Title: The Other La Bohème
Author: Yorker Keith
Publisher: Bookbaby
ISBN: 9781483591995
Pages: 366
Genre: Fiction
Reviewed by: Christa Hill
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The Other La Bohème is a charming tale of opera singers living in New York City. Author Yorker Keith takes his readers on a soulful journey of friendship, heartbreak and musical perfection. The story handles many different relatable topics in which various audiences are sure to connect, appreciating the acumen of Yorker Keith’s literary skill. Many of the images of the Lincoln Center Opera House and landscape of New York come across clearly. While reading the novel I imagined myself as one of the artists that frequent Pere Momus’s restaurant. I found the opera terminology very engaging, once again showing the detail of research and knowledge interleaved into this novel.
The character of Henry was the most relatable for me because he still thinks of his time in college with such unquenchable fondness. He also is a man with practical and achievable goals which instantly put me on his side, as it will with most readers. I found sometimes the way new characters are introduce via his perspective makes for them to be very difficult to remember. At times Keith uses extremely casual language, changing the pace of the book, which makes the story pass very quickly as though it was a screenplay for a film, then again slowing down to embellish an incident as readers expect when paging a novel.
Some of the sentence structure and phrasing makes the events taking place challenging to follow. Just as in real life, not all events witnessed are instantly understood; pensive rehashing of what was just read needs to be “processed” as one would do instinctively. That said, it was a pleasure to step into the lives of opera singers and to learn how they intertwine their artistic pursuits with their personal lives. The ending was not exactly what I thought would happen, however in light of not becoming a spoiler I will not comment further.
My favorite scene in this book is when John and Michelle discuss their love for one another. I felt as if the childish way in which John was behaving could lead to an even richer story, as I appreciated the subplots containing an air of mystery. The novel’s beautiful opera style chapter, literary structure and vernacular also made it easy to read; something which I found quite unique and lovable. I would praise The Other La Bohème as an in-depth look at the captivating world of the opera singer. To author Yorker Keith, I stand in the isle as the curtain closes, applauding, saying, “bravissimo!”
