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Dissonance: A Novel
When Anna Kramer, a piano teacher in Los Alamos, New Mexico, inherits the journals and scores of composer Hana Weissova, she is mystified by this bequest from a woman she does not know. As Kramer begins to play Weissova's music, however, some of her forgotten emotions resurface. Upon reading the dead woman's journals, which begin in 1945 after Weissova is released from a concentration camp, decades-old secrets that Kramer and her family have kept buried are uncovered.
"Dissonance . . . is bold in its scale, placing us at different eras in the concentration camp at Theresienstadt and in the scientific world of Los Alamos, New Mexico. . . . Few contemporary novels challenge the reader's conscience as Dissonance does, and fewer still inspire love so profoundly."--Kevin McIlvoy, author of Hyssop
"A fine, clear, spare novel about music, the mysteries of the past, and the struggle to make meaning out of our present lives. In language that is always melodious, [Lisa] Lenard-Cook writes luminously of Europe and New Mexico, of the years of the last century that were its most brutal and the years at its close that were its most perplexing. Dissonance is a work of beauty."--Russell Martin, author of Picasso's War
Dissonance has been selected for 2004 Durango-La Plata Reads! by the Durango, Colorado, Public Library.
"Dissonance . . . is bold in its scale, placing us at different eras in the concentration camp at Theresienstadt and in the scientific world of Los Alamos, New Mexico. . . . Few contemporary novels challenge the reader's conscience as Dissonance does, and fewer still inspire love so profoundly."--Kevin McIlvoy, author of Hyssop
"A fine, clear, spare novel about music, the mysteries of the past, and the struggle to make meaning out of our present lives. In language that is always melodious, [Lisa] Lenard-Cook writes luminously of Europe and New Mexico, of the years of the last century that were its most brutal and the years at its close that were its most perplexing. Dissonance is a work of beauty."--Russell Martin, author of Picasso's War
Dissonance has been selected for 2004 Durango-La Plata Reads! by the Durango, Colorado, Public Library.
196 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
January 8, 2015
[Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography (cclapcenter.com). I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.]
I've discussed here before the inherent challenge I feel about doing critical looks at Holocaust fiction -- that although you can't just stand up one day and say, "Okay, that's it, we have enough novels about the Holocaust now, and we really don't need anymore" (after all, the Holocaust is the very definition of a story that should be endlessly discussed until the end of time, simply so that the story is never forgotten), nonetheless it makes it very difficult as a literary critic to do an actual honest literary criticism of any particular new one, because the story is just so familiar by now, and the impetus to "never forget the past" can manytimes clash badly with the equally important impetus as an author to write an entertaining and thought-provoking three-act narrative story that is fresh and original. And so it is with Lisa Lenard-Cook's new Dissonance as well, although to her credit she at least attempts to approach the story in a new way; it's ostensibly the story of a contemporary piano teacher in Los Alamos, New Mexico, who mysteriously one day learns that she is the recipient in the will of an elderly Jewish composer she's never met, discovering that she has inherited a series of original songs on sheet paper that have never been performed and that the general public largely is not aware of, her quest to track down their origins taking her into the story of this elderly composer's time at the concentration camps as a youth. But that said, the book indeed suffers from the exact problem I'm talking about, that it was a chore to get through precisely because I already knew every single story beat that was going to happen well before I ever turned the next page, which is problematic when you're presenting your story as a mainstream novel instead of as a history textbook; and so I will do the wimpy thing I always do in these situations and simply give the book an exact middle-of-the-road score, because I am uncomfortable giving a piece of Holocaust fiction a score that's either too high or too low, even though Dissonance deserves them both simultaneously. This should all be kept in mind before you pick up a copy yourself.
