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The Song is You

by Arthur Phillips (Goodreads Author)

3.28 · rating details · 1,077 ratings · 296 reviews

BONUS: This edition contains a The Song Is You discussion guide and excerpts from Arthur Phillips's The Tragedy of Arthur, Prague, The Egyptologist, and Angelica.

Each song on Julian’s iPod, “that greatest of all human inventions,” is a touchstone. There are songs for the girls from when he was single, there’s the one for the day he met his wife-to-be, there’s one for the d...more

Hardcover, 250 pages

Published April 7th 2009 by Random House (first published January 1st 2009)

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Lists with This Book

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29th out of 84 books — 70 voters

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Community Reviews

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Apr 25, 2010

c. ellen rated it

Arthur Phillips displays life's images and feelings in syncopated rhythms. He explores the peril of assigning meaning as the veils of reality lift and shift as his characters go through life's tragedies and joys. He is merciless in making us acknowledge how easily we can be manipulated or simply not be ready to understand. He brings home the power of music and our complicity in emptying ourselves into that realm, creating and sharing stories while we try to understand: what are our lives about. ...more

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Apr 13, 2009

christa rated it

And there I was, minding my own business on a Sunday afternoon, when suddenly I could not put down "The Song Is You" by Arthur Phillips. It was like I got hit over the head with a love mallet. It had to be, because for the first third of the book I was trudging through Phillips' metaphor mud, wondering why a character couldn't just wave his hands. He had to be "waving at the air as if bees were approaching his ragged beard with colonial intent." Etc., etc., etc.

(...moreAnd there I was, minding my own business on a Sunday afternoon, when suddenly I could not put down "The Song Is You" by Arthur Phillips. It was like I got hit over the head with a love mallet. It had to be, because for the first third of the book I was trudging through Phillips' metaphor mud, wondering why a character couldn't just wave his hands. He had to be "waving at the air as if bees were approaching his ragged beard with colonial intent." Etc., etc., etc.

(As a metaphor abuser myself, I'm especially keen to this infraction in others. Just like I notice other women who have the same bald spot that I'm growing.)

This easy-to-read-in-one sitting novel stars Julian: a middle aged music fan who is glued to his ipod. He has a genetic link to music. His father can be heard on a live Billie Holiday recording requesting "I Cover The Waterfront," a moment that changed his life. Now, years later, Julian is separated from his wife after the fluky death of their young son. He's shopping for toilet paper, but finds himself in a bar listening to live music with kids a fraction of his age. From his vantage point -- sitting at the bar, and as an advertising genius -- he fills 11 coasters with tips for the young singer on stage, Cait O'Dwyer, an Irish woman two blinks from becoming a pop sensation.

The bartender gives Cait O'Dwyer the coasters, and Julian's words appear in a song, a vague idea of him in an interview, and his makeup tips in her next live show. Then it is on like Donkey Kong, this wicked game of cat and mouse. He calls her while she is on a telethon, she writes a song inviting him into her apartment and telling him where to find the key. They email, talk on the phone, he goes to her shows. Only occasionally do they ever talk about meeting. But it is understood that they will, soon, when they are both ready.

So what is so big about this book. I have no idea, other than it is so charming. Julian has this socially inept genius of a brother who belly flops in front of the entire country in the worst way as defending champion on Jeopardy! and Julian's wife Rachel is unglued with grief over their son and the separation. The singer is only interesting when Julian is looking at her. Otherwise, she seems to be looking for someone to tell her who she is and convince her that she is unique. And every time I sensed an annoying plot deviation, Phillips avoided taking the tiresome route I feared he would take. He also either chilled out on the metaphor fest, or else I just became bilingual in his language and it wasn't so painful anymore.

