The Wonder Singer

by George Rabasa

The Wonder Singer is an operatic literary caper about one young writer's manic ambition. The ghostwriter's best chance at fame almost disappears when his Diva dies suddenly in her bath. His solution is to steal the tapes, liberate the Diva's aging husband, and write the autobiography on the run.

Genres: Fiction

336 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2008

About the author

George Rabasas collection of short stories, Glass Houses, received The Writers Voice Capricorn Award for Excellence in Fiction and the Minnesota Book Award for Short Stories. His novel, Floating Kingdom, received the Minnesota Book Award for Fiction. And his most recent novel, The Cleansing, was named a Book Sense Notable. His short fiction has appeared in various literary magazines, such as Story Quarterly, Glimmer Train, The MacGuffin, South Carolina Quarterly, Haydens Ferry, American Literary Review, and in several anthologies. Rabasa was born in Maine, raised in Mexico, and now lives in Minnesota."

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mark Lockwood is a writer. He is pretty unknown but he has struck it lucky. He has been commissed to write a tell all autobiography of opera singer Merce Casals. Mark has spent months in the company with Merce recording their converstations. Then one day the lovely Merce passes away in her bath.

Now Mark's agent, Hollywood Hank wants the tapes. He plans to have someone write the book. Mark won't do that as he knows that Merce Casals trusted him with her story and he plans to do her justice. Marks runs off with the tapes. Mark takes a journey through Merce's life as he listens back to the tapes. He isn't alone in this journey. Mark is joined by Merce's nurse, Perla, her biggest fan, Orson La Prima and Merce's true love, Nolan Keefe.

The Wonder Singer is the first book I have read by Mr. Rabasa. I was so pleased at how smooth it read. I really felt a connection with Merce Casals, Mark Lockwood, Perla, Orson and Nolan. Merce's story was a sad but enduring one. It was like reading a story within a story. This can be hard to do but Mr. Rabasa really pulled it off with this book. The transition when the story would switch between the present and the past was seamless. As I was reading I had a image painting in my head. I recommend The Wonder Singer to everyone.

[Bruce Genaro · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Wonder Singer by George Rabasa, is novel within a novel, each one filled with interesting insights about love and loss, fame and fortune. And occasionally misfortune.
Mark Lockwood, a freelance writer chosen to ghostwrite the story of legendary soprano, Mercè Casals is left with five hundred hours of taped conversations (and “off the record” memories) with which to reconstruct her life after the singer is found dead in her bathtub. Her death triggers renewed interest in her life by her (and Lockwood’s) agent, Hollywood Hank, who decides that a “name” writer is the best way to capitalize on the situation. Hank immediately hires a famous author to finish the book, but when his attempts at firing Lockwood and retrieving the tapes fail, both writers are forced into a race to gather information and produce the first publishable manuscript.
Rabasa tells the tale of both singer and writer by alternating chapters of Lockwood with chapters from his (soon to be) finished version of the singer’s autobiography. Her story unfolds like an opera in its own right, complete with being orphaned at the age of nine, enduring an on-again-off-again marriage to a philandering tenor, and a love affair with the Crown Prince of Montefino. Lockwood’s story is a little different. Believing that he alone has been entrusted to tell the diva’s story, he goes into hiding with the tapes and a few stolen files. At this point Rabasa tries to mold the story into a madcap romp with clandestine meetings, flirtations with the Diva’s former nurse, threatening phone calls, and a larger than life female impersonator who shows up at Casals’ funeral dressed as, you guessed it, Casals.
Rabasa’s has a nice way with words. “Lockwood” writes about the singer’s husband saying, “…he used the finest onionskin paper and a Parker pen with ink the color of lapis lazuli, and always his scent on the paper, the mixture of bay rum and the licorice drops he liked and the lemony tonic he used to slick back his wavy hair.” But good writing is not enough to sustain a novel with characters that conveniently appear and disappear, plot lines that peter out and never resurface, monologues that seem improbable, and a threat of violence that never gets out of the writer’s head and onto the page. Perhaps Lockwood’s estranged wife was addressing both Rabasa and Lockwood when she says, it’s like “… you don’t really care whether anyone is listening or thinking that you’re making sense, as long as the words resonate in your head.”

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read back in 2008 as an Advance Reading copy. The story suddenly came to mind today.

[Valorie Dalton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mark Lockwood, an author popularly known for his writings on how to talk to teens about a number of real life issues, has been assigned the task of acting as ghostwriter to pen and publish the biography of opera diva Mercè Casals. Hours are spent listening to her talk of her life, which is daunting in and of itself, until one day Senorita Casals dies in the bathtub with the project unfinished. With a high profile book in the works, Mark’s agent Hollywood Hank now wants to assign the book to a more well-known author. Only Mark is committed to the project and not willing to give up his hours of tapes despite their harassment and snooping. As Mark sees it, the book is his to write, the words entrusted to him by Senorita Casals and no one else. At the risk of his health, his sanity, and his marriage, Mark must write this book. It is a race against time to finish his book before Hollywood Hank and his new star author finish theirs.