Out of 10: 7.5
I've discussed here before the inherent challenge I feel about doing critical looks at Holocaust fiction -- that although you can't just stand up one day and say, "Okay, that's it, we have enough novels about the Holocaust now, and we really don't need anymore" (after all, the Holocaust is the very definition of a story that should be endlessly discussed until the end of time, simply so that the story is never forgotten), nonetheless it makes it very difficult as a literary critic to do an actual honest literary criticism of any particular new one, because the story is just so familiar by now, and the impetus to "never forget the past" can manytimes clash badly with the equally important impetus as an author to write an entertaining and thought-provoking three-act narrative story that is fresh and original. And so it is with Lisa Lenard-Cook's new Dissonance as well, although to her credit she at least attempts to approach the story in a new way; it's ostensibly the story of a contemporary piano teacher in Los Alamos, New Mexico, who mysteriously one day learns that she is the recipient in the will of an elderly Jewish composer she's never met, discovering that she has inherited a series of original songs on sheet paper that have never been performed and that the general public largely is not aware of, her quest to track down their origins taking her into the story of this elderly composer's time at the concentration camps as a youth. But that said, the book indeed suffers from the exact problem I'm talking about, that it was a chore to get through precisely because I already knew every single story beat that was going to happen well before I ever turned the next page, which is problematic when you're presenting your story as a mainstream novel instead of as a history textbook; and so I will do the wimpy thing I always do in these situations and simply give the book an exact middle-of-the-road score, because I am uncomfortable giving a piece of Holocaust fiction a score that's either too high or too low, even though Dissonance deserves them both simultaneously. This should all be kept in mind before you pick up a copy yourself.
Out of 10: 7.5
May 2, 2016
In its way, twentieth-century composers' use of dissonant chords in their music is a fitting metaphor for events in the twentieth century.
I have paraphrased the opening line. This short novel/novella was a gripping read and highly recommended. A pianist, Anna Kramer, inherits diaries and scores of music composed by a woman she's never met. Why does Anna in particular receive that legacy? Intrigued, she sets out to unravel that mystery. The author brings the setting, the Los Alamos, New Mexico of today to life for me; it was so vivid I felt the author must live there. The author is involved in the Santa Fe Writers' Project.
Anna examines these documents with an eagle eye; the novel moves back and forth through the present-day; the composer and pianist Hana Weissova's life, much of it through her internment in Terezín [Theresienstadt] Concentration camp in Czechoslovakia by the Nazis; and excerpts from the diaries. Terezín was designated as a 'showplace' concentration camp; residents were mostly artists, musicians, and others in the arts. Anna's investigations culminate in a shattering conclusion.
I liked very much how the story married the past and the present through the power of music. Hana had written a symphony, partly based on a Jewish lullaby, both important to the story. I liked the author's little digressions on musical form and history. The author assumed some knowledge of musical structure and history, but nothing over the head of an ordinary music lover, such as myself. It was a beautiful, human story, the denouement a bit disappointing [ah, dissonant] in some details. With others, it resolved the story into euphonious harmony. The writing was well-done and stark. The subject of the novel reflected the inharmonious Zeitgeist of our times.
I have paraphrased the opening line. This short novel/novella was a gripping read and highly recommended. A pianist, Anna Kramer, inherits diaries and scores of music composed by a woman she's never met. Why does Anna in particular receive that legacy? Intrigued, she sets out to unravel that mystery. The author brings the setting, the Los Alamos, New Mexico of today to life for me; it was so vivid I felt the author must live there. The author is involved in the Santa Fe Writers' Project.
Anna examines these documents with an eagle eye; the novel moves back and forth through the present-day; the composer and pianist Hana Weissova's life, much of it through her internment in Terezín [Theresienstadt] Concentration camp in Czechoslovakia by the Nazis; and excerpts from the diaries. Terezín was designated as a 'showplace' concentration camp; residents were mostly artists, musicians, and others in the arts. Anna's investigations culminate in a shattering conclusion.
I liked very much how the story married the past and the present through the power of music. Hana had written a symphony, partly based on a Jewish lullaby, both important to the story. I liked the author's little digressions on musical form and history. The author assumed some knowledge of musical structure and history, but nothing over the head of an ordinary music lover, such as myself. It was a beautiful, human story, the denouement a bit disappointing [ah, dissonant] in some details. With others, it resolved the story into euphonious harmony. The writing was well-done and stark. The subject of the novel reflected the inharmonious Zeitgeist of our times.
June 26, 2017
Sensitively and poetically, this story deals with with what is often considered difficult subject matter - the concentration camp at Terezin / Theresienstadt, Los Alamos and the creation of the atomic bomb, as well as the fear of unveiling one's blocked memories and why the mind has shuttered them away.
Through the language of music theory, the primary character describes her understanding of the events of the 20th century which have affected her and her family. Her mother shares in this language called music and her father and husband, both scientists, do not appear to relate to her artistry and sensitivity. So much of her life's memories are a blur or even blocked from her conscience. Fragments come to the fore and her curiosity leads her to personal enlightenment.