I don't know. I just really loved this story. (less)

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Apr 16, 2009

Alana rated it

Shelves: 2009_04_april, reviewed, arc

I must say, I was rather pleased with The Song Is You. It's not that I didn't expect to enjoy this, because I did, but I also expected to feel like it was missing a small something. That's how I felt about Prague and The Egyptologist, both works that I enjoyed, but ultimately finished feeling a teensy bit dissatisfied (and also feeling like they went on just a touch too long). No matter what, though, I still really enjoy Phillips' writing style -- which is why I keep reading his stuff. When ...moreI must say, I was rather pleased with The Song Is You. It's not that I didn't expect to enjoy this, because I did, but I also expected to feel like it was missing a small something. That's how I felt about Prague and The Egyptologist, both works that I enjoyed, but ultimately finished feeling a teensy bit dissatisfied (and also feeling like they went on just a touch too long). No matter what, though, I still really enjoy Phillips' writing style -- which is why I keep reading his stuff. When LibraryThing listed The Song Is You as an early reviewer's option for the monthly books they offer for free, I threw my hat into the ring and snagged a copy. (Oddly enough, the day I received it in the mail, my friend who gets free books via a literary site that he runs, also offered me a copy, which I passed along to another friend.)

I began reading this without the faintest idea of the plot, beyond a vague knowledge that it must have something to do with music and a relationship. The title supplied me with the music idea and the cover (featuring a young man and a young woman) suggested the relationship bit. That's it. So perhaps I shouldn't summarize the plot, but suggest that you, too, should take a chance on this and just read and fall into it. Perhaps, but I won't. Instead, I'll provide a hazy sketch, because really, the plot is a bit hazy, too -- in a good way. Our main character is named Julian and the book focuses on his relationship to music in his life, and his relationships with two other women. To a great degree, the novel portrays people whose relationship to music can often be seen as a means of pushing back on actual human interactions and how music can be more than just the background soundtrack. The novel starts with a scene involving Julian's father at a Billie Holiday concert. Sure, this was the concert where his future wife and mother of his children was seated beside him, but above all, the siren and her music meant so much that it seems to overpower even the events set into motion on that night. Julian is instilled with a great respect for music, raised by a widowed father alongside an older and antisocial brother. He marries, he has a child, that child tragically dies, and his marriage essentially ends, though the final divorce decree has not yet come down. And then Julian is introduced to a new siren, an Irish redhead whose fame is growing, and they become involved in an intricate dance of longing for connection.

The book jacket calls one's attention to the fact that Phillips is a writer for people who both think and feel. And we all know that "think" can often mean "overthink." This particular book is a beautiful portrayal of characters who perhaps aren't looking for romance and meaning, but once it becomes an option, they are hungry to have it, but constantly overthinking in their attempts to create something perfect and potentially lasting.

I shall certainly be recommending this novel to those who have previously enjoyed Phillips' work... and to those who were not perhaps won over, I shall urge them to give it another shot with this, because I think Phillips has really done something remarkable here. The novel shows incredible growth, away from the somewhat arrogant youth of Prague, and while there is a certain indulgence to the melancholy of romance here, the emotions feel real and true. An excellent work, and I shall continue reading whatever Phillips puts out next.(less)

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Nov 08, 2009

Erin marked it as to-read

Nope. I got to approx. pg 80 when that same feeling enveloped me that was there when I read "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold---the writer is tehhhhtally impressing the pants off himself -- but failed to keep me wanting to read on....

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Jul 25, 2011

Jennifer H rated it

· review of another edition

I really wanted to like this book. There was so much potential. I absolutely loved the beginning ("Julian Donahue's generation were the pioneers of portable headphone music, and he began carrying with him everywhere the soundtrack to his days when he was fifteen."). Even though I am just beyond the main character's generation, I get the soundtrack to life thing - how to hear a song reminds you of some past time and it's hard to separate that memory from the song. Good songs can get...more

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Apr 09, 2011

Carol rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-novel

Phillips does a beautiful thorough job developing his characters. At times the book almost seems like a dream - your not sure that what is happening is reality. But then later he plainly reiterates evens through the eyes of a different character. Direct from the inside jacket cover, "As their feelings grow more feverish, keeping a safe distance becomes impossible. What follows is a love story and a uniquely heartbreaking dark comedy about obsession and loss." I did enjoy the ending...more

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Feb 26, 2011

switterbug (Betsey) rated it

And I can't get it out of my head...

This book is a ballad, a haunting ballad that continues to play its plaintive notes in my head, like a refrain. Don't be fooled by the product description (of a man in love with his ipod). This is not a jaunty, trendy escape tale. This is for serious readers who love literature, and who love literature to descant.

