Review: Partita

Partita by Barbara Kingsolver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have enjoyed previous books by Barbara Kingsolver, usually I enjoy her books, but this one didn't capture me the way her other books have. It was around the half-way point in the book I started to feel invested in the story.

The story is about Livia, grew up on a farm but playing the piano was her life. She managed to get to college despite being very discouraged by her mother, who was quite mean. Livia was tremendously disadvantaged compared to others at college. Her father seems to be a shadow, barely mentioned.

The book follows two timelines, currently she is married to Charlie and back in the small town where she grew up. Livia had been contacted by her old boyfriend from college out of the blue, the catalyst for the book. Most of the timeline is in this past during the college days of her and Sigrid. He was a union organizer and did not attend the college.

The last portion of the book, when certain aspects are revealed, helped me to like this book more. Although I thoroughly disliked how the book ended, felt somewhat abrupt, just a little more was needed.

Music, or more precisely, piano is deeply embedded in this book. In the author’s note we find out that Kingsolver has the love of playing the piano. I listened to the audiobook and there were bits of music between the chapters and a longer piece of work at the end. This added to the book immensely.

Book rating: 3.75 stars


Thanks to Harper and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book, and also thanks to HarperAudio Adult for the advanced audio copy.



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