I was cautiously optimistic about this novel; my very first Sara Zarr book. My friends had read her previous book and loved it immensely so I decided to request this one because I cannot resist books about music prodigies. Especially ones who are mistaken and full of angst and feelings. It’s a thing.And for the most part, The Lucy Variations delivers. The writing is crisp and infused with sharp wit. The friendships portrayed are varied and interesting and the family dynamics are complicated enough to provide a rich source of tension and drama which makes for good reading. My problem was Lucy herself. For the most part, she’s a sympathetic protagonist and it is easy enough to empathize with her, especially since her mother and grandfather are difficult characters. So the first half of the novel was fine where Lucy is concerned. It is in the second half that things began to gradually fall apart.The way Lucy treats her best friend is atrocious. I understand that she’s an adolescent going through puberty but I think she went beyond what I would accept in a protagonist. Especially during the party at Will’s house. The romance in this is another thing that makes me queasy. There are no obvious love interests in this novel, not in the traditional sense of the word and that would have been fine had the dude who was offered not a married man.If Zarr was going to make that the topic or theme of the novel, the adultery-like relationship between Lucy and Will, it should have been properly discussed with all its conflicts and confrontations and emotions. Instead, all we get is a hint of it, some too close and inappropriate hugs and no resolution to it. The ending was anticlimactic and even though I enjoyed the relationship Lucy had with her brother, her actions are beyond creepy (she steals Will’s nail clippers) and very gross. The bits that Lucy spends playing the piano or thinking about music were nice and I wish this story had taken another twist and left the whole romance bit on the side. I would have liked the friendship between Will and Lucy to be just that – a friendship. However, Lucy ends up sounding entitled, spoiled and entirely without a conscience when she displays no consideration at all for Will’s wife (who is implied to be some sort of drunk, to soften Lucy’s feelings for the man, I suppose?). Apart from the problematic romance and Lucy’s less than appetizing character, the novel is easy to read and the pacing fluid enough. If you are not bothered by the same things I am, I dare say you will enjoy the novel a lot more than I did.