Julian Donahue is middle-aged, affluent, and adrift. After his son's death, his marriage unravels, but he remains tightly wound. ...moreAnd I can't get it out of my head...

This book is a ballad, a haunting ballad that continues to play its plaintive notes in my head, like a refrain. Don't be fooled by the product description (of a man in love with his ipod). This is not a jaunty, trendy escape tale. This is for serious readers who love literature, and who love literature to descant.

Julian Donahue is middle-aged, affluent, and adrift. After his son's death, his marriage unravels, but he remains tightly wound. He has a successful career producing commercials, yet he is increasingly filled with self-loathing and dread. He spends dissolute nights seducing beautiful, indifferent women or drearily bantering with his eccentric, cunning brother. The consummate and lugubrious loner, Julian is unable to pursue happiness. His ipod shuffle is his only source of bliss; each song is a monument to a moment in time, a memory stilled or distilled, a dream of an image of a life. Julian's opaque existence is thrown into sharp relief through the prism of his songs. As his father before him, only music and his past can pierce his diamond-hard heart.

And then one night Julian walks into a bar and is struck by the young Irish rock singer on-stage, Cait O'Dwyer. A rising star, a supernova, a red-haired songbird, Cait commands his attention with her saucy but vulnerable charisma and nubile essence. After the show, he buys her CD, returns home and googles her, downloads her music into his ipod--and so begins their love affair. But this is an unprecedented romance. They decide not to meet right away; rather, they circle one other. They spend time together alone. They shadow each other. He illustrates her on cork nightclub coasters--images of her vibrant potential--each with a title--and leaves them for her at the bar. One is entitled "Bleaker and Oblique." She responds, writes an eponymous song and leaves him clues and a key under her mat. Yet they tacitly understand that it isn't the right time to meet. Julian captures her on film from a distance, enters her home when she isn't there. They email, occasionally talk on the phone, and correspond, paradoxically, in ways even more intimate than can be imagined in person. Their relationship is a sensuous aria and they are each others' accompaniment.

As the story crescendos toward its fascinating denouement, I actually broke out in a sweat. This is an emotional, psychological, and romantic thriller that creates a bubble of tension so taut that it will leave you breathless and drenched. During the last 60 pages, I was heaving. This novel was an emotionally athletic experience that exhilarated and moved me into strange and intoxicating places.

I have read two earlier novels by Phillips--The Egyptologist and Prague, which I thoroughly enjoyed. However, this novel is distinctly different in narrative style. What a virtuoso--I didn't recognize him in this book by his erstwhile prose or any previous patterns. I was stunned by his ability to engulf me with this story. Although his prose is cerebral, it is also poetic. You could lift almost any sentence from this novel, place it on a clean, white sheet, and contemplate it, ponder it, reflect on its individual acuity. And yet, inclusively, the sentences connect beautifully into a quiet explosion, a bonfire of a book. Like a poet, he can be simultaneously precise and circumspect--a razor and a rhyme, canny and uncanny, at once and out of time.

Read it the first time for the hot chill, and then read it again for the quiet thrill.

"Breakdown on the shoreline,
Can't move, it's an ebbtide.
Morning don't get here till night,
Searching for her silver light."

---Electric Light Orchestra

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Apr 29, 2010

Chris rated it

· review of another edition

i saw arthur phillips in a live interview and admit that i was impressed: witty, charismatic, and whip-smart while still maintaining an air of nonchalance. i found his writing to be much the same way. the characters in this book were annoyingly engaging. main character julian donahue's pitiful, yet beautiful, attempt to capture the heart of young up-and-coming irish singer/songwriter/vixen cait o'dwyer was as gorgeous as such a frustrating relationship could ever hope to be. phillips pulls a...more

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Jan 05, 2010

Stafford Davis rated it

The critically lauded Arthur Phillips and his fourth novel, The Song Is You, is a 21st century meditation on love and music that washes the reader in poetic prose and imagery, but ultimately amounts to ‘old wine in a new bottle’ or for me, just plain old bullshit.

