Grace Notes, MacLaverty's first novel since Cal, is as much about Irish identity-- and possibility--as it is about art. Catherine's newest piece, a mass, includes the huge drums Protestants play in parades. "It was a scary sound--like thunder. Like the town was under a canopy of dark noise." Though her fellow Catholics see the drums as instruments of threat, Catherine is determined to integrate them into her composition.

Her return to Belfast for her father's funeral brings back several ghosts, among them an influential professor who spoke of grace notes--"the notes between the notes". This novel is full of such instances, wry snatches of conversation and unforgettable observations: the new Chinese restaurant that has had to offer chips to stay in business, or the pub that's "on a slight hill. When dogs pissed at the door the dark lines ran diagonally to the gutter." These transcend the occasional passage in which MacLaverty tries too hard to see into the life and rhythms of a female artist. The final section, however, a live radio concert of Catherine's piece, is a triumph for both woman composer and male author.

As a composer, Catherine looks for the "notes between the notes...graces, grace notes." A Catholic who no longer believes, she sees "music as the grace of God...a way of praying." Appalled by the cruelty and intolerance which "religious" men have shown each other throughout history, she believes that "her act of creation [not religious dogma]...define[s] her as an individual...and define[s] all individuals as important."

She embarks on a series of religious compositions at the same time that she rejects the church and its teachings about marriage and family. Choosing not to marry the father of her child, she nevertheless recognizes her daughter as a miracle, a profound mystery which "there was no form of music to celebrate or mark..." Filled with symbols of Fatherhood, baptism, ascension, rebirth, and ultimate triumph, MacLaverty's Grace Notes is a compelling and sensitive exploration of a young woman's attempt to reconcile her humanity with the universal mysteries of creation. Mary Whipple


More Like This Please   August 8, 2001
 8 out of 9 found this review helpful

Catherine McKenna is a deep and fascinating character, and is made perhaps more remarkable given that she is penned by a male author. This book is compelling and deeply moving and will be enjoyed by all who require that their fiction sweep them up and take them on an all consuming emotional journey.

MacLaverty's ability to render music audible through the written word, even to those of us who had never before heard of a grace note, is quite remarkable.

I look forward to The Anatomy School.


Rewarding and insightful.   July 24, 2001
 2 out of 12 found this review helpful

This is a great book, very moving and very understated. It's deceptively clear prose, ( but if your a moron you might want to stick to Bravo Two Zero ),and those of us with an ounce of sensitivity in us will find it rewarding, sympathetic and a book to proudly place on your shelf.