4 out of 4 stars
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Golden Notes is a fictional novel written by Samuel Joeckel. Joeckel invites the reader to join Cali Sky Braithwaite on a journey that is centered around her growing passion in music ever since she discovers an acoustic guitar in her California home.
Cali Sky is a wunderkind musician who, despite having moments of arrogance, is a fantastically written character. I empathized with her in regards to the existential mindset she holds as she molds her talent. Throughout Part One, she is calm and level-headed until a tragic event occurs by the end of 1980 that leads her to hesitancy in channeling her talents into Blue Flower, the band that she later forms with her long-time friend Brodie, Tam, and the Chris by the end of Part Two. Despite her flaw of arrogance and desire for control over what she doesn’t realize she cannot humanly control, she manages to win my heart as the main character.
Brodie, one of Cali Sky’s most loyal friend, is a cool-headed character throughout the majority of the story. He is the kind of band member who takes his band seriously, but usually attempts to keep conversations casual and fun. His character is an effective foil by comparison to Cali Sky. He stands out due to the nature of their friendship, but as the years go by in the story, he manages to become one of the most pivotal and dynamic characters to the plot of the story. His persistence with Cali Sky and Tam sparks the formation of Blue Flower. I didn’t expect this to happen, but I am very glad it did.
Throughout Part One, the reader can glean from the context that Cali Sky, despite her occasional arrogance, holds a passion for playing music that she doesn’t understand. This passion is interspersed throughout Part One and builds up later to her decision to start a band. I think that Joeckel accomplished a smooth flow in the story’s exposition throughout this portion of the story that displayed Cali Sky’s natural reaction to life events. For instance, the moments of tension between Cali Sky and her parents also contribute to the exposition in a very well-thought way. Her religious father, Philip, and her caring but troubled mother, Joan, play a large role in providing interactions that reveal Cali Sky’s nature.
When I read the synopsis of this book, I expected the story to revolve solely around Cali Sky’s loss of innocence due to her contact with the intense music of the 1980s. This wasn’t the case. Cali Sky manages to start out as a nonchalant character who develops her own passion, music style, and mental reasoning throughout the development of her talents, the death of one of her closest loved ones, and through the rising fame of her band, Blue Flower.
As the band gains momentum among its fans in Part Three, a huge reveal occurs that shifts the last forty pages of the book to a superbly written set of revelations by the end of it that caused me to revisit previous chapters for the foreshadowing behind them. For the sake of avoiding spoilers, I will not go into detail. The events that lead up to the climax engaged me up until the end. I was left longing for more of the story, despite knowing that a sequel would be superfluous given the events that occurred during the falling action and denouement.
Overall, the book was great entertainment. It caused me to reminisce over my previous ten years as a musician in ways that I wouldn’t have otherwise done if I hadn’t chosen to read it. I gladly rate this book 4 out of 4 stars.
I give it this rating because its events naturally flow, there are no typos or grammatical errors that I can recall, it showcases strong and stellar character development, and manages to engage the reader in its imagery of the music of the 1980s without relying on music theory jargon that could confuse readers who are not musically trained. I recommend this book for readers above the age of thirteen, whether they are musically trained or not. It contains the four letter "f" word and sexual imagery a few times in the story, but Joeckel doesn't overuse either in poor taste.
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Golden Notes
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