‘Schubert’ an astounding, creative first effort
“Man who speaks German trapped in woman’s body!”
“Dead composer returns from grave to finish unfinished symphony!”
“Woman who couldn’t play piano worth a darn a year ago plays brilliantly at Carnegie Hall!”
I know. Those sound like tabloid headlines at the grocery store checkout stand. But this is serious fiction – well, as serious as it can be if you are writing about a modern-day attorney who becomes possessed by long-dead composer Franz Schubert in the shoe department at Nordstrom.
Score one for the creativity of first-time novelist Bonnie Marson, who wrote each page of “Sleeping With Schubert” the way the rest of us take vitamins: one a day.
With encouragement from a friend, Marson turned a short story she had shelved years earlier into “Schubert,” and now we have the pleasure of reading about protagonist Liza Durbin.
Marson’s sense of humor grabs you from the first line on the first page: “The day I became a genius, I locked the keys in the car with the motor running.”
Such is the life of Liza, who has a loving family, a boring job and a long-distance boyfriend. Then along comes Schubert, a deceased musical genius on a mission who needs the use of a living body.
Why Schubert ended up under Liza’s skin is a mystery at first. But her life begins to change immediately. She is not conscious of constantly motioning with her hands as if she is playing the piano. She hums way too loudly. She wears bizarre clothing combinations.
And she begins to see Schubert’s memories in her dreams, prompting her to wonder where she ends and he begins: “And through this waterfall of new sensations, I realized how insanity comes to people, perhaps to me.”
Although Schubert’s sudden appearance has its downsides, a whole new world opens up to Liza: one filled with music and emotion. She sees aspects of her life differently and finds that he fills an emptiness she never knew was inside her.
As she comes to grips with the odd thing that has happened to her, some friends and family members try to help. Aunt Frieda urges her to share her new gift with the world, but Liza sees that more as a science experiment: “I pictured my brain floating in a jar and a research team trying to make it hum.”
Liza does eventually share her newfound musical gift with the world, thanks to the guidance of a piano teacher at Juilliard who becomes her mentor. Schubert comes alive at the keyboard, and even composes new works. Eventually, the truth about Liza’s “gift” gets out, thanks to her unscrupulous therapist. No problem, though – she becomes a celebrity.
Toward the end of the book, a new sense of urgency drives the story. Liza realizes that Schubert’s presence is fading, that he’s desperate to get to Europe and recover the pages of his unfinished symphony and complete it. Not to worry; a happy ending ensues for all involved.
And that’s where Marson falters. The “We Are the World”-ish musical finale is even more unbelievable than a person being invaded by the spirit of a dead composer. It wraps things up so tidily that there is nothing left to the imagination. And that’s a pity, because imagination is something Marson possesses in abundance.
Minor problems aside, “Sleeping With Schubert” is really good reading that could have been even better — a real page-turner — in the hands of a more seasoned writer. Still, it’s an astounding first effort. Marson shows she has something the world of fiction needs: new ideas.