Reading Well: Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan

Half-Blood Blues (2011) is Esi Edugyan‘s second novel. The bleakness of her debut, The Second Life of Samuel Tyne in no way prepared me for this book, which is as full of life as anything I’ve read in the past few years.

Moving between Germany and France in World War II and the early 1990s, the novel tells the story of a small ensemble of jazz musicians: the protagonist is a serviceable bass player and his childhood best friend an excellent drummer. And then there is the kid, a trumpet playing prodigy who is the propulsive force behind both the music and the action.

The earlier plot centers around attempts to escape the encroaching Nazi threat: first to find a way from Berlin to Paris, then, as France joins the conflict with disastrous results, from Paris to anywhere. The situation is complicated by the trumpet players German nationality, by a love interest, and by their being on the edge of recording some truly transformative music. The more contemporary scenes are driven by a journey to Germany for the debut of a documentary about the trumpet player, and a surprise trip to Poland.

There are two notable accomplishments in the writing. First, Edugyan captures a specifically male camaraderie in an utterly fantastic way: the slang, the rhythms, the flow between teasing and support, it is all simultaneously oblique and accessible and highly believable. It’s remarkably impressive.

Second, there is the music itself, which is the subject of the most lyrical moments in the novel. You may not hear Louis Armstrong or the kid the way Edugyan describes him, but you’ll see how the characters in the book do indeed hear it and, perhaps as importantly, you’ll see how that hearing impacts them throughout the novel.

After The Second Life of Samuel Tynes, I was unsure what Half-Blood Blues would hold. I was terrifically surprised, and Edugyan’s second novel is very highly recommended.

#WhatIWishICouldDo

Two things. First, the conversational language, which is just fabulous. It is so hard to create a slang system and speech rhythm that is convincing and immediately comprehensible. I suspect Edugyan’s accomplishment is a mix of reasearch and inventive skill on her side, and I am left thinking about how to integrate that into my characters.

Second, I think the way she handles the primary love interest is really deft. The woman is not classically beautiful, the love is never fully reciprocal, and they remain in each other’s orbit throughout. Each part of that is handled with a clean, light, significantly mature touch.