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Book Review
Feb. 7th, 2007 08:10 pmEmilie's Voice
by Susanne Dunlap
I was terribly disappointed in this novel. It had such wonderful potential - set during the era of Louis XIV, the main character is a young girl with a beautiful voice and prodigious musical talent, Lully and Charpentier are also important characters, court intrigue, etc. Plus, the author has a PhD in music history from Yale. Yet Dunlap takes advantage of none of the huge potential in her story. Emilie turns out to be innocent and guileless to the point of being spineless. The plot has some twists that stretch the limits of plausibility. And worst of all, for a novel about musicians written by a musician, music is given a suprisingly subordinate role. Dunlap fails to offer any insights into the position and meaning of music at the French court of Louis XIV. She doesn't even give a lot of attention to Emilie's musical training, or her relationship with music.
by Susanne Dunlap
I was terribly disappointed in this novel. It had such wonderful potential - set during the era of Louis XIV, the main character is a young girl with a beautiful voice and prodigious musical talent, Lully and Charpentier are also important characters, court intrigue, etc. Plus, the author has a PhD in music history from Yale. Yet Dunlap takes advantage of none of the huge potential in her story. Emilie turns out to be innocent and guileless to the point of being spineless. The plot has some twists that stretch the limits of plausibility. And worst of all, for a novel about musicians written by a musician, music is given a suprisingly subordinate role. Dunlap fails to offer any insights into the position and meaning of music at the French court of Louis XIV. She doesn't even give a lot of attention to Emilie's musical training, or her relationship with music.
