters contributed to a major story error—an error I truly hope the editors were able to catch before the final printing. The story begins in 1924, when little Victor is around 18 months to two years old. Yet around the time of Pearl Harbor (Dec. 1941), Fiona describes Victor as being only sixteen and too young to enter WWII. Between that period of time is seventeen years, and given Victor’s age in 1924, it would make him eighteen, almost nineteen years old—certainly old enough to enlist without the need to fake his age. I sincerely hope the 1924 date in my copy was a misprint.
  
  While I did enjoy some aspects of this novel, considering the work in its entirety, I don’t feel that it met my expectations. I was rather disappointed by it. That said, I do think if the novel was broken up into shorter pieces, i.e. short stories about small town life collected into one volume, Trobough would have had a much better work. The short story format would have given her more room to develop her characters as well as her plot. In the short story format, there would be a lesser chance for her to lose momentum in her storytelling.
  
• 
  Kat C

  I don't know how such beautiful words can build such a lacking story but they do. The pictures the words drew in my head were great but ultimately I feel happy that the book is over.
• 
  Best

  
  THIS REVIEW ON B'S BOOK BLOG!
  
  An e-copy of this book was provided by NetGalley and the publisher.
  
  "That's what love is like—it's mysterious and far away, and we can never even really touch it—never hold it tight at the same time, never let it go. But we can hear it sometimes, honey. Like music. Music from beyond the moon."
  
  The first thing I have to say about this book is that I'm glad I finally got it over with. Had it been a wonderful read? No, not really. Was it more like a sleeping pill? Yes, yes, yes, definitely! After 20 days, an end was put to this misery of mine. Who'd have thought a 266-page book could take me this long to finish? This book is incredibly boring. There, I came right out and said it. Am I being harsh? Maybe. But if I were a reader looking for the next book to read, and thought this book might be it, that's what I'd want to know. There are a lot more better ways to spend your time than with the wrong book, trust me.
  
  Music from Beyond the Moon started off pretty amazingly for a book that could literally bore me to tears. It's 1924 when a baby boy is abandoned by his mother in the backyard (I think) of a house owned by two southern women in a place called Love-Oak in Florida. The women, Fiona and Glory, take him into their home and give him all the love in their world. They give him a name (Victor), love him and raise him like he was their own. But the plot isn't what I'm talking about here. Here is the one thing I liked about this book: the writing. I could see vivid details of what was going on. I could feel the emotions coming out of the characters. I loved that. The author's words are very well chosen and they form these amazing sentences. Oh, her writing is gorgeous! I'm a sucker for good writing, alright.
  
  Here's my favorite:
  "Her thoughts are like wild birds flying blindly around a cage they didn't know was there."
  
  I loved the way her words are strung together. It's kind of sad that that's where the compliment has to end. However good the author's way with words may be, I can't like her book if the story isn't well written, and that's definitely the case. I lost interest as soon as 2% of the book was over. That's just about how good the book is to me. That's a little before the part where the author started making the book so off-topic and lose its focus on the story that it was hard for me to try to understand why she did this. That's where enjoyment ended and "tolerance" started.
  
  There are quite a number of  problems I had with this book. The author seemed to have written everything about every one of the character, which is quite over the top. Do I need to know how the lives of everyone were before the book starts? Of course not. Most of those things are totally unnecessary. So many stories about the past of these characters are put in the book that it made me wonder what this book is really about, and whom it is supposed to focus on. I understand that the past needs to be told in order to shape the future, but it really wouldn't be that difficult to cut out the mumbo jumbo and unnecessary sub-plots, would it? That would have made my reading much easier and more comfortable. This book has a problem staying focused on the main plot, and that's very annoying. It leads you off-topic for what seems like 20 pages and that makes it hard to get back on track, and you don't remember anymore what was happening before that. When a book is written in this manner, it usually gets a bye-bye from me.
  
  The message of this book to me is pretty clear. Since Music from Beyond the Moon is a book about love and the tragedy it brings, its makes you see how love can break you and how terrible something as wonderful as love can be. Heartbreaking stories of each character are told one after another: A woman who thought she knew love but didn't; a good girl gone bad loving the wrong guy; a mother who had to go; love between two young people that just can't be; etc. Sometimes I could feel their pain, but most of the time I was annoyed instead. I would've really liked this book if it hadn't been for the way it was written.
  
  So here's the bottom line: I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.
• 
  Megan (The Book Babe)

  
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• 
  Turquoise

  In the light of a reckless young woman, the childless Grace found an abandoned toddler in the woods. When it came to a desire for an offspring, no one could compare to the lonely widow, which resulted in Grace taking in the boy under her wings. In an effort to keep the child, whom was named Victor, to herself, they lived under a false pretense that he was the nephew of her dead sister. To her dismay, her deception was almost revealed, contrary to her dream of keeping him.
  
