Jeremy Cooper

Charting the course of the intense and at times fractious relationship between middle-aged composer Rebekah Rosen and the young star-saxophonist Evie Bennet, Discord is a wry and insightful exploration of creative collaboration.

Discord

The narrative voice and sentence structures drew me in instantly. Cooper has this way of capturing the mundane in a potent way that cannot be boring but instead brings character to our everyday lives. 

The novel follows the two protagonists in the buildup until their prom's performance. They are different in many ways but what holds them together is their passion for music. 

I liked both Evie and Rebekah — they weren't perfect people but they were realistic. I liked the way they interact with each other, how their juxtapositions showed each other's pros and cons. How both taught each other so much implicitly through their interactions. There was just this feeling that flowed through the book, or perhaps a sound like when a piano key is pressed and you can still hear the sound and vibrations even after the action is done. 

Cooper's writing in many ways reminded me of Ian McEwan's (my favourite author). There was a dedication to research and also the physicality of the world that often literature skips. But Cooper so vividly portrayed the train rides, the short trips to Europe and how Evie interacted with her saxophone. 

I felt a bit empty after finishing this one, like the ending was too abrupt and that their world kind of collapsed — but in retrospect that is the very essence of life and relationships in the creative field. 

Thank you to Fitzcarraldo for an early copy of this one! 

g.m.

The narrative voice and sentence structures drew me in instantly. Cooper has this way of capturing the mundane in a potent way that cannot be boring but instead brings character to our everyday lives. 


The novel follows the two protagonists in the buildup until their prom's performance. They are different in many ways but what holds them together is their passion for music. 

I liked both Evie and Rebekah — they weren't perfect people but they were realistic. I liked the way they interact with each other, how their juxtapositions showed each other's pros and cons. How both taught each other so much implicitly through their interactions. There was just this feeling that flowed through the book, or perhaps a sound like when a piano key is pressed and you can still hear the sound and vibrations even after the action is done. 


Cooper's writing in many ways reminded me of Ian McEwan's (my favourite author). There was a dedication to research and also the physicality of the world that often literature skips. But Cooper so vividly portrayed the train rides, the short trips to Europe and how Evie interacted with her saxophone. 


I felt a bit empty after finishing this one, like the ending was too abrupt and that their world kind of collapsed — but in retrospect that is the very essence of life and relationships in the creative field. 


Thank you to Fitzcarraldo for an early copy of this one! 

Discord

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