Sonata for Miriam

Written by Linda Olsson

Narrated by Rachel Botchan and Andy Paris

Linda Olsson's Astrid Veronika became a New York Times best-seller and an international phenomenon. With Sonata for Miriam, Olsson further explores themes of loss and redemption. After the unexpected death of his daughter, musician Adam Anker loses all sense of direction in his life. Adrift, he embarks on a journey of self-discovery, one that will take him from New Zealand, to Poland, and finally to Sweden for a reunion with his daughter's mother.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 20, 2009
• ISBN: 9781440708671

Reviews for Sonata for Miriam

[carmenmilligan · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A disappointment from one of my favorite authors. While the writing and structure are absolutely beautiful, the story and characters left me with no sympathy and no desire to get to know them better, as well as very little understanding of what the purpose of the story was. Adam is grieving the death of his daughter, which happens very early in the story. He is grieving, but we seem to get in on the end of it because there is no sense of heart-wrenching, brokenness, or despair. Instead, I was left with the feeling that since a main aspect of Adam's life was now gone, he simply needed to replace it with something or someone else. And the story centers around this search. Toward the end of the book, we switch to Cecilia's voice. The woman who gave up her child with no valid explanation. And we never understand why. We never understand what this grief is that Adam claims she has. She comes across as very self-serving, self-absorbed, and everyone panders to her. All in all, this book is a collection of beautifully crafted sentences and paragraphs, which have nothing at all to say. Not recommended.

[beamis12 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wonderfully beautiful but plain prose. This is a quiet book by a very talented author that manages to give the reader so many details in such a wonderful way that one can't help but placing themselves in the characters place as they are reading. If I had to choose a theme for this book it would be silence, this is mentioned so many times in so many different ways in this story. The silence of self delusion, of not wanting to know, of questions not asked nor answered, of peace and beauty and the silence of a remembered love. We travel from New Zealand, to Poland, to Sweden with a man who know longer feels that he has a future, so decides to seek the truth about his past. Need to go back and read this author's first book [book:Astrid and Veronika|181086, which I have heard amazing things about.

[stabue6erkrath · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Der Ich-Erzähler, der jüdische Musiker und Komponist Adam Anker, alias Adam Lipski; kommt nach fast 60 Jahren in seine Geburtsstadt Krakau zurück. Ein Jahr nach dem plötzlichen Tod seiner über alles geliebten Tochter Miriam kehrt er seiner Wahlheimat in Waiheke, einer Insel in Neuseeland, den Rücken und folgt den Spuren seiner Herkunft. Er entdeckt zufällig in der War Memorial Hall in Auckland einen kleinen Hinweis auf Adam Lipski und nimmt die Suche auf. Geboren in Krakau und aufgewachsen in Stockholm, hat ihn eine schicksalhafte Entscheidung nach Neuseeland auswandern lassen. Zurück in Europa nimmt er Kontakt zu der Schwedin Cecilia auf, seiner einzigen großen Liebe, der Mutter der gemeinsamen Tochter Miriam. Im vierten Teil dieses anrührenden Romans wechselt die Autorin plötzlich die Person des Ich-Erzählers. Cecilia übernimmt nun diese Rolle. Die Leser nehmen Teil an ihrem Warten auf das Wiedersehen mit Adam – nach zwanzig Jahren gelebten Lebens. Mit großer Spannung strebt sie auf diese Begegnung zu, lässt ihr Leben Revue passieren und macht deutlich, warum sie Adam damals vor diese alles entscheidende Wahl gestellt hat. Die Autorin gibt kein Ende vor, sondern überlässt es der Vorstellung des Lesers wie die Geschichte weitergehen könnte.

[cbl_tn · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

After his daughter's death changes his future, composer Adam Anker begins a search for his past. His quest takes him from his home in New Zealand to his birthplace in Poland, where he learns about his family origins. He then travels to Sweden to see his daughter's mother for the first time in almost twenty years.I like music, I like stories about family history and family secrets, I like New Zealand and Europe, so I expected to like this book. Unfortunately I didn't. I don't especially care for the style in which the story is told. The narrators analyze their thoughts, words, actions, and the choices facing them to the extent that I felt like I was reading a therapy journal. The two main characters were so self-absorbed that, even though I was reading their innermost thoughts and feelings, I felt excluded. I prefer novels weighted more towards action than introspection, so this book really wasn't a good fit for me.

