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Trumpet

by Jackie Kay (Goodreads Author)

3.97 of 5 stars 3.97 · rating details · 944 ratings · 82 reviews

"Supremely humane.... Kay leaves us with a broad landscape of sweet tolerance and familial love."--The New York Times Book Review

In her starkly beautiful and wholly unexpected tale, Jackie Kay delves into the most intimate workings of the human heart and mind and offers a triumphant tale of loving deception and lasting devotion.

The death of legendary jazz trumpeter Joss M...more

Paperback, 278 pages

Published July 11th 2000 by Vintage (first published 1998)

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Sep 22, 2012 Kat B. rated it 3 of 5 stars

After his death, it's revealed to the world that the famous male trumpet player Joss Moody turns out to have been assigned female at birth. Mostly a novel about the way his son grapples with this truth, the story is told through everyone's voice except for the deceased (save a few slightly-redeeming pages). The son's journey toward understanding his father is painful to read, but also somewhat powerful. Overall the book fell short of moving me, even felt frustrating at times, but was an interest...more

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May 26, 2012 V.T. Davy rated it 3 of 5 stars

A clever, moving, painful and uplifting book. Kay’s background appears to be in poetry and this comes as no surprise. The book is written from several people’s perspectives and her prose changes voice effortlessly. At times, the novel is a little overwritten and flowery, but you forgive this because the power of the story is in its quietness. I think that I would have liked Kay to be a bit braver at the end and to contrast the crass public obituary written by the journalist with the deeper under...more

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Sep 27, 2011 Steffanie rated it 5 of 5 stars

I don't know how I had never heard of this book before my dear friend recommended it to me a few months back. How could I have missed such a literary masterpiece? I feel like this novel should be counted among the great and groundbreaking novels to date.

Jackie Kay really analyzed how prurient the world can be. Joss Moody is the main character, but does not narrate at all, and is actually dead from the first page to the last. Joss Moody, the famous Jazz Artist has a secret. How this secret affec...more

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Oct 14, 2011 Madleen rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone who's got a heart

Recommended to Madleen by: found it in the library

This book is all about love.
It is an absorbing type of book, but not a page turner.
Reading it, is as if reading about real true feelings. One is overcome with tenderness towards the story, not some of the charakters.
This book is truthfull to the last extent; but it tells the truth gently.
The expressions, the descriptions, the short recollections.
This story touches your heart. It doesnt grip it, possess you; but grow on you, become part of you from the very beginning.
It will remain with you, m...more

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Aug 16, 2011 Nicole rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: those who appreciate a well-turned phrase

Shelves: lgbt-etc, adult-technically

It’s not often that a book can completely surprise you. I mean ta-da, pull the wool over your eyes, gasp out loud surprise you.

It’s clear from the start that Joss and Millie Moody share a secret and now that their secret is out life will never be the same. You get that on page one. Now see, I thought the secret was something to do with racial tensions or how this black man and white woman met and married or maybe how they managed to adopt their son. Some sort of sinister family secret or crime c...more

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Mar 20, 2013 Jonathan Goddard rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Kay's novel is about the life (and death) of a jazz musician, Joss Moody. Although the main character is fictional, his life is inspired by the real figure of Billy Tipton. Joss Moody is a brilliantly talented trumpet player, loving husband and caring father. Yet at Joss's untimely death, a secret is revealed that casts long shadows and throws much that was once safely assumed into doubt - that Joss was born female, and lived his adult life as a man.

The novel deals with identity, and how social...more

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Oct 24, 2012 Tīna rated it 5 of 5 stars

