The Words of Every Song by Liz Moore

The Words of Every Song Reviews

• 
  Ceecee

  This collection of ‘short stories’ was first published in 2007 but still feels fresh today and some are very relatable. All the stories are linked or connect in some way through the characters involvement in the music industry, especially Titan Records in New York. Several of the characters reoccur such as Theo the A and R man of the label and Jax Powers-Klein the CEO. The stories are quick and easy to read, they’re well written and give you an intriguing snapshot of that person at a given time, although for some characters Liz Moore gives you a future reference which I like. Some of the stories are more engaging than others and it’s particularly the characters that are struggling in some way whose voices come across the strongest. For example, Tommy Mays, 30, jaded, successful and goes off the rails if parted from his wife and young daughters. I also like Jeffrey (the Great) from Tommy’s band who is feels terrible loneliness which is of course doubly sad because he’s rarely physically alone. Tony the sound man at Titan is haunted by regrets over his failed marriage but the one which resonates the most because it’s so sad is Mike from group The Burn who are trying to make an impact on the music scene. His story is very powerful and sad as he is haunted by a previous girlfriend.
  
  Overall, I enjoyed reading these episodes and the ones that make the most connection are those characters that are struggling in some way as their heartache comes across more powerfully.
• 
  Janelle

  This was really enjoyable! It’s a collection of loosely connected short stories set in and around the music industry. Characters recur although each story focuses on one particular person. Bands and managers, record company people and their families, lovers and friends, fans and more. It’s well written, I was interested in all the interactions, and it’s well structured so the ending was almost a full circle to the beginning of the book.
• 
  Jason Pettus

  (Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)
  
  Uh-oh; another musician's written a novel about the music industry. I don't know about you, but this always tends to be my first thought whenever hearing about a famous non-literary artist who's written a novel, especially when it's a novel about the industry in which they first got famous, whether that's an actor or a musician or a dancer or whatever. And there's a very good reason for that, too -- most of these books suck, they suck very badly, and the only reason they were published in the first place is because that artist is already famous for doing something else, therefore it's guaranteed that their book will sell a decent amount of copies just for curiosity's sake. And that's...well, I'm not going to get into the morality of the publishing industry, or the ethics of any executive within that industry, but let's just say that as a fan of smart literary projects, I usually try to avoid such novels like the plague.
  
  But see, I'd actually heard a lot of really good things in the last six months about the debut novel by musician Liz Moore, a complex look at the New York side of the music industry entitled The Words of Every Song; and I just happened to stumble across a copy of it at my neighborhood library a couple of weeks ago, so decided to check it out and take a chance on it. And boy, am I glad now that I did; although not perfect by any means, it is indeed a much better music-industry novel by a musician than usual, a book that made me laugh and cry and believe it or not actually understand the music industry just a little better than I did before. And this is because Moore avoids a lot of the typical cliches and traps that many authors in her position fall into, and does complex things with her manuscript that you usually don't see in these situations; in effect, it makes the book much more intellectually engaging than the usual crap about beautiful 25-year-olds with guitars and expensive haircuts, the kind of book that makes you want to hand out copies to aspiring authors and say, "See, here's how you write a book about the music industry. This is how you do it." It has its flaws, which I'll be getting into in a bit; on the whole, though, I found it a thoroughly entertaining read, something I'm very glad now that I took a chance on.
  
  So what exactly did Moore do with this novel that so many others haven't? Well, for starters, instead of concentrating on some earnest indie label like so many of these types of novels do, she takes a surprisingly complicated look at a Geffen-type major label (that is, one started by an eccentric rich maverick, that has grown into its own multinational corporation), and of all the different types of things such a major label does at any given moment. And the reason this is so smart is that it gives Moore a lot more material to work with than the usual music-industry novel; not just stories about self-absorbed cock-rockers and angry Ani-DiFranco wannabes (although they're in there too), but also introverted violinists recording classical CDs, weight-conscious 15-year-olds in girl bands, even the failed musicians who make up the label's secretarial staff. Moore backs this up, then, by making the book technically a collection of themed stories with shared characters, much like Tama Janowitz's early-'80s look at the Manhattan art scene, Slaves of New York; each story concentrates on just one or two characters filling out this milieu, while others from previous and future stories serve as background characters.
  