[dasuzuki · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book follows Adam as he seeks answers to his past and find out who his parents were as well as how he came to be a single parent of his daughter Miriam. This book was a pleasure to read as you slowly peel back the layers of Adam’s history but at certain transitions I was a little confused as to what was going on.For the most part the book works its way backwards through Adam’s memories until the very end when Adam’s journey concludes. You know that Adam’s daughter, Miriam, dies but not how. That is actually not revealed almost to the end of the book. You also do not find out who the mother of Miriam is until a good while into the book. There were several surprises. I was shocked by the ultimatum that Adam’s true love issues him and who Adam’s real mother was and how he ended up with the woman he had thought was his birth mother. If you want to know the truth you have to pick up the book!

[kiwifortyniner · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Being a Kiwi myself, it was great to read a book by a Kiwi author some of which was set in NZ. Olsson had thought of calling this book "The consequences of silence and she begins it with a quote from "Music from another World" by Simon Laks which goes like this " but words must be found for besides words there is nothing" and this to me was the important theme in the book. To give a quick summary- Adam lives with his daughter on Waiheke Island in NZ and on this Saturday morning his daughter says to him that he should get out and have an adventure for it was Saturday. She goes off, and he does that. He goes to the War Memorial where he sees a photograph of a man that shares the same name that he was born with, and a note from the man's sister. This obviously shakes him as he knows nothing of his past for his mother would not tell him. She would just say we never talk about it. We never even think about it. It will go away. We will forget. On his return home that day Adam's world is shaken further as he learns his daughter has been killed in a tragic accident. It is not until a year later that Adam follows up on the note he saw at the museum and begins a journey to fill in the gaps in his past. He is lamenting the fact that he did the same to his daughter as his mother did to him. He never told her about her mother when she asked and while it is now too late for his daughter he needs to find out about his past. He also needs to see Cecilia, the mother of his daughter, whom he has not seen for nineteen years- the length of his daughter's life. The journey takes him to Krakow in Poland where meets an old friend of his family who can fill in the blanks in his past for him. Then he returns to Sweden to see Cecilia to come to terms with the impossible choices she forced him to make when they parted.The first part of the book is written as if to Cecilia, but the latter part is written in her voice so that she can speak for herself and tell her part of the story.This book is beautifully written. It highlights to me the importance of words, the importance of our past to us and the dramatic effect that significant events in history can have on peoples lives.

[momgee_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In her second novel, Linda Olsson explores the themes of love, loss, choices, and memories from the past. A single decision can change a person's life and the lives of those who come after.Even inaction or silence has repercussions. One morning Adam Anker's daughter, Miriam, had urged him to "Get out, Dad. Have an adventure. It's Saturday!" Little did he know that this simple act would forever impact his world. Adam's thoughts in retrospect: " If I had listened more carefully, would I have been able to hear more? Could I have heard it in the lingering sweetness of the final bars of the music that was playing in the background? Seen it in the light that washed over my daughter's face? In the graceful movement of her hand? Tasted it in the bitter flavors of the coffee?Should I have known that this scene, in its everyday triviality, would become the shimmering crescendo of the memories on which I now sustain a sort of life?"When Adam Anker visits the Holocaust Gallery in Auckland Domain Museum, his entire life is changed and a course of action set in motion to come to terms with Adam's past. Adam sees a picture of a man named Adam Lipski which sends his senses reeling. Elusive memories flit in and out of his brain. Lipski, the name he was born with but no longer carries, sends him on a search for family and answers to the past.This journey takes him to Krakow, Poland and then on to Sweden. In Krakow he tracks down Adam Lipski's sister, Clara, and from her he gets more pieces of the puzzle. These pieces give him a better sense of who he is now and why his childhood was the way it was. This part of his search also introduces him to more key people from the past. These characters are an integral part of the story.The next leg of the journey takes him to Sweden to meet up again with Miriam's mother, Cecelia, whom he has not seen for almost twenty years. Before Adam arrives in Sweden, the narrative is picked up by Cecelia and told from her perspective, we see many more pieces of the past and how they reflected on her relationship with Adam. In his journey Adam finds much more than he set out to find originally. All the pieces come together to make some semblance of resolution and a feeling of peace. This is but a brief synopsis of Adam's personal journey. The writing in this novel is simply exquisite. The images evoked are so clear. This is one of the most visually descriptive books I have read in a long time and I can't remember a novel where the inner most thoughts and feelings of the characters are so intimately expressed.Ms. Olssen has a deep understanding of the human emotions and this uncanny ability is ably depicted in her writing. She not only lets us see into the characters' heads, but creates a mood and tone to the novel that is almost haunting. The way Adam's memories are revealed is like looking through a gossamer curtain rippling in the breeze. A little bit is revealed as the curtain moves, even then it is not quite wholly grasped, but fleeting and elusive. An absolutely excellent read not to be missed.