Phillips’ writing is amazingly good, and it’s on constant display throughout. He’s a natural at writing prose that’s poetic and effective. Much of the praise this novel has amassed is due in part to his skillful writing that...more

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Oct 19, 2009

Angela rated it

· review of another edition

Recommended to Angela by: nytimes review

In The Song is You, reformed philanderer Julian pursues Cait, a musician half his age rising to fame on her regrettably named demo tape, Your Very Own Blithering Idiot. It's easy enough to predict how this one is going to go, because you've seen it before.

At its heart, the novel is Philips's attempt to share his love of music, but that's a difficult thing to write about. Either the references chosen are so pedestrian that they're dated and tedious (Audrey Niffenegger we're looking at...moreIn The Song is You, reformed philanderer Julian pursues Cait, a musician half his age rising to fame on her regrettably named demo tape, Your Very Own Blithering Idiot. It's easy enough to predict how this one is going to go, because you've seen it before.

At its heart, the novel is Philips's attempt to share his love of music, but that's a difficult thing to write about. Either the references chosen are so pedestrian that they're dated and tedious (Audrey Niffenegger we're looking at you), or they are just meaningless nostalgia, affecting only the author. Perhaps the worst example of this is the unreadable Love is a Mix Tape, which I had to abandon after not being as touched as the author apparently was by the equation of memories of his deceased wife with early '90s radio hits. So, indeed, the most tedious parts of The Song Is You are Julian's thoughts on what exactly is playing out of his iPod, and unfortunately he thinks about this a lot. The novel makes a convincing case for a legal limit on the number of times the word "iPod" should be allowed to appear in a single work of fiction.

Luckily, the plot moves the reader along steadily, with a few truly wonderful paragraphs and bits of dialogue spread throughout it. Phillips begins to redeem himself recounting the hilarious story of Julian's brother Aidan's unfortunate Jeopardy! mishap, and Julian is at his best when he responds to Cait's constant need for affirmation with "On the other hand, if you want a mix tape of people calling you incompetent, I can have one professionally engineered and piped through dedicated speakers hidden in your home, so that you shower and eat and shave your legs and fall asleep to disquieting abuse and then awaken to laughter and caitcalls."

Unfortunately Phillips balances his wit with an occasional dreadful phrasing. On Cait: "She lived in a one-bedroom, like so many people." Ian, the band's guitarist, "intubates" women. Not content to look through his CDs peacefully like the rest of us, Julian "caroms." And so on.

So really, it's hard to feel very sorry for Julian when, after he has annoyed us for nearly a whole novel with the constant cacophony of his iPod and iTunes and CDs and live bands and reel to reel players, he has managed to tune out everything important in the actual, real world. Time after time, Julian misses the world around him because he's got his music turned up too loud. Phillips's New York is a place populated solely by arrogant artists with improbably British names and dog parks, though, so maybe that's not such an awful thing.(less)

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Sep 29, 2009

Dave rated it

Very engrossing and extremely well written. Arthur Phillips can really turn a phrase while managing to even be funny at times. I read this quickly and enjoyed it. Not having made it to page 100 of his previous novel, Prague, I was glad to see him handle a more approachable subject.

However, I couldn't help but feel that the plot, while not necessarily cliche, certainly revolved around stereotypical and idealized characters. Musicians feature prominently in the story and are sometimes ...moreVery engrossing and extremely well written. Arthur Phillips can really turn a phrase while managing to even be funny at times. I read this quickly and enjoyed it. Not having made it to page 100 of his previous novel, Prague, I was glad to see him handle a more approachable subject.

However, I couldn't help but feel that the plot, while not necessarily cliche, certainly revolved around stereotypical and idealized characters. Musicians feature prominently in the story and are sometimes eyeroll-inducing, particularly the aging rockstar turned playboy painter Alec Stamford. 22 year old Cait O'Dwyer, a highly unlikely combination of initiative, talent, beauty and bravado somehow becomes intrigued by middle aged commercial director Julian Donahoe without ever meeting him. The novel proceeds to document their clever, musically inflected cat and mouse game.

Phillips is one of those weird people (like music critics) who listens carefully to the lyrics of songs, and lends them great significance. Lyrics really drive the whole novel, as the protagonist associates songs with moments and people in his life. I don't pay attention to lyrics in most rock music, and certainly not at live shows. I was frustrated by the extensive discussion of this young woman's words while having no explanation of what her music sounded like. For me, this would have been important.

