Piano Girl: A Memoir by Robin Meloy Goldsby
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Book Reviews of Piano Girl: A Memoir
Book Review: Compelling Cocktail Hour Stories From a Smart Charmer Who Knows Her Way Across the 88s
Summary: 4 Stars
You won't learn anything technical about piano playing from reading this memoir, nor is there an abundance of great profundity, but darn if I didn't breeze right through this book, not missing a beat and enjoying every page.
Here's how it is: Imagine meeting a smart, attractive woman at a party, learning she makes a respectable living playing piano in lounges, lobbies and private parties around the world, and finding she can tell charming, frequently quite funny stories about her most memorable adventures and misadventures plying her trade, dealing with a colorful mix of memorable clients, bosses, co-workers and weirdos.
Never boring, this woman--with her compelling yin-yang mix of insecurity, spunk, humbleness and bravado--knows how to tell a bright, tight story, keeping things light-hearted with her sharp sense of irony, but grounded in a passion for her work and the artistry she struggles to refine, understand and appreciate amidst the jumble and chatter of cocktail hours with an audience that may or may not be listening to, let alone care about, the beauty and witty nuances (or occasional stumbles) of craft she shares with the world.
If you think you'd enjoy spending a few hours with that kind of woman--content in knowing she's never going home with you and that her most intimate and revealing stories are bound to be reserved for that someone very special who is not you--then you will likely enjoy this book as I have. And from ever on you will feel a special connection when you come across a piano girl plying her art. You will be one of those who listens in a knowing way, having a special respect for her work, respect she deserves and will likely truly appreciate.
(And don't forget to make note of the Piano Girl's large brandy snifter tip jar: It's for no-obligation cash, not damp napkins with your hotel room number scrawled on it!)
Book Review: I expected so much more
Summary: 3 Stars
I quickly read the whole book with anticipation and never learned anything about the author. Oh sure, lots of amusing anecdotes of her life as a lounge piano player, but nothing showing WHO she is. Isn't that what a memoir is about?
Surely her life wasn't all pop tunes. I would have liked to read about her insights, her setbacks, her reflections on who she was and where she was going, her life's journey. Was it all only background music?
Instead it was just a series of humorous and entertaining stories, never showing us the person who they happened to.
A shame. A wasted opportunity. A disappointment, besides being an "enjoyable read."
Book Review: Book Version of Lounge Music
Summary: 2 Stars
I thought I would find this book very interesting and enjoyable because I like memoirs, am a woman, and play the piano. I've played a little in public, although I'm mainly an amateur, so wanted to read about music, inspiration, repertoire, what other musicians are like, etc. Instead, this book is a collection of hotel anecdotes that get very tiring and are very similar. The author tries far too hard to be clever and snappy all the time, but there is no depth or meaningfulness in this book. She just tries to put out "jokes" about the funny street people in the hotel, food on the piano, those wacky Germans, etc. It got boring after a while. If she discussed it, I completely missed any mention of how she met her husband and what was going on there -- all of a sudden she was just married to a musician. She doesn't discuss music very much, either.
When a book is billed as a "memoir" I expect it to be some intelligent and revealing discussion of one's life, but this is not. I am not sure who this book would appeal to as it isn't very broad in coverage, but most people aren't going to be that fascinated by some anecdotes of a hotel lounge pianist. On top of that, the print and binding quality isn't that great, which was annoying. The paper is very stiff, so it's hard to even read the book comfortably like most paperback.