With the help of Senorita Casals’ former nurse Perla, drag Queen and Casals’ number one fan Orson, and Senorita Casals’ husband Nolan, Mark protects his tapes and writes his book, becoming increasingly invested in not only the book but the life of the diva herself. The connection he has with Senorita Casals and her words is an intimate one. It almost seemed to me as if he were falling in a sort of platonic love with Mercè, or becoming obsessed with her life and her words. Maybe the obsession was in the book and his love for her made him love her story, but he definitely connected with the book on a very personal level.

The book weaves two stories in one: Mark’s journey through his book writing and Senorita Casals personal story. Injected here and there are ‘snippets’ from the autobiographical work by Mark. We learn of Mercè’s childhood, her abandonment by her father, her life as a rising star, her marriage, her marriage troubles, and all of her career difficulties. Through these snippets, we are better able to understand Mercè and her complicated life. She becomes less a diva and more a real person who experiences pain and conflict. It is often times hard to see ‘privileged’ people as anything but glitz and glamour, but such is far from the truth in the case of Mercè. The strength that Mercè displays throughout her life is truly impressive and inspiring.

Of course, I wish that Mark had developed more as a character-- rather, grew in his own maturity, not developed in a writing sense. He never really seems to take responsibility for what he is doing wrong to other people, namely his wife. It was sad to me to see that though he wishes to resolve this, he never really expresses regret until the end. Throughout the book, as he apologizes to his wife and says he loves her, he is still lusting after the nurse without the slightest hint of shame. I have to say, I quite disliked him for this, but his character was human enough in every regard that I found myself also sympathizing with him. I think this is a testament to Rabasa’s writing style and talent that he can make a character that anyone can sympathize with and understand even when he does things that are upsetting.

My favorite parts were the parts of Mercè Casals life. I wish that there really was a biography about her out! She told a lot of very interesting and emotional stories. Mr. Rabasa created a fascinating character when he created her. I found myself enamored with her and excusing everything she did wrong, which I guess makes me a lot like Mark.

The entire story is told in a smooth, sophisticated tone. Rabasa is an impeccable writer with a talent for making characters that are believable and complicated. The all too human experiences endured by the characters give the story a sublime and impossible to escape from charm. Arias rise and fall, suffused with a catalog of emotions, which capture the heart. This is, of course, the life of Mercè Casals-- a grand aria told in spoken language.

[Serena · Rating 4 out of 5]

George Rabasa's The Wonder Singer easily captures the imagination through deftly orchestrated prose and detailed description. The Wonder Singer is the story of famed opera singer Merce Casals, and her story as told to her ghostwriter Mark Lockwood. Through alternating chapters between the biography of Merce Casals and Mark Lockwood's musings and reviews of his interview tapes with Casals, her tragic and dramatic story unfolds like Aida or many of the other great operas she sang.

"There are moments when the order of life collapses in midbreath, when a missed heartbeat brings on an earthquake. At such a moment, this story takes an unexpected turn." (Page 1 of hardcover)

How can readers ignore the first, foreboding line of this novel? The Wonder Singer is more than a story of a famed opera singer, but the story of a ghostwriter who blossoms into his own when faced with giving up his dream job or plunging into the unknown. Lockwood teams up with the Casals' former caretaker Perla, who Lockwood fantasizes about having a torrid affair with, and Casals' self-proclaimed number one fan Orson La Prima, who dresses in drag to impersonate his favorite opera star. They are going to write Casals' story and celebrate her life against the wishes of her agent, Hollywood Hank.

"He [Nolan Keefe:] had delicate handwriting, like a girl's, everything nicely rounded, the capital M done with a flourish. Every time he wrote out my name he seemed to be celebrating it. I [Merce:] would read my name and see myself reflected in his consciousness. Sometimes he would write my name very small and I would sense he was saying it in a whisper, for my ears alone. Occasionally merce would be spelled out in uppercase, and it sounded in my mind like he was shouting it from the rooftop of the tallest building in New York. Once he even wrote the letters like notes in a pentagram, so that I could hear him singing." (Page 118 of hardcover)

Rabasa's prose is lyrical, enchanting, and absorbing, drawing readers into the vivid scenes full of emotion. The Wonder Singer is a character-driven novel examining the impact of early abandonment by a father on a gifted, young singer, her triumph as an opera star, and the drive and fear writers feel when they are faced with a project they would do almost anything to complete even if they feel outmatched and inexperienced.