But Phillips deals with readers' expectations very expertly. Even in the final pages of the book, I wasn't sure how it would unfold. The main character is consistently doubting himself, and does not act with all the precision we have come to expect from protagonists. His behavior borders on creepy as he deals with his love interest creating a pleasantly disquieting sensation that is all too rare in novels. The end is somewhat disappointing, involving a wacky misunderstanding worthy of Three's Company, but it is emotionally satisfying.

Ultimately I'm glad I read this since Phillips has true talent. It's difficult to write about something so personal and contemporary as rock music without sounding infantile. He has walked the line here with only occasional missteps. If this sells well, I wouldn't be surprised to see a film made down the line.(less)

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Mar 31, 2010

Jessica rated it

Shelves: fiction

I read the gorgeously written prologue at the bookstore, and was convinced that it was well worth the $10.05 I'd pay with my employee discount. Boy, was I wrong.

I have to say, skimming through the reviews that I'm a little bit surprised by the comments. Am I the only one who didn't enjoy the prose in this book? I found the vast majority of Phillips' sentences to be poorly constructed. Half of them ended in a place so far removed from the beginning of the sentence that I had to read ...more

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Jul 27, 2009

Todd rated it

Shelves: fiction, music

This book was not exactly what I thought it was going to be - but I did get wrapped up in the story a bit - but ultimately disappointed by the ending and the author's writing style. I thought this book was going to be a bit more about music - real music - with a love story interwoven throughout. Instead this book follows a young singer named Cait O'Dwyer and her ascendancy into the public eye - and the stalking of a middle aged divorced man. I was surprised that the actions of these lovers wh...more

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Jul 23, 2010

Heather Knight rated it

I love everything Arthur Phillips writes, but this novel, which manages to blend in hundreds of musical references while still maintaining its own poetry, is one of his best.

As usual, his characters are obsessed, with themselves and others, to the point of paralysis and insanity. You want to shake them, slap them, call the police ... but, of course, you see in them the same things you yourself could do if cooler instincts didn't prevail.

In fact, one of the things I loved mo...more

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May 31, 2009

Lee rated it

Shelves: contemporary-fiction

I never read 'Prague', and the only reason I picked this up was probably due to a Salon.com interview with the author, all about how music affects the lives of individuals and where it stands in courtship, memory, etc...I was hoping the book would be even more fascinating. Instead, all that stuff about music is more of a quiet backdrop to what boils down to a fairly ordinary midlife-crisis-type love story (ordinary only after you subtract the effects of a disturbingly stalkerly courtship--one th...more

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Aug 05, 2009

Sherry rated it

Recommends it for: no

Couldn't put this book down - once it finally hooked me (took longer than usual). Examining Julian and others in his life. Julian - waking up from living sleep the day he hears Cait O'Dwyer sing. What ensues is a professional, friendly, romantic relationship shrouded in anonymity.

Underlying theme - musics power to bring us to life - even while stealing our real life away. Ponder on this.

Things I loved! Music, music, music! Introduction to singers from the past. I lov...more

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Jun 01, 2009

Bookmarks Magazine rated it

Shelves: july-aug-2009

Though critics praised Phillips's playful, clever prose, they diverged in their reactions to his latest novel. Some appreciated his portrait of electronic-age relationships, while others found it difficult to accept the "hokey and contrived" (New York Times) coupling of a creepy stalker and his improbably nonchalant victim. Some saw Phillips's hidden song titles, playlists, and repetitive tributes to iPods as ingenious depictions of the music industry, while others viewed them as blata

...more

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Jul 28, 2011

Jenny rated it

This isn't one I was instantly drawn to, and I was even a bit skeptical, but it turned out to be a case of something being on the shelf and eventually the time will be right. It's similar to Nick Hornby's Juliet, Naked in some ways, though Hornby's writing is breezier.