  And let's face it; the reason most musicians who write a novel don't do this is because it's hard to do, with most of those musician-turned-authors simply not good enough to pull such a thing off; it takes real talent, after all, legitimate plotting talent, to balance 30 or 40 characters in a single manuscript like Moore does here, to slyly show us the ultimate fates of such characters precisely through little throwaway lines in the backgrounds of other characters' stories. Like, let's just take the character Tom, for a good example; a middle-aged former alcoholic, new father, and most famous musician on the entire label, at the beginning of the novel an entire story is dedicated just to the beginning of his newest tour, which by the end of the story has turned into a disaster. But see, it isn't until about halfway through the book that we learn of the repercussions of that disastrous tour, during a story about a studio engineer that is otherwise completely unrelated; one of the background things that happens in that story is Tom having to be quietly ushered out a back door of the studio by someone else, because of being off the wagon again and too drunk to even play his guitar, a scene that lasts no more than a few lines in the overall story about the unrelated engineer. And then near the end of the book, once again as a background detail to someone else's story, we learn of the ultimate fate of Tom; he has sobered up once again, and has decided to take his wife and kids
  on the road with him this time, since it was his pain over their absence that made him fall off the wagon to begin with. And again, this takes up no more than a paragraph or two of the overall story itself, which again is mostly unrelated to Tom and his particular circle of acquaintances.
  
  Now imagine multiplying such references by 30 or 40, and you can see what I mean by how difficult such a novel is to pull off; put in the hands of a lesser writer, such a thing would quickly turn into an unintelligible disaster. It's to Moore's credit, then, that she not only pulls off such a thing herself, but actually elevates it beyond the level of mere gimmick, and gives us these deep portraits of the people populating her stories, portraits that simultaneously ring true and present something new and unusual about each of the people mentioned. This is the thing that so many of these damn music-industry novels seem to miss, especially when written by musicians; that although they are a part of the very industry they are writing about, the characters they present always tend to be two-dimensional cartoons more than flesh-and-blood people, with those authors tending to wallow in the most cliched stereotypes concerning such characters that exist.
  
  This is what Moore gets that so many other musician-authors don't; she finds and shows us the scared little child on the inside of all these people, even as she's masterful at showing us the hard outer shell that New York and millions of dollars have built around that child. So many novels about the music industry, I think, want to concentrate on the glib, surface-level part of it all; the clothes, the coldness, the undisguised greed. Moore instead digs underneath all of these things, really shows us why these people got involved with the industry to begin with, really makes us understand why people sometimes go so nuts over rock stars in the first place, and she does so in a highly intense way that deliberately screws with your emotions. For example, I dare you not to get goosebumps when reading the dream sequence in the story "Gregory Gets a Kiss," the one where our teenage hero dreams of his favorite musician in a way both angelic and homoerotic; I dare you not to say, "Yes, YES, this is EXACTLY how it feels, this is EXACTLY how it feels to develop a crush on a musician." This is probably my favorite thing about the book, in fact, that it touches such deep emotional truths in such a profound way, and I happily admit that The Words of Every Song made me at points both laugh out loud and literally cry in public, a rare feat for a contemporary novel that I always take as a good sign. (Ah, crying in public because of a novel; is there any more thrilling a pleasure for introverted book nerds?)
  
  Now, like I said, this novel has its problems as well, mostly centered around the moments that Moore does indeed lapse back into lazy music-industry cliches, and especially when she has a personal axe to grind; for example, the middle-aged female Cruella-DeVille label executive seen here is handled with all the subtlety of one of those pink-covered piece-of-sh-t chick-lit novels, while the story "Thoreau's Pen" can be effectively replaced with the phrase "J-SUS F-CKING C-RIST DO I HATE ROCK CRITICS" repeated over and over for 15 pages. In general, though, this book was a real surprise, an infinitely pleasurable surprise, one that I was especially grateful for this month, after recently slogging my way through half a dozen books that I didn't care for at all. (By the way, tiny little reviews of those bad books will be coming this Saturday, during my usual weekend micro-review roundup.) For all of you who are constantly on the lookout for great novels about the music industry, let me please enthusiastically recommend The Words of Every Song to you; and now I'm off to actually listen to some of Moore's music for the first time, and to see if she's as talented a songwriter as she is a novelist.
  