Lasot jau šīs grāmatas pirmās lapuses,saprotu,ka grāmatas turpmākais teksts man varētu šķist interesants,jo grāmatas lapusēs ir raksturota mūzika,kas man pašai ir ļoti tuva. Džekijas Kejas sarakstītajā grāmatā "Trompete" ir spilgti kāda trompetista-Džosa Mūdija- dzīvesstāsts,taču viņš nomirsts un tikai tad var noskaidrot,kas viņš tāds bija,ko darīja,ko mīlēja,un pats galvenais- noskaidrot visu sarežģīto un līdz šim neizprasto.
Pirms šī trompetista nāves nav skaidri saprotams,kāds ir viņa rakstu...more Lasot jau šīs grāmatas pirmās lapuses,saprotu,ka grāmatas turpmākais teksts man varētu šķist interesants,jo grāmatas lapusēs ir raksturota mūzika,kas man pašai ir ļoti tuva. Džekijas Kejas sarakstītajā grāmatā "Trompete" ir spilgti kāda trompetista-Džosa Mūdija- dzīvesstāsts,taču viņš nomirsts un tikai tad var noskaidrot,kas viņš tāds bija,ko darīja,ko mīlēja,un pats galvenais- noskaidrot visu sarežģīto un līdz šim neizprasto.
Pirms šī trompetista nāves nav skaidri saprotams,kāds ir viņa raksturs vai aizraušanās ar mūziku iemesls,jo liekas,ka uz visiem manis uzdotajiem jautājumiem lasot grāmatas rindas,viņš itkā slēpjās no patiesības un izvairās atklāties lasītājiem.Taču,kad sapratu-viņš ir miris,pēkšņi galvā jaucās tik daudz domu kā vēl nekad lasot kādu citu grāmatu,nevaru izskaidrot kāpēc,bet arī šī neziņa,kas raisījās manā prātā,drošvien,bija "pateicoties" noslēpumainajai personībai,kura atklājās grāmatas lapusēs.
Džosa dzīve nebija viegla,taču to nekādīgi nevarēja iztēloties bez mūzikas,jo viņš itkā dzīvoja mūzikai un mira tai. Viņš uzskatīja,ka mūzika ir visa viņa dzīve un ja būtu jāatsakās no tās,tad viņa dzīvei pēkņi nebūtu nekādas jēgas.Kaut gan tas pirmajā brīdī šķiet aplami,bet tā arī bija-viņš varēja stundām ilgi negulēt,neēst,nedzert,bet viņam bija jāpatur rokās kaut neilgu laiku viņa dzīves jēga-trompete,un viss pēkšņi šķita tik vienkārši un pašsaprotami.Dienas ritēja savu gaitu,bet viņš novecoja,ar gadiem viņam radās arvien vairāk noslēpumu no apkārtējiem un arvien jauni,nesaprotami atgadījumi,kuri vien skaidri bija Džošam.
Par viņa skolas gadiem nevienam nekas nebija zināms,tāpēc vajadzēja atrast kādas personas,ka par viņu varētu pastāstīt kaut nedaudz,jo,to,ka mūzika viņam bija svarīgāka par pašu,zināja visi,bet pat to-kāda trompetista dzīve bijusi senāk,nenojauta neviens.
Viedokli un kādas ziņas par viņa pagātni melēja pie skolas laika draudzenes,kura tad viņam bija ļoti mīļa un svarīga, mātes,kas tikai retu reizi spējusi saprast,kas notiek dēla prātā, džeza grupas biedriem,kas ikdienu uzturējušies vienā telpā ar Džosu,bet nekad nav zinājuši viņa slēptākos nodomus un sapņus,visi zināja tikai to,ka viņš ar mūziku bijis apsēsts jau agrāk,skolas gados,un nebrīnijās,ka šī apsēstība jau pāraugusi gluži vai drudzī,kas pārņēmusi mūziķi tik ļoti,ka nu jau par viņu varēja runāt tikai pagātnes formā.
Izlasot grāmatu es varēju paskatīties no cita skatu punkta,ka dzīve ne būt nav tāda,kāda tā šķiet,tā ir pilna pārteigumu,mistēriju un noslēpumainu.Pēc grāmatas izlasīšanas daudz kas tapa skaidrs,taču uz katru manu jautājumu grāmatas lapuses man man nesniedza atbildi.Bet varbūt tāds arī bija nolūks? Džoša noslēpumainība atklājās arī autorē,kas sarkastījusi šo aizraujošo grāmatu,kas neatgādināja nevienu līdz šim lasīto! Dzīve ir sarežģīta,tāda pati kā šī grāmata...(less)

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Mar 12, 2012 Keegan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

I found this book to be surprisingly enjoyable. There are plenty of books and movies that make you challenge your understanding of gender and sexuality and often they will force imagery, visual or literary, that is designed to make the reader/viewer uncomfortable to raise questions about that discomfort (I'm thinking of "Brokeback Mountain" the story and film, for example, or The Crying Game). That is, the natural reaction to The Crying Game might be disgust or shock, but in the emotional contex...more I found this book to be surprisingly enjoyable. There are plenty of books and movies that make you challenge your understanding of gender and sexuality and often they will force imagery, visual or literary, that is designed to make the reader/viewer uncomfortable to raise questions about that discomfort (I'm thinking of "Brokeback Mountain" the story and film, for example, or The Crying Game). That is, the natural reaction to The Crying Game might be disgust or shock, but in the emotional context of the movie, the viewer finds him or herself questioning this disgust. Or discomfort.