But no, music lasted longer than anything it inspired. (p. 14)

Great music, his father used to lecture him, was often made by wretched people. The wise fan carefully avoided learning anything about the creators o...more

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Sep 19, 2010

Twobusy rated it

· review of another edition

Okay... this one is complicated. I have to admit that I came into this novel with a lot of trepidation, as 1) both my wife and one of my dearest interweb friends had already read this and HATED it; and 2) I'd read Phillips' debut "Prague" several years back and HATEDHATEDHATED it with a truly unreasonable passion. So to say I was surprised to find myself enjoying this novel is something of an understatement. But I did: Phillips has a gorgeous, lyrical way with words, and he tells his s...more

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Jun 25, 2009

Suzy rated it

Arrrgggghhhh, I really like Arthur Phillips and I was SO excited to like his newest book that I bought it in HARDBACK. But I didn't like it, I didn't even finish it. WAY too wordy. It was like his beautiful prose that I enjoyed so much in Prague was on steroids....sometimes there really can be a little too much metaphor. Anyway, it also didn't help that it was 1) a mid-life crisis story (thankfully, at 30, I can't identify with this in any way, shape or form) and 2) full of very unsympatheti...more

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Jul 25, 2011

Larry Hoffer added it

This is one of the best books I've read in a long while. I finished it on a plane about two hours ago and I cannot get it out of my head. I've never read anything by Arthur Phillips before (although I remember when his last book came out and I was working at Barnes & Noble) but I definitely will seek him out again.

This is a book about music, how songs remind us of a certain moment or how hearing the right song at the right moment can convince us to act or not to act. This is a book about love...more

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May 03, 2009

Erin rated it

phillips has a knack for looking deeply into his characters and extracting something that his readers can understand and empathize with.

on the surface, this seems like a love story. it is, in fact, a love story. its also a lust story, a sad story, and an unrequited love story.

i'm providing this review just mere hours after completing the book, and, honestly, i almost think i need a week or so of digestion before writing a fitting review. this i will say: it is pain...more

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Apr 27, 2009

Julie Failla Earhart rated it

With only four novels under his belt, The Washington Post has already claimed that Arthur Phillips is “one of the best writers in America.” Phillips’ latest, The Song is You, is a contemporary story set against a New York City background.
Successful adman Julian Donahue has lost his way. After the untimely death of his two-year-old son, Carleton, his marriage to Rachel unravels. While not quiet experiencing a midlife crisis, Julian is decidedly in a funk. Impotent and seeking solace, J...moreWith only four novels under his belt, The Washington Post has already claimed that Arthur Phillips is “one of the best writers in America.” Phillips’ latest, The Song is You, is a contemporary story set against a New York City background.
Successful adman Julian Donahue has lost his way. After the untimely death of his two-year-old son, Carleton, his marriage to Rachel unravels. While not quiet experiencing a midlife crisis, Julian is decidedly in a funk. Impotent and seeking solace, Julian spends his days plugged in to his iPod, listening across musical genres. His bitter father, a Korean War amputee, found solace in the recordings of Billie Holliday, and Julian is positive that somewhere on his iPod , he will find the same freeing voice.
On a bitterly cold night, he wanders into a basement bar. At first, he isn’t too impressed with Cait O’Dwyer’s music, but he does buy a demo tape from the bartender. When he listens again in the subway, Julian finds his Billie, an Irish singer thirty years his junior.
Not quiet a love story, not quiet a stalker story, not quite the page-turner thriller, The Song is You is a haunting mixture of all three. Julian makes contact through a series of drawings and advice on set of ten paper coasters. Cait returns the cryptic messaging via new songs.
Phillips pace is slow, with long meandering sentences that are sometimes difficult to follow, but are so beautifully crafted that they are worth reading two or three times before the meaning is crystal clear. As Julian’s obsession and pursuit of Cait escalates in a rather creepy manner, Cait’s blossoming under his scrutiny is also rather creepy.
As The Song is You nears its climax, the novel’s pace quickens and so did this reader’s heartbeat. Sometimes I was ready to throw the novel aside and proclaim I didn’t understand or like it. However, there was a haunting to the story that kept me returning, to reading until an unexpected conclusion.
Review originally appeared on www.armchairinterviews.com
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Apr 15, 2009

Kari rated it

Arthur Phillips uses music to tell a love story in his latest novel, The Song Is You. His main character is Julian Donahue, a middle-aged commercial director obsessed with his iPod and constantly analyzing his life through songs of his past. The song of first love, first kiss, first heartbreak--Julian's iPod is an album of memories that have left him imprisoned to the past.