  Out of 10:
  Story: 9.5
  Characters: 9.2
  Style: 8.6
  Overall: 9.1
• 
  Abbie

  This is a collection of short stories following individuals involved in the music industry. Their stories intertwine as we follow both professional and personal issues such as drug use and heart break.
  
  The stories are quick paced so much so that I struggled to feel connection to the majority of the characters.
  
  I really liked some of the stories but there was a lot that I was mad about. Overall this one wasnt for me.
  
  Thank you Netgalley and Random House for providing me with a copy.
• 
  Lynn

  A Book Based on Music
  
  I had a hard time getting emotionally connected to the characters. I liked the idea of starting every chapter with a song lyric but I was never attached to the chapters. That made it a disconnected experience.
• 
  Stacy

  I enjoyed this collection of linked stories centered in the music industry. Some characters make multiple appearances and towards the end you start to see more of a connection. The only downside was that you're never fully invested in the characters.
• 
  Jeatherhane Reads

  This book is a series of interconnected short stories. You never know when a character mentioned in one story will step forward in another. Some books written as interconnected stories don’t feel like a novel – this one does.
  Liz Moore is one of my favourite writers. She really knows how to bring characters to life. The fact that I connected and cared about each of the characters in this novel in only a few pages is impressive. The book as a whole comes together to give a not-very-enticing picture of the music industry.
  This was Moore’s debut. I have read two other books by her this year. She has only written four novels, and I hope she has another one in the works.
• 
  Justine Seligman

  This is a beach novel. It is a beach novel for hipsters, music people and plain old indie kids. The book is good, not great. Each chapter has lyrics that encompass each chapter and the story is interconnected as oppose to short stories. This aspect was a bit crafty and interesting.
  
  The writing leaves something to be desired. It is a very, very easy read. You do not need a dictionary near your side at all!
  
  If you are looking for a light read that isn't complete trash, this is a great book!
• 
  Hannah Jo Parker

  I ran into this book by accident while pulling books off of a too-full shelf at our library last week. I was surprised I hadn't heard of it because I tend to be all over any book with a rock music industry setting. After reading it, I think I know why I hadn't heard of it. It's one of those books you can enjoy while you're reading it and then promptly forget once you're done.
  
  The Words of Every Song is more like a series of vignettes, with characters who might pop up every now and then, than a traditional novel. Most of the vignettes and characters are somehow loosely related to a record label called Titan. I thought some of the characters were kind of interesting, but many were just music industry stereotypes and didn't reveal anything new. I did like the vignette approach, but I wonder if it added to my ability to forget the book immediately after finishing it.
  
• 
  Alison

  I believe this was Liz Moore’s debut novel so I’m cutting her a little slack with 3*. I found the book a little laborious, I’m not a fan of short stories even though this collection had a recurring theme and some of the characters interconnected. Not my cup of tea.
• 
  Lee Thames

  Two years ago I took a chance on "The Unseen World" and was amazed. I am already an easy mark for the 'coming of age' trope and 'The Unseen World' is an original take on that trope.
  
  But I digress.
  
  Ms. Moore, who is currently experiencing her greatest success to date with the release of 'Long Bright River' [that I will read later this year], is a very good writer.
  
  'The Words of Every Song' is extraordinarily similar to Jennifer Egan's 'A Visit from the Goon Squad. If you liked "Goons" you will like this. If you have read and like "Every Song" you will like "Goons".
  
