Great art demands sacrifice. Lucien Beaumont is a teenage misfit and musical prodigy ostracized by his peers and haunted by familial tragedy. When he discovers an unfinished song composed by his dead father—a song that holds terrible power—Lucien becomes obsessed. As he chases after the secret nature of his father’s music, the line between gruesome fantasy and real life violence begins to blur.To … blur.
To complete his father’s work Lucien believes that he and his group of outcast friends must appease a demonic force trapped within the music with increasingly sadistic offerings. As things spiral out of control he finds that the cost of his art will be the lives of everyone around him, and perhaps his very soul.
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I remember pre-ordering this and being excited to read it. Like so many others, my TBR is insane, but now I wish I would’ve dove in right away. I’ve read a few of Lawson’s releases, but frankly, this is a completely different level. How this book wasn’t nominated for a ton of dark fiction/speculative fiction awards is beyond me and truthfully, it’s frustrating when you see a book this stunning seemingly slip through and not get the recognition is deserves.
The story is brutal, the characters are flawed, real and relatable. You know these kids, you went to school with these kids. We were all one of these, whether the outcasts, the glee club or the jock group. And ultimately, this story feels completely bonkers but also completely realistic and topical.
What I liked: The story follows former rich kid, Lucien as he finds himself in public school. His father was a renowned classical musician, who took his life and as a result, his schooling was no longer being paid for.
He feels abandoned. By his father, his drug-addicted mother, and his former school. He’s angry. Time and time again, the adults have failed him.
It’s this anger that ultimately drives him throughout the actions within the book.
He’s made a friend, someone who shares his interests. But it’s not until Lucien discovers an unfinished piece of music his father was composing with another musician that his anger is joined by obsession.
Lawson does a truly amazing job of crafting an all-too-real high school. You can practically smell the B.O. and Axe body spray. It’s been almost 25 years since I graduated from Nakusp Secondary School, but reading this brought me back to when I was walking the hallway – as a bully, a jock, an outcast and a loner. High school for so many of us was a strange and odd time in our lives, and because of this you can really understand the ‘why’ of Lucien’s plight.
I really loved how over the course of the novel you can see Lucien’s transition. Almost like Gollum finding his precious and while those dream like occurrences at first can feel odd and out of place, his experiences with the black unicorn were truly phenomenal.
The ending to this may come off as extreme, but really, was there any other ending? Was this going to have a different conclusion? I don’t think so and Lawson finished it off perfectly and exactly how it should’ve ended.
What I didn’t like: It’s odd, because I thought this novel was perfect, but I wished we would’ve had a bit more push back from J.C. and Asher when things really take a turn, especially with Leo. I won’t say more, spoilers and all, but they just seemed to accept that obsession of the Madrigal and go with it.
Why you should buy this: This is one of the best books I’ve ever read, and one of the best books featuring music that I’ve ever read. I’ve heard varying opinions on S.T. Joshi, but his foreword was spot on when he stated that you’ll feel the music while reading, which seems impossible but is actual fact. You could feel the hum and vibration throughout.
Lawson has done such an amazing job, more of you absolutely need to read this outstanding piece of dark fiction. Curtis has something truly special here and I’m angry and sad and ashamed that I didn’t get to this sooner to sing it’s praises and that this book hasn’t had its praises sung from the mountain tops. This book will leave you wrecked. Sad. Angry. Frustrated. Everything you want a book to make you feel.
Outstanding work. Outstanding.
We follow high school student Lucien as he forms a demonic choir and descends into violent insanity. Even though Lucien is a teenager, this is definitely not a YA novel.
PROS:
Lawson’s prose is a pleasure to read. Some of his vocabulary is advanced, but it doesn’t come across as stuffy, and the prose isn’t difficult at all to read. It’s just that Lawson chooses apt, precise words. (And clever character names, too.)
Lawson did his research. The fact that the unicorn character (I’m actually too scared to type its demonic name) comes from actual texts makes the whole book more interesting and that much more nightmare-inducing. Wait, did I say a unicorn demon? Lawson’s creature has nothing to do with rainbows and glittery sprinkles. To use the dark, demonic version of what we usually see as a cuddly, stuffed toddler’s toy . . . freaky and scary!
I enjoyed the Gothic descriptions, both of settings and people. This is not a Gothic story, but there’s enough of that vibe to give the story texture.
The symbolism throughout keeps it interesting, not only the music, but numbers, too, and clothing and drink and colors.
The good, ol’-fashioned food fight in the cafeteria was one of my favorite scenes and a trope made over with skill.
The thing I loved most about this book is how Lawson wrapped a horrid, heart-wrenching, bloody story in easy-to-read prose with perfect pacing. OMGosh, the book is reverberating in my head!
CONS:
Admittedly no book is perfect, but seriously, there’s nothing bad worth mentioning in Black Heart Boys’ Club.
OVERALL:
Lawson’s novel is an intelligently-written, literary story that makes your gut cramp and your fingers tremble with every turn of the page. Highly recommended for readers who like thought-provoking horror.
BLACK HEART BOYS’ CHOIR required a bit of time on my part for everything to sink in. Once it did, I felt liking shouting BRAVO and throwing some roses at the author. A friend took me aside and told me this was frowned upon, so I decided to write this review instead.
Lucien has recently lost his father to suicide. Shortly after that, he loses his mother to grief, (among other things.) To top it all off, he and his mother are required to move from their rather posh house, to a humbler home in a condominium. He is full of anger and disgust-with himself, and his weak parents. He begins hearing music in his head, as well as voices, and shortly thereafter he discovers a piece of orchestration that his father began to write but never finished. He sets out to quiet those voices and the music-will he be triumphant? You’ll have to read this to find out!
I became a fan of Curtis Lawson last year and immediately bought another of his books when I finished the first. (I haven’t been able to get to it yet-story of my life.) However, when he offered me a chance to read this one early, how could I say no? At first, I was a bit confused as to what was going on, and to be honest, I wondered if this novel was going to require some kind of musical knowledge or at least the ability to read music. I needn’t have feared, since all that was required was close attention on my part. That wasn’t hard to give because the narrative soon swept me up and carried me to the denouement, much like a wave at the beach carries you to shore.
Why did I need time to mull over this story? I can mention some of the reasons here, some I cannot because…spoilers. Lucien was not altogether likable, even before some of the more distasteful events occurred. Luckily, I’m okay with real people being the main character-meaning in real life, people are not all good or bad, so why do some expect that in their fiction? Another reason I needed to mull for a moment is mental illness. (Lucien reminded me a lot of a young man I knew who suffered from Schizophrenia.) In the end, this tale broke another way, but somehow I came away from it with a better understanding of the young man I once knew. (Or at least, I think I did.)
As a whole, BLACK HEART BOYS’ CHOIR tackles a lot in its few pages: suicide, death, abuse, neglect, teen friendships, (and many of us know the friendships made during that difficult time in life are hard to break), resentments, music, mental illness (?), demons…well, you get the picture.
Hopefully, you now understand my reasons for mulling over this tale. I believe I will be thinking about it for quite some time. These are generally the types of stories that stick with me-the mull-ers. If what I’ve described above sounds good to you and if you enjoy thinking about a story long after it’s finished, then I highly recommend BLACK HEART BOYS’ CHOIR!
*Thank you to the author for the e-ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it.*