Or maybe it's just me.

At any rate, Trumpet deals more with the characters of the narrative, and shows the arbitrary and meaningless nature of these labels without resorting to sensationalism. There is certainly sex in the book, but the sex is secondary, a natural extension of the love between the two characters.

Jackie Kay wants the reader to examine our understanding of certain labels or terms that are associated with gender and sexuality, and question whether these words or terms are useful or too constrictive (her ultimate assertion is that they are too constrictive without really shedding much light on that which is labeled). What really does it mean to be man? A father? A lesbian?

The narrative is carried by the shifting voices of those dealing with the death of trumpeter Joss Moody. Through these alternate angles into the life and subsequent fall out from his death, Kay can really examine what use these labels have. The readers is alternately saddened and moved by Joss' wife's reaction, enraged by what seems deceptive to Joss' son Colman, excited by the prospect of scandal sought out by the journalist Sophie Stones, and so on. Ultimately, though, like most of the characters, the reader comes to recognize that what someone is called, or how these labels compartmentalize people says very little about the actual person. Joss was not a man, nor a woman, nor a wife, a father, a daughter, etc. Joss was a good person, an amazing musician, and ultimately a good parent to his son.

There are lots of correlated arguments here regarding race and ethnicity, and Kay hints at these throughout (particularly because Joss and Colman are both mixed race, and living in foreign(ish) countries). In the end, the reader is just moved: moved by the enduring love two people can share, by how two loving people can raise a good son, and by the goodness that runs in people if they can just get past the labels. (less)

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Mar 06, 2013 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I absolutely love this novel. I have to admit, when I first read it, I was kind of a literary snob. I criticized the writing and some of what I thought was cheesy literary devices (such as the dreams). But then I got over it and read it a second time. I realized how much of what went unseen when I was too busy criticizing.

Jackie Kay presents Joss Moody in a complex way, from the eyes of others. Since he is dead, we never really get his perspective save the letter he wrote for Cole. While the re...more

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Jul 08, 2012 Tqwana rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I can't pin down how I really feel about this book. It definitely stays with you, but still feels sort of unresolved. Maybe that's not quite it either.
I get it; Millie's love was truly unconditional. She loved Joss from the moment she saw him, knowing nothing about him. And you see Colman's journey back to loving his father in the same way, or just realizing that he still loved him. But, I still felt Joss was missing in a way. We didn't really get to know this person who lived this lie or why h...more

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Mar 03, 2012 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: for-school, books-i-own, literary-fiction

(Original review posted on my livejournal account: http://intoyourlungs.livejournal.com/...)

Why I Read It: Assigned for my Religious Themes in Literature class.

Like Mootoo Shati's Cereus Blooms at Night, Jackie Kay's Trumpet explores the complexity of sexuality and gender. The novel follows the aftermath of the great jazz trumpeter Joss Moody, and follows his wife as she deals with the grief that comes with losing him. We also follow his son Colman, as he struggles with the revelation that his f...more (Original review posted on my livejournal account: http://intoyourlungs.livejournal.com/...)

Why I Read It: Assigned for my Religious Themes in Literature class.

Like Mootoo Shati's Cereus Blooms at Night, Jackie Kay's Trumpet explores the complexity of sexuality and gender. The novel follows the aftermath of the great jazz trumpeter Joss Moody, and follows his wife as she deals with the grief that comes with losing him. We also follow his son Colman, as he struggles with the revelation that his father was in fact born with a female body.

What Kay addresses beautifully in this novel is how people have the tendency to conflate sexuality and gender identity. Joss' wife Millicent knew from before they were married that Joss had a female body bu she didn't care. She loved JOSS, who identified as a man and thus they both still identified as straight. But in the aftermath of Joss's death and the revelation of the gender he was born with, people assume that Millie is a lesbian. This lack of understanding, or willingness to understand drives Millie crazy and she's forced to retreat to her summer home to get away.