  Some quick facts -
  Ms. Egan is 20 years older than Ms Moore.
  'The Words of Every Song' was published in 2007.
  'A visit from the Goon Squad' was published in 2010.
  'The Words of Every Song' was Ms. Moore's first novel.
  'A visit from the Goon Squad' was Ms. Egan's fifth work published.
  Ms. Moore was briefly in a band in NYC immediately before writing this work.
  
  After completing "Every Song" I did a few searches trying to find some analyses comparing the two books as they are so similar and because they are published so close together. I was unsuccessful in finding anything. If anyone knows of such a comparison please attach a link to this review.
  
  Each chapter of 'The Words of Every Song' is about one of several interlocking characters all having a connection to the music industry and to another character. Ms. Moore's prose is solid; only a couple of chapters missed hitting the right note. In particular the chapter about the the guitarist for the band 'Burn. This chapter did not add anything to the overall progression of the novel.
  
  There is no chapter that is a PowerPoint presentation in this book.
• 
  Tasha Robinson

  This kind of thing — loosely linked vignettes, snapshots of different characters who tangentially touch on each other's lives — normally isn't really my thing: I'd prefer a deep dive into a few specific characters over a broad view of a scene. But I was drawn in by this one from the first page, about an A&R guy for a major record label who daringly steps into an art gallery for a few seconds, decides he's done something bold and boundary-challenging for himself, then rapidly exits and runs off in a self-congratulatory haze. There's a humor there that I appreciated, and also a uniqueness to the situation that felt pretty endearing. And the rest of the book wound up feeling similarly surprising, as a long sequence of snapshots that tell little mini-stories, but each have some kind of intrigue to them. I rarely felt a strong sense of "I want to get back to X character," or "I really wonder what Y character is like," but I appreciated the little loopbacks we do get, and the overall sense of a busy city full of characters all living wildly different lives, yet often suffering the same loneliness, disaffection, self-absorption, and frustrated hunger — it was all intriguing and addictively readable.
• 
  Lynsay Tervit

  I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
  
  This book is loosely framed around a record label, with each chapter from the point of view of a different character, and they dip in and out of each other’s stories. The stories were really interesting, and very personal to each character - they weren’t all telling the same story, it all felt quite real, giving you a snapshot of each characters life at a point in time. I thought it was very cleverly done, showing how people can project a facade of being confident, happy, settled - but in reality, underneath the facade, they’re nervous or unsure just like everyone else. I liked that the stories weren’t always obvious about what they were going to be about either, I found the stories very touching and really interesting.
  
  I haven’t read anything else by Liz Moore, but I plan to change this as soon as I can! I loved everything about this story, the structure, the characters.. the book could have been twice as long, and I’ve have been delighted.
• 
  Lynsay Tervit

  I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
  
  This book is loosely framed around a record label, with each chapter from the point of view of a different character, and they dip in and out of each other’s stories. The stories were really interesting, and very personal to each character - they weren’t all telling the same story, it all felt quite real, giving you a snapshot of each characters life at a point in time. I thought it was very cleverly done, showing how people can project a facade of being confident, happy, settled - but in reality, underneath the facade, they’re nervous or unsure just like everyone else. I liked that the stories weren’t always obvious about what they were going to be about either, I found the stories very touching and really interesting.
  
  I haven’t read anything else by Liz Moore, but I plan to change this as soon as I can! I loved everything about this story, the structure, the characters.. the book could have been twice as long, and I’ve have been delighted.
• 
  Laura

  Liz Moore's debut novel, The Words of Every Song, uses fourteen interlinked narratives to build a picture of the music industry in New York. I'm often a fan of novels like this that set somewhere between a collection of short stories and a series of vignettes, but this one didn't work for me. Rather than allowing each character to have their moment in their own chapter, Moore head-hops continually, diluting the strength of each section and making me wonder why she hadn't chosen a more conventional structure. Worse, her writing isn't strong enough to hold attention. There's definitely some crossover here with Jennifer Egan's A Visit From The Goon Squad, which I enjoyed on first read but couldn't get through when I tried to re-read it recently; I wonder if there's something about that late 2000s/early 2010s zeitgeist that hasn't translated well to the present. However, I loved the warmth of Moore's second novel, Heft, so I know she can do better than this. DNF @ 25%.
  
