Orpheus' Blues edition by Carlos Rubio Literature Fiction eBooks
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We first meet Jack Stewart on his way back to his apartment in New York City, where he is pursuing a career as a jazz musician.
As the novel unfolds, we learn of the difficulties he encounters, of the friendship he develops with George, his roommate—also a jazz musician—and the women he meets in the city. But more importantly, we learn of the very close relationship he has with his mother, who writes to him regularly from Southern Virginia. Through these letters and series of flashbacks, we come to understand Jack's background, the stifling environment he left behind, and his father's resentment and disappointment that he did not take up the family business.
But it is Hans, proprietor of The Empty Hand, philosopher and benefactor of every artist, who holds the novel together. It is from him that Jack receives those words of wisdom and encouragement so necessary for every artist.
At the end of the novel, when Jack believes that he has made sense of it all, everything unravels. It is then that he must travel back to Virginia to face his father, his former friends and his unresolved past.
Orpheus' Blues edition by Carlos Rubio Literature Fiction eBooks
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Reading Deals in return for an honest review. For the colorful subject matter of this book-the life of a struggling jazz musician in New York--the story is surprisingly humdrum and dull, almost mechanical, for fully 90per cent of the book. Jack thinks about and talks about his love for jazz, but is curiously lacking in feeling. His days follow a dull, even stultifying routine, and the music he makes at his job at a club that caters to tourists, is not the music he loves or the music he wants to make. He spends some of his time creating his new music, but does nothing else about it until his largely absentee roommate, like a fairy godmother, comes up with a great opportunity at the last moment. In fact, Jack only becomes a real, feeling, passionate, believable human being, at the very end of the book, when he encounters personal tragedy--that seems to wake him up and make a man (and a better artist) out of him. And this happens almost unbelievably fast. There is also a peculiarity in the author's writing style--he notes and lists every step, movement, incidental object, in every scene, in a way that leads you to expect these details will have some significance, be part of the action, move the plot forward. But they never do. They remain nothing but lists of details without any particular significance, like some sort of verbal "filler" with no other function. The ending's great, but it wasn't fun getting there.Product details
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Orpheus' Blues edition by Carlos Rubio Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews
Step into the little known world of struggling artists, musicians and writers. This novel of a man's self discovery takes us through close relationships and a troubled past. The author vividly immerses us in the culture and lifestyle found in the Empty Hand, a nightclub whose after hours camaraderie fostered by Hans, their benefactor and philosopher, who holds them, and the novel, together. This is a very well written and descriptive novel that lets you feel the comfort and joy, the frustration and hope of a section of our society few know about. For anyone who has the artist within them, this is one you don't want to miss.
From the security of a comfortable life in Oak Grove, Virginia to the razor cold streets of New York City, Jack Stewart is bound and determined to pursue a career as a jazz musician - against all odds. When he returns home from a tour of duty in Nam, all that life asks of him is that he settle down and carry on the successful family business. Why would anyone who could have it so easy cast their fate to the brutal winds of such an uncertain livilihood as a jazz musician in New York City? There is more to this story by Carlos Rubio than Young man from hometown America sets out to become a jazz musician. In the way that Dizzy Gillespie "like a majestic bird in flight" blows his magic horn and he is suddenly the indisputed center of the universe; from the bottom of his heart to the mouthpiece of his tenor sax, Jack has no doubt that music will deliver him. With Hans (a gothic cathedral of a man in the woof and warp world of jazz), the owner of the Jazz club Empty Hand as his mentor, beautiful woman at the snap of his fingers, some of the greatest jazz musicians of the day on a first name basis with Jack as his inspiration, and the jazz epicenter of Greenwich Village as his stage, you would think that Jack Stewart had arrived. Deliverance, however, comes with a price tag. If you have a tall mountain to climb, or a vast valley to cross, or a tenor sax you desire to master, than this book is a must to read. This is a users guide for those of us who prefer center stage to going through life sitting in the cheap seats in the back row. And for those of you whose only request from life is a good book to read, then this is your lucky day.
Alan Hodgkinson
Author of After Incoming
Meet Jack Stewart, struggling jazz musician who could have coasted comfortably through life by carrying on the family business after returning home from his stint in the Army. His mother who he is so near and dear to him would like nothing more than this. And his desire as a good son is to please her. But he is torn. The problem is, this is not Mr. Two-story-house-with- white-picket-fence-in-the-suburbs. This is a man ultimately in search of himself. Something deep inside told Jack early on that he could only express himself through the mouthpiece of a saxaphone. Now, meet yourself. Knowing thyself is key to everything. This is what Carlos Rubio's novel is really about. The theme here is universal. People who have a profound effect on Jack, like Hans, owner of The Empty Hand coffee house who possesses the old world solidity of a gothic cathedral gives Jack his first clue concerning his unbeknowst quest for a voice when he tells Jack about Orpheus, the musician in Greek mythology who only finds his voice after coming to grips with his own insignificance; or Jack's idol Dizzy Gillespie, a man who blows his bent horn like his life depends on it. Jack meets him one day. During that meeting, Dizzy tells Hans that Jack just needs to "lossen up." Lorraine comes along and teaches Jack just that - how to lossen up. In doing so, she teaches him something important about life, this in a way a man could never learn from his parents. So, all these characters who become part of Jack's daily life in Greenwich Village converge to facilitate Jack's necessary transformation. But of course the real transformation has to come from within. The sudden death of his mother and uniting with his father for the first time as a result of her death is the nudge that completes his transformation. At last, Jack plays his sax like he has never played it before. You see, he is not playing his saxaphone, but he's living fully for the first in his life - he's living through the medium of a musical instrument, a medium that he loves. Jack finds his voice as we all must, least we perish, ironically in the realm of our own significance.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Reading Deals in return for an honest review. For the colorful subject matter of this book-the life of a struggling jazz musician in New York--the story is surprisingly humdrum and dull, almost mechanical, for fully 90per cent of the book. Jack thinks about and talks about his love for jazz, but is curiously lacking in feeling. His days follow a dull, even stultifying routine, and the music he makes at his job at a club that caters to tourists, is not the music he loves or the music he wants to make. He spends some of his time creating his new music, but does nothing else about it until his largely absentee roommate, like a fairy godmother, comes up with a great opportunity at the last moment. In fact, Jack only becomes a real, feeling, passionate, believable human being, at the very end of the book, when he encounters personal tragedy--that seems to wake him up and make a man (and a better artist) out of him. And this happens almost unbelievably fast. There is also a peculiarity in the author's writing style--he notes and lists every step, movement, incidental object, in every scene, in a way that leads you to expect these details will have some significance, be part of the action, move the plot forward. But they never do. They remain nothing but lists of details without any particular significance, like some sort of verbal "filler" with no other function. The ending's great, but it wasn't fun getting there.
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