Review: The Lucy Variations by Sara Zarr

Title: The Lucy Variations
Author: Sara Zarr
Format: Ebook
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publish Date: May 7, 2013
Source: Library

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Lucy Beck-Moreau once had a promising future as a concert pianist. The right people knew her name, her performances were booked months in advance, and her future seemed certain.

That was all before she turned fourteen.

Now, at sixteen, it's over. A death, and a betrayal, led her to walk away. That leaves her talented ten-year-old brother, Gus, to shoulder the full weight of the Beck-Moreau family expectations. Then Gus gets a new piano teacher who is young, kind, and interested in helping Lucy rekindle her love of piano -- on her own terms. But when you're used to performing for sold-out audiences and world-famous critics, can you ever learn to play just for yourself?"

My Two Cents:

"The Lucy Variations" is the story of Lucy, a teenager who at a very young age was already a world-renowned pianist. Her musically inclined family always pushed her to strive to be the best. And she was for a very long time. After someone very close to her passes away, Lucy finds that she has lost her passion for playing the piano and doesn't know if she'll ever find it again. A series of events involving her brother got his new piano teacher will show her that she can find her passion once again. This YA book looks at what it means to lose passion and to find it once again.

Lucy is quite sullen in the beginning of the book and it took me awhile to warm up to her. She has seen trauma but she is simply content to dwell on the past. I felt like the readers were kind of being held at arm's length at first until the story really gets going. I eventually warmed up to Lucy as I could see why she felt so lost. I really liked how the author was able to show her evolving throughout the story.

This is the first book that I have read by Zarr but it is easy to see why so many YA fans enjoy her stories. She created a really interesting storyline. The book started slow for me but as we find out more about Lucy and her involvement with her brother's new teacher, the pace really picked up for me. I am looking forward to reading more by Zarr in the future.