Julian has a long history with music, taking after his father who can be heard requesting a song on a live recor...moreArthur Phillips uses music to tell a love story in his latest novel, The Song Is You. His main character is Julian Donahue, a middle-aged commercial director obsessed with his iPod and constantly analyzing his life through songs of his past. The song of first love, first kiss, first heartbreak--Julian's iPod is an album of memories that have left him imprisoned to the past.

Julian has a long history with music, taking after his father who can be heard requesting a song on a live recording of a Billie Holiday concert. But fast forward many years later, and Julian has separated from his wife after the sudden death of their two-year-old song. He's in a rut of pain and heartbreak, but everything changes the night Julian stumbles in a bar and hears the music of Cait O'Dwyer, an Irish [much younger:] rock singer with flaming red hair and a personality to match. Voilà, a unique love story is born.

Phillips has crafted characters full of personality and quirks. Julian's older brother, Aidan, is a socially inept genius whose downfall came from a politically incorrect answer on Jeopardy; his wife, Rachel, is desperate to end their separation and speaks to Julian through subtle hints and clues that are often misinterpreted; Julian has trouble shifting from playboy to devoted husband, as his obsessions tend to win over self control. Metaphors are prevalent, both in the language and plot of the story, a feature of Phillips' writing that can at times have you begging for a concise description. Julian and Cait's relationship becomes a game shrouded in mystery and anticipation that keeps you interested in how it plays out. I got so caught up in the characters' next moves, that I had to stop and realize how obsessive and dark this plot had become. Phillips has a bigger picture in mind, though; this obsession as a form of escapism ultimately leads the characters through their problems and out of the past, and he successfully created a piece of work that perfectly illustrates the relationship between society and technology. (less)

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May 07, 2009

Rachel rated it

Recommends it for: oh they'll be hearing from me soon

Recommended to Rachel by: Arthur Phillips

In this book, Mr. Phillips is only several atoms away from doing what I most love to read authors doing: a kind of gentle postmodern magical realism, which doesn't necessarily include actual magic or anything literally fantastical, but dabbles in the dreamlike, the linguistically indulgent, the poetic in its storytelling. It's almost perfect, even in its rather uncomfortable moments (of which there are several). The lines between what is really happening, what a character is imagining, and what ...moreIn this book, Mr. Phillips is only several atoms away from doing what I most love to read authors doing: a kind of gentle postmodern magical realism, which doesn't necessarily include actual magic or anything literally fantastical, but dabbles in the dreamlike, the linguistically indulgent, the poetic in its storytelling. It's almost perfect, even in its rather uncomfortable moments (of which there are several). The lines between what is really happening, what a character is imagining, and what the author is imagining (meta!) are often blurry and that is a beautiful thing. In addition, the characters are all so perfectly flawed, so recognizable--I can easily see in them myself, and since I am complicated and diaphanously magical, so are they. As a through-and-through iPod addict, music fiend, obsessive cataloger, I was enraptured by the music in this text, both literally, in the constant descriptions and allusions, and internally, in the grammar and the wordplay and the voices. Lovely. Also, I want to send Mr. Phillips a mix CD, and to listen to his iPod. I wonder if he'll get a lot of that now.

I bought this book after hearing Mr. Phillips do a reading at the Harvard Book Store in Cambridge. I'd read The Egyptologist and found it frustrating but inspired, and wanted to hear more. The author was witty, charming, at ease, more than enough so to convince a penniless grad student to buy a brand new hardcover. But the book also charmed by itself in the reading...that wonderful opening section; the paralyzing wreckage of Aiden's Incident; the unlikely and inspired way in which the process of listening to a song that is also a mood is described by Phillips, something I have so many times groped for the words to do myself. My copy of the book is inscribed with a thanks for the lending of my name--I share that of one of the main characters. All I can say now, having read the thing, is that I would gladly lend again to be so tied to one of Phillips' strange and familiar characters. This is a truly wonderful book, and the conflict between wanting all of my closest loves to read it and wanting to keep it just for myself is battling out in me...But I suppose all of the much more famous and influential readers and reviewers who beat me to this praise have already decided that one for me. So here's my drop in the pond of praise: Read this beautiful book and love more for it. (less)

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Jul 14, 2009

Robin rated it

Shelves: 2009-list, fiction

Read a lot of good reviews on this one so I have high expectations!