For such a short story, there is much on which to chew and ponder.
Synopsis (from book's back cover):
When Anna Kramer, a Los Alamos piano teacher, inherits the journals and scores of composer Hana Weissova, she is mystified by this bequest from a woman she does not know. Hana’s music, however, soon begins to uncover forgotten emotions, while her journals, which begin in 1945 after she is released from a concentration camp, slowly reveal decades-old secrets that Anna and her family have kept buried.
Through the language of music theory, the primary character describes her understanding of the events of the 20th century which have affected her and her family. Her mother shares in this language called music and her father and husband, both scientists, do not appear to relate to her artistry and sensitivity. So much of her life's memories are a blur or even blocked from her conscience. Fragments come to the fore and her curiosity leads her to personal enlightenment.
For such a short story, there is much on which to chew and ponder.
Synopsis (from book's back cover):
When Anna Kramer, a Los Alamos piano teacher, inherits the journals and scores of composer Hana Weissova, she is mystified by this bequest from a woman she does not know. Hana’s music, however, soon begins to uncover forgotten emotions, while her journals, which begin in 1945 after she is released from a concentration camp, slowly reveal decades-old secrets that Anna and her family have kept buried.
January 21, 2009
The writing in Dissonance is amazing. I love how the author brought music into the themes of life. I became so much a part of the story, I even found myself shaking during an especially intense scene.
The one disappointment I had was the conclusion. It didn't seem to quite fit for me. It brought me out of the deep rhythm I was in reading it. Even with this single disappointment, the book is well worth reading. Lisa Lenard-Cook is a wonderful knitter of stories.
The one disappointment I had was the conclusion. It didn't seem to quite fit for me. It brought me out of the deep rhythm I was in reading it. Even with this single disappointment, the book is well worth reading. Lisa Lenard-Cook is a wonderful knitter of stories.
February 4, 2010
I really liked the book until the big reveal at the end. Too bad!
August 20, 2023
There was too much music theory, and it took too long to get to the point, without a real seeming purpose to the journey. And I didn't understand how the main character would be so surprised about the information she retrieved close to the end. I was sorry that the impact of the last few paragraphs didn't exist throughout the book.
July 20, 2019
This compelling narrative is a haunting read - one you won't put down once you start.
October 16, 2014
Rating: 3.5
The dissonance found in 20th century music is the direct result of a world at variance with itself. Over an extended period of time the discord reveals itself in the arts.
“One way modern composers have chosen to address the increased fragmentation of life in the twentieth century is to create a more fragmented music.” (p. 77)
In her recently re-issued novella, Dissonance, Lenard-Cook elaborates on this theme by focusing on the irony (although irony is not a direct theme, it is nonetheless inherent within the stories context) experienced during the Holocaust when the elite Nazi's jailed artists at the Terezin Concentration Camp for their entertainment. Jews were not valued enough to be allowed to work, go to school, or even live, yet could play beautiful chamber and symphonic music for Nazi's before being shipped off to their death at Auschwitz, if they lived long enough to make it there.
Never being able to fathom the degree to which man can manifest his prejudices, Jewish musicians continued to compose concert music while at Terezin. In essence, they had hope for a future tomorrow when they could share their creations. After the war, in the later part of the century, manuscripts that were saved by the few remaining musicians and their families, were collected, produced, and published in a series of moving CD's - Terezin Music Anthology.
Lenard-Cook's exposition is intricately composed. She creates a series of parallel themes intrinsic to the development of her story. For example: music and physics, harmony and dissonance, prejudice and impartiality; and likewise between characters: Hana and Anna - two musicians separated by a generation, but connected by Anna's mother, also a musician - fathers and husbands, mothers and daughters.
“Someone once suggested that music sounds the way emotions feel, that music reveals the hidden patterns of our inner lives in the same way that mathematics reveals the outer, physical world.” (p. 63)
These relationships are central to the book's plot and thematic structures.
The author's writing is erudite, she has researched her subject matter and translated it with sensitivity. Her style and narrative are at times eloquent while at other times tedious. She has difficulty arriving at the main point of her story. The reader becomes frustrated following her digressions. Once Lenard-Cook reaches her peak conflict, it is anti-climatic because it does not match the scope of the intended novel. Much of the resolution does not seem plausible. The denouement is academic and the central structure is marginalized. It is a major flaw in an otherwise well conceived novel.