Colman was interesting character because despite his disgust at his father's choices he was still a sympathetic character, even when HE himself wasn't making the best choices. It's understandable that he would question his own gender identity when he identifies as male and modeled his masculinity after someone who turns out to NOT be biologically male. That's got to be mind-boggling, especially when you're not expecting and you're already reeling from grief. His reactions to his father's death also displayed an incredible level of complexity with the exploration of his grief and anger.

Reading Sophie's bits were easily the hardest parts to read as she was easily the most frustrating and unlikable character (though she's obviously meant to be). Her desperate search for the REASON for Joss's choice of identifying as male was angering: she pegged it on Joss's wanting to be a famous trumpeter and not being able to do it as a female, on the death of Joss's father at a young age, and on the fact that Joss was obviously just a pervert who got a kick out of tricking people. We as readers KNOW this is all bullshit of course, but unfortunately it's the attitude a lot of people adopt when it comes to transgendered people which is really sad.

Kay's writing is also worth noting; along with addressing very complex issues, she's an incredibly talented and crafty writer. Throughout the novel, she utilizes several points-of-view from several different characters and uses them all to great effect: We have a first-person POV of Colman when he's being interviewed by Sophie, one where he's NOT being interviewed by her, a third-person POV from him, a first-person POV from Millie, first-person from Sophie, as well as at least three more first-person POVs from other adjacent characters. In under 300 pages that's A LOT of POVs and when written down like that, it sounds like way too much. But Kay pulls it off. Each different POV draws out something different from the story and it never comes off as messy.

Oh, and I don't want to reveal too much, but I also loved the ending. Essentially, you're lead to believe that it's going to be one thing, but it ends being something completely different, and for that I was really happy -- it could have taken the obvious route, but then it would have undermined everything it had set out to do. Again, Kay is a great writer who obviously knows what's she doing.

Final Verdict: I loved this book and thinks it's a wonderful example of GLBTQ lit with a focus on transgendered people. Kay explores the complexities of gender identity and sexuality with a deft hand and this is a book I think I could read over and over again and get more out of it every time. The psychology of the characters is spot-on and they are just as complex as the subject matter of the book. The writing was also excellent and Kay displays an incredible handle on POV as she uses A LOT throughout the course of this relatively short novel and pulls it off magnificently.(less)

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Jul 30, 2011 Natalie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: literary-fiction, 5-stars

This tender and melodic story tells of how the friends and family of a world-famous jass musician cope both with his death and with the revelation that he was not a man, but a woman. What touched me the most was that those who loved Joss Moody seemed unphased by the fact he was a woman who lived as a man. Only his son couldn't take it in his stride, but he did eventually accept his father for who he was in life. The writing itself is a masterclass in how prose can be used to create mood and conv...more

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Jan 18, 2012 Ian Russell rated it 3 of 5 stars

A difficult one to rate. Three stars doesn't give enough credit to the talent of the author, Jackie Kay, but four stars might infer that I liked this story more than I did.

Breaking the story down into separate personal viewpoints was genius. The novel explores different emotions, attitudes, and reactions to cross-gender identity. Each of these attitudes is expressed through a particular character's story: the wife's loving acceptance, the son's confused anger, the macho drummer's denial, the exp...more

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Oct 11, 2011 Craig Werner rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: womens-lit, music, british-lit

The situation this novel deals with is fascinating: the death of a black Scottish jazz trumpet player who, after is death, is revealed to be biologically female. The story is told from a variety of perspectives: the trumpeter's "wife"; his adopted son (also a black Scot); a writer researching a sensationalistic book; his mother; former bandmates; doctors and undertakers. It's a serious questioning of the meanings of identity and the limits of self-redefinition. Ultimately, though, something does...more

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Feb 09, 2012 Kate Wright rated it 4 of 5 stars

An absolutely beautiful book. The best book about grief I've read - the emotion was palpable, white-hot. I wasn't totally sold on the way the story was structured. The different view points knocked me off kilter at the start. I really didn't like the style of the Sophie Stones - hack ghost writer - sections. But throughout the book the interrupting (as I saw them) view points became more personal to Joss Moody, essentially the main character of the piece, and I sank into reading it fully, enjoyi...more

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Sep 10, 2010 Sadie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010

A friend of my recommended this book and I really enjoyed it. It's the story of Joss Moody a famous Jazz musician. After his death it is discovered and revealed that Joss Moody was born female and the only one who knew was his wife.

