Beautiful Music is not only a testament to the rockin’ jams that propelled Motown to become reknown as Detroit Rock City, it swells with the beautiful music of a lively soul ... Zadoorian offers an intimate look at the trials of a youngster evolving into a man in the shadow of Detroit’s skyscrapers — and the even larger shadow cast by his parents. Through it all, there’s plenty of heart and humor, as well turmoil, as the Motor City reels in the years following the 1967 rebellion ... Beautiful Music is touching, hilarious, and heartbreaking, much like the gamut of emotions you may have felt the first time you heard your favorite song.
True to its time, there are occasional mini-race riots at school, but they seldom touch him—until they do, with dire consequences. This affectionate, nostalgic novel about a sometimes-troubled teen is a crossover delight with appeal to both adults and teens.
In the 1984 song 'My Hometown,' Bruce Springsteen evoked his own high school days: 'There was a lot of fights between the black and white; there was nothing you could do.' Unfortunately, Zadoorian’s analysis of racial tension doesn’t go much deeper ... The book’s final act charts Danny’s struggles with his mother, a bigot, addict and manic-depressive who, in ’70s parlance, is diagnosed with simple melancholia. Like a wistful AM radio staple, their song doesn’t end with a clear-cut resolution, leaving Danny, as ever, to dowse his sorrows in the comfort of hi-fi headphones. It’s in these small moments — a lonely boy experiencing premature nostalgia — that Zadoorian shines, ensuring that even if Beautiful Music isn’t a smash hit, it’s a passable B-side.
Beautiful Music is a sweet and endearing coming-of-age tale measured in album tracks ... Eventually, with help from Sly and the Family Stone, he comes to understand that music has a political significance that can’t be entirely overlooked. Still, he loves it for its liberating power.
The novel is notable for being a coming-of-age story without a romantic peg, Danny being too emotionally formless to pursue a relationship. But Zadoorian keeps the tone upbeat in other ways: He’s skilled at capturing the feeling of release that music can provide as well as the anxiety the novelty of that experience can produce in a sheltered kid. The emphasis on those lighter elements soft-focuses the drama of the final pages, where racial tensions and mom’s drinking come to a head. But that captures Danny’s character too: The real world is encroaching, but he can keep it at arm’s length just a while longer. A likable bildungsroman that cannily evokes how music transforms teenage identity.