The dissonance found in 20th century music is the direct result of a world at variance with itself. Over an extended period of time the discord reveals itself in the arts.
“One way modern composers have chosen to address the increased fragmentation of life in the twentieth century is to create a more fragmented music.” (p. 77)
In her recently re-issued novella, Dissonance, Lenard-Cook elaborates on this theme by focusing on the irony (although irony is not a direct theme, it is nonetheless inherent within the stories context) experienced during the Holocaust when the elite Nazi's jailed artists at the Terezin Concentration Camp for their entertainment. Jews were not valued enough to be allowed to work, go to school, or even live, yet could play beautiful chamber and symphonic music for Nazi's before being shipped off to their death at Auschwitz, if they lived long enough to make it there.
Never being able to fathom the degree to which man can manifest his prejudices, Jewish musicians continued to compose concert music while at Terezin. In essence, they had hope for a future tomorrow when they could share their creations. After the war, in the later part of the century, manuscripts that were saved by the few remaining musicians and their families, were collected, produced, and published in a series of moving CD's - Terezin Music Anthology.
Lenard-Cook's exposition is intricately composed. She creates a series of parallel themes intrinsic to the development of her story. For example: music and physics, harmony and dissonance, prejudice and impartiality; and likewise between characters: Hana and Anna - two musicians separated by a generation, but connected by Anna's mother, also a musician - fathers and husbands, mothers and daughters.
“Someone once suggested that music sounds the way emotions feel, that music reveals the hidden patterns of our inner lives in the same way that mathematics reveals the outer, physical world.” (p. 63)
These relationships are central to the book's plot and thematic structures.
The author's writing is erudite, she has researched her subject matter and translated it with sensitivity. Her style and narrative are at times eloquent while at other times tedious. She has difficulty arriving at the main point of her story. The reader becomes frustrated following her digressions. Once Lenard-Cook reaches her peak conflict, it is anti-climatic because it does not match the scope of the intended novel. Much of the resolution does not seem plausible. The denouement is academic and the central structure is marginalized. It is a major flaw in an otherwise well conceived novel.
July 10, 2016
The author calls this a novel. I think it's something more...a philosophical exploration based on both historical and personal experience, part of which is fictional and plotted. The story concerns the convergence of two musicians: a holocaust survivor who wrote chamber music scores with journals and the prime narrator, an introspective piano teacher distantly associated with the Manhattan project that created the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs. Heavyweight material.
The two women's lives briefly touch and the process of discovering how* allows exploration of themes of forgiveness, loss, love and the wellsprings of musical inspiration. Someone more deeply knowledgeable than me about the classical piano repertoire might gain a deeper insight into the emotional structure of the story. The tune 'Dodi li' a traditional Jewish wedding song, is a thread that weaves and binds the two women's convergence.
I'm not personally musician enough, nor have I the Jewish cultural background to follow all the references, but this tale has been engaging enough that I've downloaded the song and will learn to fiddle its tune after my stumble fingered fashion.
The two women's lives briefly touch and the process of discovering how* allows exploration of themes of forgiveness, loss, love and the wellsprings of musical inspiration. Someone more deeply knowledgeable than me about the classical piano repertoire might gain a deeper insight into the emotional structure of the story. The tune 'Dodi li' a traditional Jewish wedding song, is a thread that weaves and binds the two women's convergence.
I'm not personally musician enough, nor have I the Jewish cultural background to follow all the references, but this tale has been engaging enough that I've downloaded the song and will learn to fiddle its tune after my stumble fingered fashion.
August 24, 2014
Some books you love because they are about who you are right now, but you might not love them some other time. Some books you love because they are out-and-out masterpieces. Some books you love because on so many levels, they click for you personally. Dissonance was the latter for me. Part of the reason I fell for this book is that it's set in my local terrain, so in many ways it was familiar experiences verbalized beautifully. And there's the music--I so appreciated all of the music, but how many people mention Bartok's piano studies for students? And finally, there is the twin holocausts of WWII, their trauma at the time and beyond. I had the privilege of hearing Lenard-Cook read the fairytale embedded in the story before reading the novel, and it was a poignant piece when read aloud, but perhaps even more quietly devastating in context, in one's own mind.
Dissonance is to be re-released this fall. Grab it.
Dissonance is to be re-released this fall. Grab it.
