BOOK 2 - Trumpet by Jackie Kay

Why did I choose Trumpet by Jackie Kay?  I can’t honestly say… I read the book about 10 years ago and something about it has always stayed with me, so it was the first one that came to mind when it was my turn to choose.  I should have read it again but being a new mum I didn’t set aside the time and so relied on Ruth’s thoughts to trigger my memories while we were discussing it.

What I remembered was the truly beautiful portrayal of love.  The sense that everything can be overcome with love.  Regardless of faith, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, political or cultural belief.  True love for another is without boundary, it’s simple, beautiful, even in and after death there is beauty and blessing. 

  

It is a tender, moving story, simply told with charming phrasing. It’s written with a lyrical tone and since reading it I have found out that it was Kay’s intention to write the book as if it were a piece of music… which is subtle but clear when you look back. 

The book is desperately sad and yet comforting.  It’s lovely.  I thoroughly recommend it.


R's Response ....

This is what I love about being in a book group - you get to discover books that you'd never find otherwise. Books you missed when they were first published, and which now if you did see them on a shelf in a bookshop you'd have no reason to suspect there was such a precious thing inside. I often get tormented by that in bookshops - thinking of the few special books there must be hidden in there among the big shots and knock-offs, and I don't know which they are!

It's not a masterpiece - but it has a real charm. When Esther told me the author had written it as if it were a piece of music that made perfect sense: there's a sort of spareness to the characterisation - she doesn't add loads of extra, contradictory details to create the illusion of realism, but lets each character stand as a sort of archetype of love, or spite, or whatever - and it does feel like opera or something, offering a different kind of truthfulness than a more "realistic" characterisation. And as the story unfolds, the mood of the book does lift and swoop in a really controlled way, just like a great piece of music. I can't really describe what I mean, but I liked it!

What's stayed with me is this image of a deep and certain love. The central couple's particular circumstances (which I won't give away) give Millie a very concrete reason for knowing that Joss will never, ever leave her - but still, the certainty that he will always love her is about the two of them and not just the peculiarity of their situation. What a wonderful thing, to be so secure, so certain of being loved entirely and wholly and for ever!

Finally, as any good book should, I felt it gave me a glimpse into a part of life I've yet to experience. In this case, mourning and grief: Millie says the trouble is not that a part of her has died, but that a part of her is still alive. It's honest, and tender and - I suspect - very true.