  I received a free copy of this novel from the publisher for review.
• 
  Deborah

  I’m a big admirer of Liz Moore, author of the powerful, haunting Long Bright River. I had no idea she started out as a singer-songwriter before turning to writing until I read this, her first book, a novel about the music business set in NYC and told in a series of related “episodes.” Her status as a former music insider shows in the telling details about the people working at the label—the icy, awful queen bitch exec, the brash young A&R guy, the receptionist-assistant trying to break into music herself—and the musicians, from young hopefuls, to the next big thing, to the stadium-filling bands. Very engaging, even with the structure of the separate chapters each dealing with someone different. Characters reappear in the stories, and everything comes together in the end for a resoundingly satisfying conclusion.
• 
  Isabella

  When words meet music. This book explores beautifully the magic and power of music and how it connects people. The Words of Every Song explores the lives of different people who have never met but are all connected through music and don't even know it. Some of them crossed one another briefly others looked up to their idols. Music is their job, live safer, their passion. It is interesting to see how a passion can put you on a path that leads you to your faith. While reading, I had the movie "August Rush" in mind, which follows a similar plot.
  I highly recommend this book to anyone who either loves music or to those who want to remember the good and the bad times in which music has been their companion.
• 
  Ficie

  3,5*
  A little book to read in a day. Not on the same level as The Unseen World, but enjoyable. The stories feel fresh, and get better after the first. I liked it much better than the similarly themed, and more popular, Daisy Jones & the Six. Lenore Lamont, who was some kind of a Daisy Jones, was probably the least interesting character in the bunch (although Thoreau the critic might be even less likeable than her). The more mundane characters - Gregory who gets his first kiss, Tia who can't dance, Siobhan who hasn't decided if she wants fame - tend to have the most memorable arcs.
• 
  TBHONEST

  The Words of Every Song is a collection of 14 different episodes that explore the music industry, each episode explores a different aspect with characters and settings that cross over in each episode, which can be read together or alone.
  This was Liz Moore's debut novel, and it's a good one. It's an engaging and well executed read. It just would have been nicer to see the more nitty gritty side of the industry as it all felt a bit safe, but never the less it's a book well worth reading.
• 
  Stefanie

  I'm not a huge fan of short stories because I find there is usually not enough space for the kind of deep character development that makes a novel great. This book isn't exactly a collection of short stories, but the vignettes essentially function in the same way. I'm giving this 4 stars because the concept and the way each section is linked are so incredibly creative. Both of Liz Moore's other books are better reads, however.
• 
  Traci Styner

  I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It’s a fast read, made faster by the fact that I was captivated by the characters and enjoyed the author’s style. My dad was in the music industry in Hollywood. Though the time and place are different, the stories feel authentic. I loved the way the separate stories intersect into a larger portrait.
• 
  Eve Schell

  Worth Reading!
  
  This wasn’t an easy book but it is definitely worth reading. I liked the interwoven stories. Getting into each character and then cut and a new character appears with their story...well woven together. At times depressing..but so human. Four stars....5 well perhaps someday on the last show....read it and you’ll know.
• 
  Marcella

  You can tell this was her first novel. She still writes with a depth of emotion, but it’s not mature yet.
  
  This is a very 20 something’s novel. Making it in the New York music biz when CDs were still a thing. Nostalgic vignettes without clear resolutions. Good enough use of time but may not age well.
• 
  Dawn

  Liz Moore’s first novel is a tapestry of the fictitious Titan music corporation, its employees, artists, and their families, and related industry figures. Their lives and ambitions intersect in myriad unpredictable ways. This is a great idea for a story with glimpses of the writing that I love in Moore’s later novels.
• 
  Sharondblk

  I knew this book was a series of linked short stories. What I wasn't expecting was for it to be written in present tense, and then occasionally go "what she didn't know is that she would grow up and live a long and happy life and die in Spain at 85". and then go on with the story. I just couldn't care about any of it.