  Victor growing up resulted in him falling prey to a beautiful girl’s look and generous heart. Contrary to Victor’s brewing feeling, Grace did not relish the thought of losing her baby to a girl when it came to her hopes of being closely knitted forever. Grace tried to stop them from dating in an effort to put an end to their unyielding relationship. To her great dismay, it backfired on her. Contrary to her original plan, Victor left her to join the army. In order to halt his ground-breaking proposal, Grace gained help in the light of his lover’s soft heart.
  
  To my dismay, the last paragraph was false; manifested from my over-developed imagination. Contrary to my expectation, Music from Beyond the Moon was boring and slow, which resulted in my inability to finish reading it when I've finish the plot line of the first paragraph. (Sorry for misleading you, but that was probably what happened...) In the light of the lust-inducing cover, I was intrigued and hopeful when it came to the romance. Yet this book fell prey to the author’s beautiful, still, painfully inane writing. In order to relish the author’s own fantasy in completing the entire book in soulful prose, this book completely failed in grabbing my attention. To try and address what she perceived was a hauntingly heartbreaking love story; the author lost her focus in her own words. I tried to not throw the book to the ground over and over again until it crumbled right under my feet in an effort to stay in tune until the romance was put forth. To my dismay, even that took too long.
  
  (Review also seen on
  A Bluish-Green Blog)
• 
  Tintaglia

  Un libro sull’amore in ogni sua forma, come dichiarato dal titolo.
  Sull’amore materno, e i sacrifici che si arrivano a fare per esso; sull’amore fra uomo e donna, riconosciuto o meno; sull’amore che rovina, perché riposto in chi non lo merita; sull’amore che arriva presto, prima ancora che lo si sappia riconoscere o nominare. Sulle forme, i limiti, i sacrifici dell’amore.
  
  La trama e i personaggi in realtà non fanno altro che esplorare il sentimento, sullo sfondo della lussureggiante Florida degli anni Venti-Quaranta, nelle vite che ruotano intorno a Victor, abbandonato bambino dalla madre e cresciuto con amore infinito da Fiona e Glory, da Starry e Old Man, travolto dall’attrazione e dell’amore precocissimo per la bella Rebecca, oggetto della passione della sfacciata, nera Jubilee, destinato a crescere e a esplorare con coloro che lo circondano il sentimento più misterioso di tutti: indefinibile e sottile, come una musica che arrivi da oltre la luna.
  
• 
  Stephanie Alexander

  This is one of those books that I judged by the cover. Shame on me. That being said, with one look at this lovely cover, I expected a wildly romantic story set in the WWII era about an orphaned boy who falls in love, written in the frist pov by the main protagonist.
  
  What I got was a third person pov tale with beautifully written prose that bored me so much I couldn't finish the first quarter. I waited for the story to pick up, for something to actually happen, but eventually I just lost interest. Augusta Trobaugh is a gifted writer, no doubt skilled in the art of descriptive writing, but she needs to work on pacing and how to keep interest in not only the story line but the characters. I didn't care about any of them enough to pick it back up again.
• 
  Jennifer Reeves

  "God sends us here to love each other, and if we can do that, we are blessed. Even if we lose love. Even if we try to kill it, or it succeeds in killing us. Even if it laughs in our faces while it rips out our hearts and leaves us to bleed to death, we are blessed."
  
  A riveting tale about an 18 month old boy that was left by his mother in the care of 2 women. They both care for him like he is their naturally born son. You read about what people will do for love for family and otherwise. The real meaning of family and love is shown in this book. I was captured from beginning to end with this novel.
  
• 
  Patricia

  Augusta Trobaugh is one of my favorite authors. Her stories are complex and unique, and her characters are people you truly care about. This new book did not disappoint! If this is your first Augusta Trobaugh book, it won't be your last. I've loved all her books, but favorites are Resting in the Bosom of the Lamb, Sophie and the Rising Sun, and The Tea-Olive Birdwatching Society. Plan now to read them all!
• 
  Tonya

  A heartbreaking story about young love. This book teaches about what love really is and how hearts can be torn and tortured. I laughed, I cried, I cringed, I pondered. I could not stop scrolling to get to the end! I read this book in one day. Music from Beyond the Moon is a shocking, heartbreaking read. I would recommend it to anyone who likes an unpredictable ending.
• 
  Lila Cyclist

  Harusnya sih bintangnya 1.5 saja untuk konflik yg ga jelas, intro yg dipanjang panjangkan, bikin ngantuk, tokoh sentral yg ga jelas juga, en banyak ke-.nggondukan yg lain. Bisa sampe hal 110 itu sdh rekor mengingat saya dpt ebook ini gratis n merasa ngga enak kok ngga dibaca
• 
  Debra

  
  Check out my review below:
  
  
  Debra's Book Cafe
  
  
  Debs :-)
  
• 
  Deborah aka Reading Mom

  Bleh....started out beautifully, went downhill; excruciating. (Not a review, just my thoughts).