"'Show me one false line I've written and I will eat the page.'" (Page 165 of hardcover)

[Kitty Jay · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story revolves around Mark Lockwood, a writer who has grown to view writing as a means of paying the bills rather than an art. Well, rather - the story half revolves around him. More accurately, it revolves around the famous opera diva whom he has been visiting, gathering notes on, in order to ghostwrite her biography. Her death, however, pushes her into the spotlight once again, and Lockwood's agent attempts to take his notes to give to a more famous author, but Lockwood has become so intrigued by Merce Casals, that he absconds with the notes and locks himself in to finish her story himself.

The book alternates between Lockwood's current struggles and Merce Casals's reminiscences, which leads to the first problem, in that apparently the author felt the need to help readers differentiate by writing Lockwood's portions in present tense. I freely admit that I am a snob about such things, however; if you feel that this would not bother you, by all means, read on.

The problem is that Merce Casals is perfect. Rabasa creates a figure who should be arrogant (she listens to nothing but her own famous arias), but comes across as humble, precocious, poetic, and wistful. She is every bit as changeable and charming and larger-than-life as one would expect a famous diva to be. However, this is sort of the problem with the book - Lockwood, who dominates most of the plot, can never live up to her presence. The portions of Casals recollecting the Spanish Civil War, and later, her complicated love for one man she grows to despise as much as she loves, are far more interesting than the somewhat pathetic figure Lockwood cuts.

Interspersed with the dreamy, amused narrative of the diva, we have Lockwood's own cringe-worthy attempts at seducing a woman who is not his wife, disturbing ramblings when attempting to talk with his wife, and ignominious moments such as when a dog gets familiar with his leg at a bar. The ending never really shows that Lockwood has learned anything from Casals's life - instead, it takes another character to tell him what he should have garnered from so many intimate moments with his subject, recounting her beautiful life.

Finally, there are nominally three other important characters, but none seem to contribute anything meaningful and are gone almost as soon as they appear, with little fanfare as they leave.

All in all, it would have been more satisfying to have read a more in-depth fictional account of Casals's life and left poor Lockwood out of it entirely.

[Casey Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot took a long time to develop, and the melodramatic language/dialogue often dragged. That said, the final third of the book really picked up, and I was much more engaged in the stories of each character.

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writing a book about a book has never been an easy feat. Often the reader will enjoy one book over the other, and excerpts will be overlooked so that they can get back to the more interesting plot at hand. THE WONDER SINGER does not suffer from this affliction.

From the very first chapter, Rabasa throws you head first into the story and does not lose momentum through to the end. Perhaps what makes THE WONDER SINGER so interesting, however, is not the late Diva herself, but rather the small cluster of adoring followers that are so intent to produce a book about her life. The #1 fan, the devoted housekeeper, and the hired ghostwriter provide real chemistry and often funny scenes throughout the book. And by the time you reach the last chapter, you may find yourself rooting for the good guys, booing the bad guys, and mourning the loss of a great voice in opera.

[drey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Wonder Singer was a fun romp through the consequences of Mark's decision to abscond with his interview tapes. Yes, there's a "before," including the diva's childhood and discovery. But I thought the fun really started with her death (am I bad or what?). And Mark, who up to that point was just another interviewer, really, seems to finally open his eyes and run with the realization that he can be the author that he's always wanted to be. So what if he has to run off with the tapes like a common thief? You only get a chance like this once, and by golly, he's ready to take it! =) An entertaining read that alternates between Mark's adventure, and The Wonder Singer chapters (like, the "real" book, not the one you're reading...).

[Shanidar · Rating 4 out of 5]

The final chapters are a bit disappointing, but I loved the story of the diva, her first contact with the music and her memories of the Spanish Civil War.
After the second part of the book the story is more the one of the writer, his divorce and his weird companions. There are lovely little bits, but the style is totally different, good, but not the same mood of the first pages. Mercè Canals's story goes in the background and her final is poor. This turn is unexpected, a rupture in the charm of the story and thus the last pages disappointment.

[Kristin]

Rabasa dazzles with spot-on descriptions, of the extraordinary to the mundane, and displays a snippy (in a good way) humor through his latest novel. For more of that but with an even better story, check out his previous novel The Cleansing

[Sharlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting storyline--the biography of "the wonder singer" woven into the larger story of a ghostwriter hoping for a big break. Not what I would call a page turner by any stretch. I had to work my way through it.

[Felicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had mixed feelings about this book. I found myself more interested in the story that the character was writing than the rest of the plot. The ending disappointed me, because I felt the story wasn't finished.

[Paulette]

The Hennepin County library invited me to a program Dec 5th featuring the author of this book. So....I'd better read it.

[Meghan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. It was a good idea, but the characters were largely unlikeable, and the story itself turned out to be pretty weak. I wouldn't recommend this book.

[Kalen · Rating 3 out of 5]

*** 1/2