As the book unfolds each chapter is told by a different character/voice in the book. A son who is dealing with this shocking discovery of his father, old family friends, the widow etc.

It's a beautiful story of love between two people and also an honest look at an evol...more

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Jun 08, 2010 Alena rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, queer

Without a doubt the best book I've read this year.

It's the story of trumpet player Joss Moody, or rather, how after his death people find out that biologically he was a woman. His wife knew, but no one else. The book is made up of chapters written from different people's point of view: the wife, the son, the undertaker, a greedy reporter, etc.

The way this structure unravels Joss's life and pulls it back together is masterful. The prose is magnificent, finding a unique voice for each character, c...more

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Aug 29, 2011 Daniel G. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Children of trans parents

Recommended to Daniel by: Adelaide Queer Bookclub

Shelves: books-read-in-2011, gay

If you like your novels to have neatly-wrapped endings, then Trumpet isn't for you. When the famous trumpet player Joss Moody dies, the world discovers that he was a she – at least in terms of the equipment he was carrying. Hardest hit by the discovery is Colman Moody, the son of Joss Moody and his wife Millie, and his anger spirals out of control as he deals with the news. Just as Colman had a handful of jigsaw pieces to work with when Joss dies, the reader is left with a handful of strings and...more

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May 12, 2011 Shannon rated it 5 of 5 stars

I really loved this book. It was a slow start, but the further along you got, the better the read. I found it very interesting that race and sexuality, while definitely a factor in the book, were not the main focus. They seemed to be a catalyst for a very eloquent look at identity- what is identity, what factors go into the way one identifies themselves and how does one's identity affect the way others perceive them? Jackie Kay did an excellent job at showing different perspectives and developin...more

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Nov 27, 2011 Catherine Henderson rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was a tale of a jazzman who was not what he appeared to be to his public or to most of those close to him. I found this a slow read, though the story picked up towards the end. Some narrators' voices were more convincing than others - the wife, the undertaker and the registrar gave vivid accounts of their encounter with the (dead) protagonist. The accounts by the journalist and the dead man/woman's son seemed less authentic. The author explores themes of identity, sexuality and social and p...more

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Jul 30, 2010 Dupsie Oriyomi rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

How in God's name I have missed this book is amazing. I devoured it in 2 days. I am not usually a fan of people who write like poets but I have to say Jackie Kay's trumpet is a very well written book. When I first heard of this book, I though that I would be reading about how Joss Moody decided to become a man, how he managed to pull it off, the challanges he might have met along the way. But NO, this book is a whole lot bigger than that.

This book is all about love. How you can love someone so m...more

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Jan 29, 2010 Joanna rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010-read

The characters in this book are reeling from the loss of a famous trumpet player, a husband, a father. After his death, it is revealed that Joss Moody was genetically female. The story is a wonderful exploration of identity and how we define who we are. Based loosely on the life of Billy Tipton, an American jazz musician who lived as a man to pursue a musical career in the 1930s, Joss Moody's story is told through the thoughts of several characters -- his widow, his adopted son, the sleazy biogr...more

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Feb 10, 2009 Nancy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: own

Follows the life and times of Joss Moody,formally Josephine Moore who acts out his/her entire music career as a man and fools everyone doing so.The book doesn't detail the process of his/her stage persona choosing to unravel it through a variety of perspectives including son,wife,and band members.They chronicle their experiences and memories throughout each chapter as they attempt to come to terms with Moody's death and secret life.The characters are realistic and no emotions are spared througho...more

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Apr 25, 2011 jo rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: queer, great-britain, other-african-diaspora, books-i-teach

this is the story of joss moody, a fictional trumpet player with a west indian father and a white scottish mother; the story is inspired by billy tipton, a real-life sax and piano player. in fact, there are no similarities between these two men except for the fact that they both were prominent jazz musicians and both were biological women who lived as men.

the element of race is so important in Trumpet -- as important, really, as the element of gender -- that billy tipton, who was white, seems b...more this is the story of joss moody, a fictional trumpet player with a west indian father and a white scottish mother; the story is inspired by billy tipton, a real-life sax and piano player. in fact, there are no similarities between these two men except for the fact that they both were prominent jazz musicians and both were biological women who lived as men.