7/14: Finished this today because it was due and there are others waiting for it. Really had a tough time with this book although I was satisfied with the ending. When I pick up a book with rave reviews about the author, I think that I expect too much. That's why receiving an advance review copy of a book can be good because I don't always read what others think of it before I can form my own opinion.

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Nov 30, 2011

Jill rated it

Evaluation: I rarely get the reading experience I had here of a love story being a page-turning edge-of-my-seat kind of experience. And part of the love story was mine, as I fell for the author’s beautifully engineered phrases (e.g., in addition to the quotes given above, referring to face-to-face encounters as “archaic forms of human interaction” and testing the waters of a relationship as taking an “escargotically slow approach”). This is a wonderful book for reading and discussing in the c...more

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Aug 29, 2009

Ken rated it

This was loaned to me by a good friend that loved the book and found considerable personal meaning in the way Phillips interwove music and mid-life reflection. I wanted to love it as well. "Song For You" was consistently well reviewed in the media. The writing is of high caliber and the theme should be a natural fit for me as well. But elements of the story and a group of characters I had little sympathy for, dragged the novel down from superior to simply very good.

On ...more This was loaned to me by a good friend that loved the book and found considerable personal meaning in the way Phillips interwove music and mid-life reflection. I wanted to love it as well. "Song For You" was consistently well reviewed in the media. The writing is of high caliber and the theme should be a natural fit for me as well. But elements of the story and a group of characters I had little sympathy for, dragged the novel down from superior to simply very good.

On the surface a thirty something young professional dealing with a series of mid-life personal issues becomes infatuated with up & coming young rock star is not a stretch. I'll confess my thoughts have wandered over the years at my share of concerts. Tift Merritt, Jenny Lewis, and Shania Twain come to mind with little effort. But I never attempted to engage with those performers. Julian Donahue does but in a cat & mouse way that is at first ingeniously creative then later, downright creepy. No one seems to notice but me as it all good fun for two souls searching for well...something else.

The characters that drive this novel are intelligent but somewhat tainted adults. In fact one, Julian's brother Aiden, is off-the-scale intelligent. He knows it too. But he's not bright enough to avoid a blunder on Jeopardy that knocks him back a peg or two. Cait O'Dwyer, the beautiful Irish band leader being pursued, is fun to watch as well. She gathers steam throughout the novel as her popularity grows. Her exchange with an investigative detective late in the novel is especially enjoyable. But somehow I never connected with any of them. Even with the backdrop of iPod songs (never really specifically named) the novel couldn't completely win me over. Its very good though. Regardless of how you see the characters their interaction is entertaining to watch. Phillips stands out when these characters look inside themselves. As they each deal with their emotions of loss or love its unavoidable to not to connect with similar thoughts/emotions. Like any novel, everyone will see this differently. But clearly there is "something" here for everyone.(less)

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Aug 18, 2009

Mr. Brammer rated it

I thought that this would be a Nick Hornby-esque meditation on music and relationships by someone who actually likes music, but here we have only a perfunctory taste of what the music mentioned in this book actually sounds like. We are presented with a live recording of Billie Holiday singing "I Cover the Waterfront", and the narrator's father's obsession with the song and memories associated with it, to show us how music and love are entwined with obsession. Or something. None of i...more

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Aug 10, 2011

Jamie rated it

Having not been aware of any "win-an-iPod" contest attached to Phillips's book, my initial concerns when I scanned the dust jacket in the book store were amplified. Books that draw heavily from contemporaneous pop culture (in this case, the iPod) are usually doomed to date themselves in short order. The unfortunate side effect is that some good writing is nullified. That is my fear with The Song is You.

The diligence and care Phillips affords his characters' backstories and motives a...more

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Quotes from The Song is You

“Love is not sufficient. It never has been. Stories that claim otherwise are lies. There's always SOMETHING after happily ever after.” — 11 people liked it

“How much of life could he spend aching? Aching is not a stable condition; it must resolve into something” — 9 people liked it

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