The Music Teacher

by Barbara Hall

Book Overview

In "The Music Teacher," a penetrating and richly entertaining look into the heart and mind of a woman who has failed both as an artist and as a wife, Barbara Hall, award-winning creator and writer of such hit television series as "Judging Amy" and "Joan of Arcadia," tells the story of a violinist who has accepted the limitations of her talent and looks for the casual satisfaction of trying to instill her passion for music in others. She gets more...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1565124634
• ISBN13: 9781565124639
• Release Date: February 2009
• Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
• Length: 292 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.5" x 7.3"

Customer Reviews

Grown-Up, Complex and Beautifully Written

Barbara Hall is an artist who works in descriptions. She writes poetically about music and art, feelings and sensations, loss and sorrow, and she left me wanting to read more of her work. Her characters are complex and a group of musical snobs who fight amongst themselves and struggle to be great in the most mediocre of settings, a music store. Egos flair, and day-to-day details create drama and angst as they all try to find meaning and life in their passion for this music hunger that has stolen so much from each of them. Pearl is the storyteller and main character. One who starts out as an embittered would-have-been and slowly blooms into someone who hasn't fully given up on what could be. She is both likable, sympathetic and frustrating, as are her music store friends and students. Hall writes with a deep spirituality that is complicated and thought provoking. A spirituality that permeates every aspect of the characters' lives yet leaves them hungry for something outside of themselves and their tired lives. Literary fiction lovers will be the most likely to appreciate Hall's The Music Teacher. General fiction fans might find the read a little slow. Younger readers might not appreciate the adult struggles. There is language and sexuality that borders on R-rated should you be searching for content details. I will be reading more of Hall's novels.

Music for Your Soul

Barbara Hall is an award-winning writer and producer of television fame. Judging Amy and Joan of Arcadia have been heralded as some of her best work. She is an amazing writer and this reviewer found it difficult to put The Music Teacher down. Pearl is recently divorced from her husband, a professor, who left her for a much younger student. She winds up renting a small mobile home and starts teaching violin lessons for a music store that is a well known, family run business. In her past, Pearl always felt like she was never good enough to be a professional violinist. She's bored with the teaching, but meets Hallie, a self-taught violinist whom Pearl comes to believe can be extraordinary. Pearl helps Hallie confront life and family problems on her way to discovering her talent and a future as a professional violinist, and in the process heals herself. Barbara Hall writes with such conviction that her readers could believe every word she wrote. You can see the faces of Pearl , Hallie, and Hallie's aunt and uncle in her vivid detail. The Music Teacher will bring out the long forgotten musician in all of us. Reviewed by Terri Boggs

Unputdownable fun!

I plucked this book from our small town public library's "New Fiction" shelf at random. I almost put it back when I read about the music theme (I'm not a musician of any kind), but all the good reviews lured me in. I am in my early 40s and love contemporary fiction I can relate to. This book fit the bill. It's fast & fun & funny & quirky, all about a 40-year-old woman questioning life. She questions her profession, her relationships (current and past), her trailer park existence, etc. The only criticism, which is hardly significant, is that Hallie's maturity as a late teenager (at the end of the book) seemed a wee bit unrealistic. I've known a lot of 19-year-olds and never met one quite that articulate and self-aware. Regardless, I highly recommend it for a quick "unputdownable" read!

A Beautiful Unforgettable Book, we loved it!

Hall, a writer for television shows Judging Amy, Moonlighting and Joan of Arcadia has written a sure fire winner in The Music Teacher. Barbara Hall is a violinist who overdoes it with her student Hallie. Is being the best the right thing? The lessons between student and teacher make The Music Teacher an unforgettable book.