the element of race is so important in Trumpet -- as important, really, as the element of gender -- that billy tipton, who was white, seems barely more than an inspiration. jackie kay fashions a new story entirely and her story plays deftly and lyrically with the issue of joss's identity -- an identity that is simultaneously very strong and very tortured -- and other people's perception of it after his death. there is no doubt that joss perceives himself as a man, just as there is no doubt that everyone perceives him as a man too, even when his biological femaleness is revealed upon his death. for some reason (this is something it would be interesting to discuss) his wife is less than protective of dead joss's masculinity and lets the doctor and the undertaker examine him alone. inevitably, the story gets out.

there is a lovely passage in which millie describes helping joss dress in the morning. as she carefully wraps and pins his bindings around his chest, she observes that she never touched his breasts. when joss inserts a pair of socks in his boxers, she delicately averts her gaze. on his part, joss dresses heavily, with two t-shirts over his bindings and a shirt and jacket on top. he's always dressed to the nines, very elegantly and formally, even in the hottest weather and the most casual circumstances. this is no problem for joss and millie, not something they discuss. another couple might choose to have endless conversations about this; this couple chooses not to. this is interesting too.

so in a way joss's masculinity is entirely unproblematic: he is simply a guy and there is nothing to talk about. in other ways, though -- in the ways in which this masculinity is relentlessly, physically constructed each morning and each night, by himself and his wife, and then carefully tended to by both through a lifelong system of deception, it's a huge problem.

unlike billy tipton, joss dies of heart attack (or so it's implied). bound under tight bandages of all kinds, his heart gives out.

the book is narrated by a number of voices, each given one or more chapters. the lion's share is given to colman, joss's and millie's adopted-at-birth son. colman's profound love for his father is seriously shaken by the discovery of his betrayal, but, as i said, this goes farther than gender. race permeates the novel in ways more subtle than gender but still very profound. both joss and colman have white mothers (colman's is of course adoptive); both, as it turns out, have little knowledge of their fathers. the racial lineage of these two men is confused, hidden, and broken: joss's father died when he was young and joss refuses to discuss him; colman's adoptive father, joss, is a famous man whom his son cannot but see as an idol. idols are hard to live with and colman is faced by his own inability to live up to his idea of his father every step of the way.

in the fact that joss's father is not present -- even in stories -- and colman's father is not a biological father in more senses than one lies the burden of these two black men. their black masculinity is literally orphaned. each one of them has to fashion it on his own, any way he can.

colman's rage and hurt are depicted beautifully, as are millie's simple and profound love for joss and her deep mourning. but the secondary characters are beautiful too. in particular i loved the undertaker and, in the last part of the novel, one of joss's childhood friend. her chapter is a real treat. (less)

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Apr 01, 2013 Becky rated it 5 of 5 stars

I borrowed this book from the library on an impulse, attracted by the title, and, man, I have spent a fortune on fines keeping it, but it is a fantastic, beautiful book. Pure poetry, end to end. I wish I didn't have to give it back. I wish I'd written it.
See, it's about a trumpeter born at the wrong time who pretends to be a man to get where he needs to be. And I can see why someone would do that. But, in the end, it's all about the music, so who cares who Joss Stone really was when people love...more

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Feb 05, 2012 Libby rated it 4 of 5 stars

Beautifully written, this novel is about Joss Moody, a famous jazz trumpeteer who passed as a man. His son finds out after his father's death that he was in fact a woman. Joss's wife retreats to their secret home in Scotland to escape the press. The son decides to cooperate with a journalist who wants to write about Joss's life. The story is told by many voices: the wife, the son, the journalist, the undertaker, registrar of records, and the mother, among others. Not a narrative of Joss's life,...more

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Aug 25, 2010 Frances rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

This book easily goes straight in as one of my favourites, I read it after reading Jackie Kay's latest book and fell in love with it from the first page and feel I've read two very different things by this author that both say so much about a writer.
It's captivating, thrilling and the emotional journey you go on whilst reading it is so long and broad you dont want to put it down. I was fully intrigued by each of the POV that tell the story, and I'm happy to say it ended well for me.
Worth a read,...more

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Feb 08, 2013 James rated it 3 of 5 stars

It began as a book that took extreme care with explicating each detail. The end was good, but untidy and rushed despite this. I also don't appreciate half-endings where I'm left guessing the events, even if they're self evident. The story itself could have been fully realized in the first few hundred pages, but it's the formulation of the journey that matters. Kay, don't string us along and then leave out the finite resolution.