September 13, 2014
Thank you to the person who recommended this book to me. The author's writing was excellent and the story unique in its presentation. The themes of this book were not unlike themes in other books that I have read about the Jewish people, the Holocaust, WWII, the Bomb, survivor's guilt, the consentration camps and other resulting issues. An unfinished symphony started by a Jewish victim, her deceased mother's diaries, and Anna's classical piano training led to Anna's acceptance of things gone on before that she could not change. When Anna finished the symphony, she turned the dissonant chords into melodies for the victims of WWII who had touched her life.
Thank you, Ms. Lenard-Cook, for a good read.
Thank you, Ms. Lenard-Cook, for a good read.
July 31, 2016
This was an excellent book written by a woman from Corrales, NM who recently died. The book was lent to me by a friend who is a psychologist and a pianist. The story opens with Anna Kramer, a Los Alamos piano teacher receiving a bequest from the estate of an Albuquerque pianist who was a Holocaust survivor. Hanna Weissova was a Czech who was in the Terezin concentration camp, reknowned for its orchestra forced to play for the Nazis. The bequest consists of diaries and the score for music which Hanna wrote. Anna has no knowledge of the woman and is puzzled about why the music was left to her.
As a musician, the writing about the music and music in general is powerful and moving. The story is well plotted and the writing is captivating. Highly recommended.
As a musician, the writing about the music and music in general is powerful and moving. The story is well plotted and the writing is captivating. Highly recommended.
May 16, 2014
Just as music transforms emotion into sound, Lisa Lenard-Cook's first novel translates the emotional experiences of her characters into language that is lyrical and measured. Lenard-Cook strikes a chord between the present day life of her protagonist, Anna, a pianist who seems to be in retreat from her own feelings, and the life of Anna's mother's friend Hana whose death unlocks both the story of Holocaust survival we learn in diary fragments and letters as well as a suppressed love story that Anna will have to reconcile within herself, however discordant it seems at first with what she believes true. Beautifully written.
September 4, 2014
I received a finished copy from the publisher as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.
Sometimes a book just hits the spot for the reader. This is a story of suppressed memory, self discovery, forgiveness, and redemption. A piano teacher in New Mexico inherits the musical scores and diaries of a Holocaust survivor an begins a search to find out why these things were left to her. Loved it.
This was not the one I hoped to win in the LT July batch, but I think I liked it better than I would have liked the ones I didn't win. I got lucky with this.
Sometimes a book just hits the spot for the reader. This is a story of suppressed memory, self discovery, forgiveness, and redemption. A piano teacher in New Mexico inherits the musical scores and diaries of a Holocaust survivor an begins a search to find out why these things were left to her. Loved it.
This was not the one I hoped to win in the LT July batch, but I think I liked it better than I would have liked the ones I didn't win. I got lucky with this.
July 27, 2016
It's not often that while reading a book, I feel the need to have someone else read it, to have someone to share it with.
Dissonance did that for me.
This is a book about music and physics and concentration camps. It is about family and discovery.
But more than that it is about forgiveness, and coming to that place where our world can make sense again, no matter the situation.
My only regret in reading this book was that I did not read it earlier. It would have been nice to let Lisa know how much I enjoyed her writing, how much it meant to me.
Dissonance did that for me.
This is a book about music and physics and concentration camps. It is about family and discovery.
But more than that it is about forgiveness, and coming to that place where our world can make sense again, no matter the situation.
My only regret in reading this book was that I did not read it earlier. It would have been nice to let Lisa know how much I enjoyed her writing, how much it meant to me.
September 25, 2011
Great book: Los Alamos NM, Theresienstadt, music, piano, nuclear bombs. All inter mingled and reason to continue and find out how it all connects.
I met this author at a weekend book conference. She was fascinating.
I met this author at a weekend book conference. She was fascinating.
Read
August 11, 2015Lisa Lenard-Cook has a way with words! I am not particularly fond of historical-type novels, but this one interjected history - the holocaust - into today in such a way that I thoroughly enjoyed it! Thank you Lisa for another wonderful book!
Read
March 13, 2015Fiction L563d 2014
April 20, 2016
A beautiful story that starts out slow and builds, layer upon layer, much like a symphony or opera.
June 15, 2016
This is a gorgeous book - deep, multi-layered, thought provoking and very moving. I highly recommend it!
October 17, 2016
Well done!
April 24, 2008
A wonderfully haunting novel
March 20, 2010
Haunting, sad, quiet, and lyrical.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews