Play Book Tag discussion

The Time of Our Singing by Richard Powers - 5 stars - My Review

This is family saga about music, race, and time. Delia Daley, a black music student, and David Strom, a Jewish German physicist, meet at the Marian Anderson concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939. David and Delia marry. Their children are musically gifted but cannot achieve the full measure of their talent due to the racism of 20th century America. They decide to rear their children outside the confines of race, and this decision forms the primary conflict in the story. Other characters believe this decision is naïve and will only hurt their children. A major rift develops between David and his father-in-law. The story is narrated by the middle child, Joseph, who acts as a bridge between elder brother, Jonah, who follows a path of classical music, and younger sister Ruth, who pursues a path of social activism.

At 650 pages and covering a period of over fifty years, this book has the feel of an epic saga. Powers takes his time in developing the primary characters, particularly Delia, David, Jonah, and Joseph. Ruth plays a lesser role initially, but her story takes center stage in later chapters. At least one character is present during significant racial confrontations and milestones of the period. The idea of being “beyond race” turns out to be impossible in a country where their children are automatically labelled at birth.

Detailed discussions of music are present throughout, and classical music aficionados will appreciate the power of these descriptions. The referenced operas lend additional flavor to the story for those familiar with these works. It is one of the best books I have read involving musical discourse. Physics and the properties of time are also a core element in the story. David, a proponent of Einstein’s theory of the space-time continuum, plays a peripheral role in the Manhattan project, and eventually becomes obsessed with proving his theories about the circularity of time (and challenging the notion of time as a linear flow). If so inclined, the reader will enjoy piecing together the individual elements to shed additional light on the story in its entirety.

As you can tell by the length of this review, this book is not easily described in a few sentences. It offers perspectives on a number of complex issues concerning, time, memory, and change, while challenging the of the idea of race. It may be even more relevant in the current sociopolitical environment than in 2003, when it was initially published.

"This is family saga about music, race, and time...." I never heard of this book, but your review grabbed me in the first few sentences. This sounds like my kind of book. I might have to get it to read over the holidays. If only my list weren't already so long!

It's really a wonderfully crafted story and I highly recommend it. I understand about long list, though (I may have one myself lol).

Wow - this review grabbed me as well. Thanks!

I adored The Overstory and this sounds similarly layered and complex as well as timely

KateNZ wrote: "Wow - this review grabbed me as well. Thanks!

I adored The Overstory and this sounds similarly layered and complex as well as timely"

I liked this one even more than The Overstory (which I think I gave 4 stars IIRC).