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Feb 10, 2011 Francisco rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book within ten pages sky rocketed to my all time favorites. its was an objective and subjective story, and i also feel that i cant give a critical rewiew of the book because the book explores such deep human emotions that go beyond big words and small words. several times trough the book i had to put it down and just rejoice and soak in the raw feelings. i also feel sad now i dont know why?

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Feb 14, 2011 Feral Geographer marked it as to-read

Shelves: gave-up-partway-through

I started this novel as part of the queer reading challenge, and found it too sad to continue: Call me overly-sensitive, but I need a little more positivity in my escapist fiction. Maybe when I'm in a better headspace I'll try again. For now, it's sitting on the bedside bookshelf and collecting dust.

UPDATED 14 FEB 2011: Okay, I returned it to the library. I wish there was an option for "gave up" in the categorizing of my books on here.

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About Jackie Kay

Born in Glasgow in 1961 to a Scottish mother and a Nigerian father, Kay was adopted by a white couple, Helen and John Kay, as a baby. Brought up in Bishopbriggs, a Glasgow suburb, she has an older adopted brother, Maxwell as well as siblings by her adoptive parents.

Kay's adoptive father worked full-time for the Communist Party and stood for election as a Member of Parliament, and her adoptive moth...more Born in Glasgow in 1961 to a Scottish mother and a Nigerian father, Kay was adopted by a white couple, Helen and John Kay, as a baby. Brought up in Bishopbriggs, a Glasgow suburb, she has an older adopted brother, Maxwell as well as siblings by her adoptive parents.

Kay's adoptive father worked full-time for the Communist Party and stood for election as a Member of Parliament, and her adoptive mother was the secretary of the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).

Initially harbouring ambitions to be an actress, she decided to concentrate on writing after encouragement by Alasdair Gray. She studied English at the University of Stirling and her first book of poetry, the partially autobiographical The Adoption Papers, was published in 1991, and won the Saltire Society Scottish First Book Award. Her other awards include the 1994 Somerset Maugham Award for Other Lovers, and the Guardian Fiction Prize for Trumpet, based on the life of American jazz musician Billy Tipton, born Dorothy Tipton, who lived as a man for the last fifty years of her life.

Kay writes extensively stage, screen, and for children. In 2010 she published Red Dust Road, an account of her search for her birth parents, a white Scottish woman, and a Nigerian man. Her birth parents met when her father was a student at Aberdeen University and her mother was a nurse. Her drama The Lamplighter is an exploration of the Atlantic slave trade. It was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in March 2007 and published in poem form in 2008.

Jackie Kay became a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) on 17 June 2006. She is currently Professor of Creative Writing at Newcastle University. Kay lives in Manchester.

Jackie Kay was born and brought up in Scotland. THE ADOPTION PAPERS (Bloodaxe, 1991) won the Forward Prize, a Saltire prize and a Scottish Arts Council Prize. DARLING was a poetry book society choice. FIERE, her most recent collection of poems was shortlisted for the COSTA award. Her novel TRUMPET won the Guardian Fiction Award and was shortlisted for the IMPAC award. RED DUST ROAD, (Picador) won the Scottish Book of the Year Award, was shortlisted for the JR ACKERLEY prize and the LONDON BOOK AWARD. She was awarded an MBE in 2006, and made a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2002. Her book of stories WISH I WAS HERE won the Decibel British Book Award.
She also writes for children and her book RED CHERRY RED (Bloomsbury) won the CLYPE award. She has written extensively for stage and television. Her play MANCHESTER LINES produced by Manchester Library Theatre was on this year in Manchester. Her new book of short stories REALITY, REALITY was recently published by Picador. She is Professor of Creative Writing at Newcastle University.
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Quotes from Trumpet

“When the love of your life dies, the problem is not that some part of you dies too, which it does, but that some part of you is still alive.” — 28 people liked it

“Loss isn't an absence after all. It is a presence. A strong presence right next to me. I look at it. It doesn't look like anything, that's what is so strange. It just fits in.” — 7 people liked it

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avg rating	preview: Trumpet Goodreads rating: 3.97 (944 ratings)
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/195733.Trumpet?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320436097l/195733.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/195733.Trumpet?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Trumpet by Jackie Kay[/url]

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