Rating: 
Summary: Fun to read
Review: I've had this book (paperback) for 4 years and finally read it last month. It took me awhile to get interested - but I'm glad I did. It was fun to read.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautifully told story
Review: Maybe i missed the point entirely, but i had a hard time enjoying this book. I did not understand the manipulation that Avrum exerted on Bobo, i did not understand the relationship between Bobo, Amy and Carter (some 38 years later they are still as friendly as ever), and i certainly did not understand how Bobo could have changed his mind at the very end of the story after hearing "The Shadow Song". This book tries too hard to be lyric and inspired, and fails in the reality check department. I think it falls right there with another fantasy work, _The Bridges of Madison County_.I haven't read anything else by this author, but this book was a waste of my time. Read something else!
Rating: 
Summary: Purple Prose
Review: Maybe i missed the point entirely, but i had a hard time enjoying this book. I did not understand the manipulation that Avrum exerted on Bobo, i did not understand the relationship between Bobo, Amy and Carter (some 38 years later they are still as friendly as ever), and i certainly did not understand how Bobo could have changed his mind at the very end of the story after hearing "The Shadow Song". This book tries too hard to be lyric and inspired, and fails in the reality check department. I think it falls right there with another fantasy work, _The Bridges of Madison County_. I haven't read anything else by this author, but this book was a waste of my time. Read something else!
Rating:
Summary: outstanding
Review: My husband gave me this book for Christmas. He knows I love southern writers. I finished it in under two days. It made me warm. I believe in situations that are unique and those that can stay with you forever. My experiences of warmth and first love are with my husband, I am can't imagine a time without him. This book is a wonderful read.
Rating:
Summary: Sappy and Trite
Review: No surprizes here. Bad
Rating:
Summary: Could not put it down ...
Review: Once I got into this story, it had me captivated by the eccentricity of the primary characters. Flip-flopping between then and now, 1955 and 199? was an effective technique for this book. The antics the teenage characters pull remind me of the days when I was their age. As the characters show themselves as adults, it is obvious how a true love really impacts us, regardless of time or age. Terry Kay had me going from laughing out loud to crying tears near the end. I am sure my children thought I, too, was as off the wall as Avrum was thought to be. A friend loaned me the book, now I am buying a copy for myself to re-read!
Rating:
Summary: Makes you hear the voice of the music
Review: Terry Kay has the ability to make you hear the music of an old dreamer, and make it your own. He can also make you believe in ghosts, and makes you want to welcome them home. Though briefly told, this story encompasses most of our century: from an opera house in 1918, to young love in 1955, and then on to matured love in 1993. I first heard of this book at a Terry Kay book-signing last fall, where I had him sign The Runaway, his latest, and To Dance with the White Dog, his best known. In the long line of waiting admirers (it took me three hours), some of them kept saying that Shadow Song was their favorite book by Kay. Strangely, they would close their eyes, as though they were listening to something. Now that I've finished the book, I understand. I also recommend to anyone planning to read this book that they acquire a recording of the "Ombra leggiera" (Shadow Song) from Giacomo Meyerbeer's "Dinorah" and listen to it before they begin reading. And then listen to it again WHILE reading the final scene. It is a remarkable experience. My CD version features the great Maria Callas. However, to make the experience authentic, I may look for a recording by Amelita Galli-Curci. I know that that old Jew, Avrum Feldman, would have it no other way. Come to think of it, I might even pick up a couple of candlesticks and pull out an old picture of a long-lost love. That would really make him happy. I can hear him now, urging from his bench, "Go, Go."
Rating:
Summary: Makes you hear the voice of the music
Review: Terry Kay has the ability to make you hear the music of an old dreamer, and make it your own. He can also make you believe in ghosts, and makes you want to welcome them home. Though briefly told, this story encompasses most of our century: from an opera house in 1918, to young love in 1955, and then on to matured love in 1993. I first heard of this book at a Terry Kay book-signing last fall, where I had him sign The Runaway, his latest, and To Dance with the White Dog, his best known. In the long line of waiting admirers (it took me three hours), some of them kept saying that Shadow Song was their favorite book by Kay. Strangely, they would close their eyes, as though they were listening to something. Now that I've finished the book, I understand. I also recommend to anyone planning to read this book that they acquire a recording of the "Ombra leggiera" (Shadow Song) from Giacomo Meyerbeer's "Dinorah" and listen to it before they begin reading. And then listen to it again WHILE reading the final scene. It is a remarkable experience. My CD version features the great Maria Callas. However, to make the experience authentic, I may look for a recording by Amelita Galli-Curci. I know that that old Jew, Avrum Feldman, would have it no other way. Come to think of it, I might even pick up a couple of candlesticks and pull out an old picture of a long-lost love. That would really make him happy. I can hear him now, urging from his bench, "Go, Go."
Rating: 
Summary: Good writing but love sory misses the mark
Review: The theme of lost love and "what might have been" or woven together in the rhythmical, almost mystical writing of Shadow Song, written by Terry Kaye. Kaye is a masterful storyteller and his method of weaving the past and the present into a coherent rendering was done very well. I read page after page waiting for the answer to the question: why did Amy and Bobo love each other? What values did they share that made their love so special? Unfortunately, the question was never answered. As near as I can surmise, the only reason Bobo loved Amy was because she was the most beautiful girl he had ever known, and at 55, she still possessed he teenage luster (a dubious claim at best). Without some reason for loving each other, the love story of Amy and Bobo seems more like a memory of a teenage infatuation, shared by two people suffering from a middle age crisis. There just does not seem to be any substance to their feelings for each other. When Amy and Bobo meet in the forgotten resort town of the Catskills, they are 55 years old and in their entire 55 years of life, they have spent all of a few weeks together. The rest has been dreams of what might have been and of what it would really be like to love and live with that other person. They don't know each other. To be honest, as I was reading, I thought that Kaye left their love devoid of reason intentionally, that they were beginning to realize the truth and act accordingly-until the final page. Their decision simply did not make sense, given the facts presented in the book. I enjoyed reading the book because I think the story telling itself was very good; I could genuinely feel myself in the Catskills. The character development was good for some, especially Lila and Sammy, whom I feel I know and understand better than Amy. The love story itself; however, missed the mark.
Rating:
Summary: Good writing but love sory misses the mark
Review: The theme of lost love and "what might have been" or woven together in the rhythmical, almost mystical writing of Shadow Song, written by Terry Kaye. Kaye is a masterful storyteller and his method of weaving the past and the present into a coherent rendering was done very well. I read page after page waiting for the answer to the question: why did Amy and Bobo love each other? What values did they share that made their love so special? Unfortunately, the question was never answered. As near as I can surmise, the only reason Bobo loved Amy was because she was the most beautiful girl he had ever known, and at 55, she still possessed he teenage luster (a dubious claim at best). Without some reason for loving each other, the love story of Amy and Bobo seems more like a memory of a teenage infatuation, shared by two people suffering from a middle age crisis. There just does not seem to be any substance to their feelings for each other. When Amy and Bobo meet in the forgotten resort town of the Catskills, they are 55 years old and in their entire 55 years of life, they have spent all of a few weeks together. The rest has been dreams of what might have been and of what it would really be like to love and live with that other person. They don't know each other. To be honest, as I was reading, I thought that Kaye left their love devoid of reason intentionally, that they were beginning to realize the truth and act accordingly-until the final page. Their decision simply did not make sense, given the facts presented in the book. I enjoyed reading the book because I think the story telling itself was very good; I could genuinely feel myself in the Catskills. The character development was good for some, especially Lila and Sammy, whom I feel I know and understand better than Amy. The love story itself; however, missed the mark.
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