Rating: 
Summary: Just Amazing
Review: I was into this book from the first paragraph! I read it in two days and couldn't put it down. Like another reviewer said, this author is a born storyteller. The story was original, the writing was excellent, and the characters were unique and well-developed. I think the author captured so many themes: Home, the importance of family, family secrets, love, and betrayal (and much more). The complexity of Mary Beth, the song reader, was mesmerizing, and how her sister, Leeann, responded to her was just so interesting and true. A must read!
Rating:
Summary: insightful character study
Review: In Missouri, a car accident kills the mother of the Norris sisters leaving them with only each other as their father has not been around forever. The older sibling, Mary Beth uses her uncanny ability to know people's desires by "reading" the songs that stay and play inside their heads to earn money and prestige. As a song reader she has helped the townsfolk, who cherish her. By being her sibling, her preadolescent sister Leeann too has received some of the accolades. People heed the advice of the older sister when it came to marriage, divorce, and just about any other affair of the heart relationship choices.However, the heroine quickly falls off the pedestal when her advice turns tragic. Not only are some of her former worshippers down on her, but Mary Beth cannot cope with the subsequent disaster. She retreats inside her own world, leaving it to Leeann to face the truth and search for their lost father even while struggling with the collapse of her too human champion. THE SONG READER is a delightful look at a family already in trouble when a new crisis nearly debilitates the breadwinner. Lisa Tucker avoids soap opera clichés with her powerful portrayal of the two sisters, whose relationship with one another and with townsfolk dramatically turns on one event. Readers fortunate to read this insightful character study will sing the praise of Ms. Tucker for this unusual tale. Harriet Klausner
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Summary: Let me add my voice -------
Review: in praise of Lisa Tucker's first novel. Tucker's story winds around the "gift" that big sister Mary Beth has been given in a small southern town. Mary Beth, a waitress raising her younger sister and a small adopted son, is a caretaker by nature. She discovers a unique talent, "reading people's lives". Unlike a fortune teller, MaryBeth talks to others about the songs that are important to them, and have been important to them throughout their lives. Mary Beth does "readings" and keeps charts on everyone who comes to her for help, and her advice, gained through an analysis of the lyrics that keep popping up in a client's head at odd moments. To Mary Beth ..."I have a calling in life" .. and her help is usually so on track that a large following in their little town relies on the premise that their own songs are not random, but rather that they have meaning just waiting to be uncovered; something that, it seems, only Mary Beth can do. It's an interesting premise, and it is background music to the story told by LeeAnn, Mary's Beth's adolescent sister. To LeeAnn, the gift inspires others and puts their little family in the heart of the town.... "... wishing I could go back to when the music was like a spirit moving through our town, giving words to what we felt, connecting us all." As the tale unfolds, parallel secrets about a prominent town citizen are uncovered through song reading, leading Mary Beth's reputation to tarnish, and her spirits to unravel. At the same time, secrets of their own family -- why their father disappeared, and what role their deceased mother played, are covered up by Mary Beth, who thinks that she is sheltering LeeAnn from knowledge that will hurt her. Eventually, unhinged by the responsibility for both the family and the town's opinion, Mary Beth begins to fade, and it is then that LeeAnn takes over the indomitable spirit that has kept them going for years. Although based on a unique and whimsical premise, Tucker's book is really about relationships, the bond between sisters, and about never giving up, no matter how difficult the terrain of your life. Tucker writes lyrically and well, bringing each and every character to life, including the mystical father figure, who finally comes to be a part of their lives again. Both sisters in the tale finally find the one thing, the love between the two of them, that will give them "the strength to handle all the rest". I so look forward to more from this author, and highly recommend this lovely debut.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: Incredible writing and a fantastic story make this one of the most moving debuts around.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing story from start 'til finish!
Review: It has never been done before (at least not in my house): reading a book from start 'til finish without being able to put it aside that is! Now, don't get me wrong, I've read great books, but it has never come to my mind to loose a whole night of sleep over any of them. "The Song Reader" was different! The combination of interesting characters, the unpredictable and very well written story, the choice of words Tucker uses to talk about the complicated, yet loving relationship between two sisters are brilliantly combined throughout the book. As the story unfolds, and the reader discovers more and more details about the main characters, their situation, their relationship and their family, it is a pleasure to discover that there is more to this book than you could have imagined once you picked it up and started reading the first pages. This book is well worth 5 stars - I personally would give it 10!
Rating:
Summary: I can relate*
Review: It's been a long time since I read a book all the way through~ ahh.... you might have thought I was singing the ole Led Zeppelin tune! now that's one I can tell my song reader. But, for real, the way this book reads makes you feel like you are right there along with the characters in the story. Drew me in. I like the songs she refers to throughout the story. Could make a soundtrack out of this book easy. Not sure if I ever heard of a Book soundtrack, but perhaps this will be on the big screen someday* I'd like to know more about this story. Seemed so real Magnificent Read Lisa, good job
look forward to your next. a fellow music lover,
StL Steve
Rating:
Summary: an unusual sister tale
Review: Leeann is 12 years younger than her beautiful and sympathetic sister Mary Beth. With a deceased mother she never knew, and a long-absent father she barely remembers, Leeann looks up to Mary beth who raises her and Tommy, the son given to her by one of her clients. Mary beth has a business as a "song reader" -- akin to a psychic, she has people tell her the songs that run through their head, and creates a chart based on what those songs and lyrics have in common. She helps a lot of people this way. In fact, she is hooked on helping too many people -- when one client's desperation is beyond what the song reading can do, Mary beth blames herself for the aftermath and falls into deep depression. Like Austen's Emma, Mary beth neglects her own life to help others. Leeann starts summoning her old boyfriends and father to finally help the sister who has helped everyone else. But will it work? Read this and see!
Rating: 
Summary: A young woman's voice, and lots of 80's music
Review: Lisa Tucker has a gift - the narrator of her first book, Leeann Norris, has as distinctive and resonant a voice as Huck Finn, and as much of a journey of discovery ahead of her. My only quibble, and the reason I give 4 stars, is that occasionally Leeann is allowed to get ahead of her story, saying something like "I assumed X, but I was so wrong..." Better to let us discover that on our own as we read.
Leeann's sister, Mary Beth, is also beautifully written. She is the quintessential older sister, protector, and empathetic giver who is unable to receive let alone take, and who nearly destroys herself in the process.
The idea of songreading is both clever and plausible, especially when placed in the hands of a gifted, if untrained, therapist like Mary Beth. And Leeann's using popular music to indicate the passage of time ("Endless Love" had given way to "Tainted Love")keeps music constantly in the reader's head.
Rating:
Summary: Best book I've read in a long time
Review: Lisa Tucker's book The Song Reader is a real page-turner--make sure you have enough time when you start it, because once you start, you'll have a hard time putting it down. The book is narrated by 11-year-old Leeann in an engaging voice that takes you on an incredible journey of loss, family and forgiveness. While I was reminded of The Lovely Bones and To Kill a Mockingbird while reading this book, The Song Reader is as distinct as it is compelling.
Rating: 
Summary: A Promising First Novel
Review: Lisa Tucker's creative spin on finding love shows promise for her future writing. Unlike many novels that focus on disfunctional families, Tucker manages to weave hope into her pages. The creative plot makes for a quick read, but does not fail to still impress a meaningful message upon the reader.
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