praise for beautiful music
"Danny Yzemski tunes out a dysfunctional family with Frank Zappa and Iggy Pop, shaking his countercultural fist at The Man in this eight-track flashback of a novel set in 1970s Detroit." -O, OPRAH MAGAZINE, Summer Reading Picks/One of O's Top Books of Summer
“How do we find soul-saving comfort in moments when deep personal loneliness coincides with a world gone increasingly mad? This question is at the heart of Beautiful Music, Michael Zadoorian’s funny and melancholic novel that navigates the haunted history of the Rust Belt. Zadoorian shows how music has kept the region’s heart beating—especially Detroit’s—even in the most crushing and confusing of times.” -Dean Bakopoulos, author of Summerlong
“[A] raucous bildungsroman . . . Zadoorian touches on white flight, iconic radio stations, and the racial history of Detroit, but remains rooted in [protagonist] Danny’s transition out of his shell. With its echoes of works by Nick Hornby and Stephen Chbosky, Zadoorian’s ebullient novel is full of energy, pain, growth, and great music.”-PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
“Michael Zadoorian has captured an era when Detroit simmered with anger and fear while it simultaneously reverberated with the joyous noise of rock and roll. Beautiful Music eloquently evokes the beauty, confusion, and power of that late 1960s/early 1970s milieu.”-Don Was, Grammy–winning producer, musician, Was (Not Was)
“Beautiful Music” is a sweet and endearing coming-of-age tale measured in album tracks.”-THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
“Like Nick Hornby or the great Nick Tosches, Michael Zadoorian is the rare novelist whose prose crackles with the energy of the best rock ‘n’ roll. Beautiful Music is a beautiful bildungsroman that does the sounds and spirit of his beloved Detroit proud.” -Jim DeRogatis, author of Let It Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs
"For Danny, cracking the seal on a fresh piece of wax and dissecting cover art and liner notes are acts of nigh religious experience that unveil to him a community of fellow rockers across Detroit...It's in these small moments--a lonely boy experiencing premature nostalgia--that Zadoorian shines." -WASHINGTON POST
“The story of Beautiful Music is painted with rich, exquisite detail and all the painful hyperawareness of growing up in a culture of mixed signals, confusion, and loss. Salvation comes through music. A miraculous safe place in which to belong.” -Nancy Wilson, singer/guitarist, Heart
“Popping with Detroit culture, Beautiful Music wraps a disturbing yet humorous tale of beleaguered adolescence in 1970s Motor City around the rock music that made the dingy landscape an aural playground.” -Steve Miller, author, Detroit Rock City
“A teenager in 1970s Detroit takes his first steps toward hard-rock rebellion after a soft-rock upbringing . . . [Zadoorian is] skilled at capturing the feeling of release that music can provide (‘something snaps in your heart and a jolt of pure happiness shoots through you better than all the dope in the world’) as well as the anxiety the novelty of that experience can produce in a sheltered kid . . . A likable bildungsroman that cannily evokes how music transforms teenage identity.”-KIRKUS REVIEWS
“Then there are writers and artists who journey back in time, ransack their memories of the ’70s, and embellish them to create a sort of time-lapse portrait. Michael Zadoorian’s fourth book, the terrific Beautiful Music, is a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story.”-THE MILLIONS
“[Zadoorian’s] new novel speaks of death, race, music and youth in a voice that has been compared to Nick Hornby and Tobias Wolff. It is set in 1970’s Detroit at the cusp of punk, and centers around high school loner and music fanatic Danny Yzemski. One to look forward to for fans of rock music and sad, funny writing.”-CLEVELAND.COM
“Beautiful Music thrums like a guitar riff and rattles like a bass drum. This soulful, funny, transporting, and often electrifying novel will resonate with anyone who’s found their true passion—or is still on the hunt. It’s not just a great Detroit story and a great American story; it’s also a story about what it means to be human. I loved this book! In the words of Bob Seger, all I could do was turn the page.”
-Davy Rothbart, author of My Heart Is an Idiot
“This affectionate, nostalgic novel about a troubled teen is a crossover delight with appeal to both adults and teens.” -BOOKLIST
“His third novel — Beautiful Music, about a radio-loving teen’s transformation through music during the early ’70s in Detroit . . . [is] rich with Detroit details (Korvette’s, Bill Bonds, Iggy Pop), [and] follows Danny through racial tensions at high school, his changing body and his imploding family life.” -DETROIT FREE PRESS
“Don’t let anyone tell you that a novel can’t have a soundtrack. Beautiful Music adds another chapter to Detroit’s rock and roll mythology, every scene shaking with bass, drums, guitar riffs, and driving vocals. But beneath it all, Zadoorian expertly portrays a quiet boy who’s navigating heartache at home, bullies at school, and racial tension in the air—a boy trusting in music to tell him that both he and his city will be okay in the end.” -Adam Schuitema, author of The Things We Do That Make No Sense
“It’s so many real life things all balled up that you can’t help but be immersed in it. You find yourself turning the pages, nodding your head, laughing out loud, all of the emotions. I just really adored this book and it feels like a perfect summer read. Maybe pack it on your way to your outdoor music festival, what a tribute.” -STRANDED IN CHAOS
“Like a song you can’t stop playing, Beautiful Music casts a spell on your heart. With clarity and tenderness, Zadoorian sweeps us into a life that we recognize as our own. Remember when you were lonely, scared, unsure, and then somehow found your own kind of bravery and actual, genuine joy? Beautiful Music will take you there—and give you the soundtrack to get you through.”-Scott Sparling, author of Wire to Wire
"Beautiful Music reads like rock ’n’ roll music, and affected me deeply. Zadoorian writes a mean lyric disguised as a wonderful, emotive sentence. at the same time, Yzemski discovers how rock ’n’ roll music can lift one’s soul." -STUFF I LIKE
“A fantastic book . . . A very compelling read.” -Stateside, Michigan NPR
“I read Beautiful Music compulsively until its end, captivated by the sympathetic character of Danny. I was left with the satisfying, ‘Wait a minute, this wasn’t really about music at all’ feeling that I demand of music writing. But then I had to admit that it really was about rock, its power to heal and transcend. Zadoorian had an easy book to write. His refusal to write it the easy way makes all the difference.”
-RAZORCAKE
“Every once in a while, a book comes along that makes you happy as you read it. This new novel by Michael Zadoorian was that book for me.” -GIRL WHO READS
- A 2019 Michigan Notable Book, presented by Michigan Department of Education and Library of Michigan
- Adult Fiction Winner for the 2018 Great Lakes Great Reads program by the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association
- A Voice news Michigan Bestsellers for 2018 in Fiction