Every Note Played (Genova) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
What’s amazing about her newest novel, Every Note Played, is what is amazing about all of Genova’s books. She is both the neuroscientist and the actor when she writes. She tells not only the story of a person struck down by some disease. She tells the story of the disease, too. And you learn this way. But it never feels like learning.
Boston Globe


[Lisa Genova] delivers another gripping journey through a dread disease in Every Note Played. This time she trains her masterful storytelling skills on ALS as it plays out in a fractured family... deft phrasing eases the reader’s passage through a story that can’t end happily.
Minneapolis Star Tribune


An expertly written depiction of the toll a ravaging disease takes on both the body and the heart.
Marie Claire


[A] gripping novel.… Unsparing in her depiction of the disease’s harrowing effects, neuroscientist Genova also celebrates humanity and the rewards of asking for, and offering, forgiveness.
People


This book is especially remarkable because as a neuroscientist, author Lisa Genova has keen insight into the realities of ALS.
Bustle


Genova captivates with [her] painful but unflinching story…. [The characters'] harrowing journey, though it lacks any true narrative surprises, is both substantively informative about ALS and an emotionally wrenching psychological portrait.
Publishers Weekly


Genova expertly details the devastation ALS wreaks on Richard, and though her latest is a sometimes difficult read, she finds hope in the opportunities Richard has to repair his relationships with his daughter and brothers before it’s too late.
Booklist


While undeniably formulaic, Genova's latest is one of her strongest—more internalized, sometimes slow, but an eloquent and touching imagining of how a peaceful terminal place might be reached.
Kirkus Reviews