The Lucy Variations by Sara Zarr

The Lucy Variations by Sara Zarr

Genre: Contemporary

Source: NTTBF

Rating: 3/5 Stars

Lucy Beck-Moreau once had a promising future as a concert pianist. Now, at sixteen, it's over. A death, and a betrayal, led her to walk away. But without music in her life, Lucy's not sure who she is, or who she wants to be. Then she meets Will, her brother's new piano teacher, who is young, kind, and interested in helping Lucy find her way back to piano-not for an audience, but on her own terms.

The Lucy Variations was a sweet read. After reading the blurb on the back, I was instantly enamored. After reading, I was slightly let down, but it was still a good contemporary novel.

Originally, I found it a little hard to get into the story because all of the things Lucy is complaining about are so trivial and minute. Then, I realized that I do this. After coming to that somewhat unsurprising conclusion, it was easier to relate to Lucy. However, I simply cannot get over her fascination with older men. I just thought that was weird. The other characters were good too, but the character development wasn’t as outstanding as Lucy’s was (I guess this makes sense haha).

The plot was enticing, yet boring at points. I felt like the same events were happening over and over again. But, the magical thing was that at each event, Lucy would grow. That being said, the character growth for Lucy was exponential. I especially liked how at the end she finally decided to do what she wanted.

My goodness, the romance though. I could not stand the weird romance thing happening between Will and Lucy. He’s married for goodness sake! That was one part of the book that I just couldn’t understand or find a way to relate to at all. If you asked my sister how I felt about this book towards the end where a certain something happens, she would say that I was yelling at the main character. I was so frustrated with this romance. From an authorial perspective, I can see why Zarr put this in the book, but from a reader perspective, I’m just confused.

Overall, The Lucy Variations was endearing and a nice break from all the fantasy reading that I’ve been doing.