Title: The Other La Bohème
Author: Yorker Keith
Publisher: Bookbaby
ISBN: 9781483591995
Pages: 366
Genre: Literary Fiction
Reviewed by: Susan Brown
Hollywood Book Reviews
Awarded to books of excellent Merit
Sing on! That’s the rallying cry of four friends, all of whom are struggling opera singers trying to make a living in the competitive environment of New York City’s professional opera milieu, and are characters in Yorker Keith’s current novel, The Other La Bohème. Much like Alexander Dumas’ The Three Musketeers who vow, “One for all and all for one,” the four pledge to stick together as the Dolci Quattro, the Sweet Four, as they navigate the pitfalls that confront budding operatic virtuosos.
Although the mise en scene of this piece of literary fiction plays out against the backdrop of the four act Italian opera, The Other La Bohème by Ruggero Leoncavallo, the story is as much about the personal challenges each of these characters face as they commit to becoming first-tier opera singers. Their lives reflect, much like the opera for which they are preparing, the highs and lows of joy and despair, and all feelings in between.
The genesis for this four-part friendship is a graduation performance of Puccini’s La Bohème in which they all participate at the culmination of their Master’s Program from the Manhattan School of Music. Subsequently, they are reunited as the principles in The Other La Bohème, written in the same era about the same story by a contemporary of Puccini’s. Much of the story focuses on what it takes to perform an opera as it does on the difficulties in their private lives.
Each has his or her own evolving personal crisis. Jennifer, the soprano, breaks up with her cheating boyfriend, struggles through a botched suicide attempt and is stalked by a crazed understudy. The mezzo-soprano, Stephanie, is the glue that holds the group together. The arc of her storyline takes her from estrangement with her father to accepting him and his new family, plus boyfriend problems and an unrequited love for a married man. The two men, John, a baritone and Henry, the tenor have their own tales of woe. John is faced with an unhappy wife and a looming divorce, in the midst of which he has an affair, his wife suffers a miscarriage and his father dies. Perhaps the most centered of the four is Henry. He suffers from a lack of confidence about choosing opera as a career, but in spite of family pressure stays the course.
Make no mistake, though, even with all of the crises these four characters face they are likable and, as a reader, you’ll find yourself pulling for them to overcome the obstacles and become successful opera singers.
Mr. Keith structures his novel along the framework of an opera score, beginning with the overture and wrapping the story up in the finale. In between, there are four acts broken up into scenes. It’s a very ingenious way to highlight each character’s unfolding personal drama while interlacing the developing narrative relevant to their impending performance. It’s also an effective way to keep the storyline moving along and engaging. If you’re an opera fan you’ll thoroughly enjoy this novel. Mr. Keith’s clear love for the genre is palpable. If you’re not, a read-through might just make you one.