TITLE: Signal to Noise
AUTHOR: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
272 pages, Solaris, ISBN 9781781082980 (softcover)
DESCRIPTION: (from Goodreads): Mexico City, 1988: Long before iTunes or MP3s, you said 'I love you' with a mixtape. Meche, awkward and fifteen, has two equally unhip friends - Sebastian and Daniela - and a whole lot of vinyl records to keep her company. When she discovers how to cast spells using music, the future looks brighter for the trio. The three friends will piece together their broken families, change their status as non-entities, and maybe even find love. In 2009, two decades after abandoning the metropolis, Meche returns for her estranged father's funeral. It's hard enough to cope with her family, but then she runs into Sebastian, reviving memories from her childhood she thought she buried a long time ago. What really happened back then? What precipitated the bitter falling out with her father? Is there any magic left?
MY RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
MY THOUGHTS: Why did I wait so long to read this? It's been on my bookshelf for what feels like ages. It's beautifully written. Part love letter to the power music holds, part paean to lost childhood innocence, all imbued with the toll of actual magic (because all magic comes with a price).
The first time Meche uses magic, what happens could just be coincidence. Now, I’m normally a fan of books that leave it up to the reader to decide whether the supernatural aspect is real or imagination. In this case, with the story split between Meche’s present-day return to Mexico City and her teen years, I’m very glad that Moreno-Garcia doesn’t drag the reveal out: this magic is not only real, it’s generational (Meche’s grandmother Dolores, when pressed, talks about her own experiences as a teen – although perhaps doesn’t tell as much as she should), and it absolutely takes a toll not only on those using it (the changes in Meche’s personality over the course of the flashback scenes is stunningly laid out) but also on those who dwell on its periphery (teachers, classmates, potential love interests).
There are probably hundreds of clichés about how music is magic, how music saves lives, how novels are lyrical in tone when not actually poetry. Moreno-Garcia plays with all of them over the course of the book. There is so much music referenced in this novel, and while much of it was unfamiliar to me, I was able to understand the impact/importance of the songs through the way the characters talk about them. In this world, music saves lives but also ruins them.
Another aspect of the book I found interesting was the use of overlapping trios among the characters – and I know enough about triplets in music theory to sense that this was a conscious choice on the author’s part. There is of course the main trio of Meche, Sebastian, and Daniela, doing their magic together and then separately with varying results. Then there’s the trio of Meche’s adult family influences – her feuding mother and father and ever-patient grandmother. Some trios are less obvious: there’s the two love interests (Constantino for Meche, Isadora for Sebastian) whose storylines intercept at the party thrown by Meche’s cousin Jimena (who in the present is part of a trio of personalities that push Meche to certain epiphanies, along with Meche’s mother and the lingering presence of her late father). There are two abusive teacher figures in the novel who form something of a trio with Sebastian’s neglectful (and occasionally violent) older brother Romualdo. These trios overlap, members moving from one grouping to another as we jump between past and present. I think the idea could even apply to places: the homes of the three main characters; the trio of school, hidden getaway spot, and corner store; and in the present, the trio of Meche’s mother’s apartment, father’s apartment, and perhaps the arrivals/departures area of the airport. I’ll leave a more in-depth discussion of the musicality of this structure to people better versed in music and literary theory.
If you’re a fan of stories about teenagers discovering magic or of stories imbued with music, this is absolutely the book for you.