Diane Vega read and liked Erin's review of The Song Is You: A Novel:

"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,...more 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 painstakingly real human emotion. this i will also say: i felt slightly alienated from the characters in this one, as i never have in previous phillips novels. not to an alarming degree, but to a point where i could at times, while reading, be aware of the fact that i was reading about characters i didn't have much in common with. maybe its that i didn't understand their lifestyles enough. the surface level (career, environment) of these characters kept me at a distance, until i could fade back in to the story by concentrating on what was happening inside them. phillips is an incredible writer, and i have to assume this is intentional on his part.

i was pleased and displeased with the end of the story -- a compliment in both cases to phillips. it felt right, but maybe not satisfactory. and i mean the story itself, like how life can be disappointing. the writing does not falter at the end.

i give this 4 stars based on those weird times i began to feel alienated and because for me, unfortunately, it took a little bit from my experience. but high praise, still, to a great writer of "the human condition." this book is receiving high praise (deservedly) but i will still toss out there -- call me crazy -- that my favorite of his books remains the under-appreciated "the egyptologist." (less) "