Name: Signal to Noise
ISBN: 9781849978903

Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Magic will break your heart. Mexico City, 1988: Meche is fifteen, awkward, and obsessed with music. Her world revolves around her two misfit friends, Sebastian and Daniela, and a stack of records. Then Meche discovers how to turn music into magic, and things takes a turn for the strange... Mexico City, 2009: Meche returns home for her estranged father’s funeral. Her family are trouble enough, but when she runs into Sebastian, long-buried childhood memories resurface. What really happened back then – and is there any magic left?

Signal to Noise

A literary fantasy about love, music and sorcery, set against the background of Mexico City. Mexico City, 1988: Long before iTunes or MP3s, you said “I love you” with a mixtape. Meche, awkward and fifteen, has two equally unhip friends -- Sebastian and Daniela -- and a whole lot of vinyl records to keep her company. When she discovers how to cast spells using music, the future looks brighter for the trio. With help from this newfound magic, the three friends will piece together their broken families, change their status as non-entities, and maybe even find love... Mexico City, 2009: Two decades after abandoning the metropolis, Meche returns for her estranged father’s funeral. It’s hard enough to cope with her family, but then she runs into Sebastian, and it revives memories from her childhood she thought she buried a long time ago. What really happened back then? What precipitated the bitter falling out with her father? And, is there any magic left?

Janice Hopper

I wanted to like this book more than I did. It's a tale about music, teen love and angst, and how your life can look different 20 years later.

Spoilery stuff from here on out.

First off, I don't really listen to music that much. The mix-tape generation was largely after my time. And I don't know anything of the Mexican/Hispanic artists referenced (I'm sure that's my loss), so all that part went over my head. :( 

And I didn't like Meche, the main female character. I thought she was petty and honestly kinda toxic. She found out she could work some magic when properly stimulated by music. And, in Terry Pratchett terms, just *just missed* the cackling phase of witchcraft, the kind where you start building gingerbread houses, stuffing children in ovens, and trying to kill your best friend. O.o She probably would have succeeded in the last item if her grandmother hadn't deus-ex-machina'd her own magic into the story and saved Sebastian's life.

Sebastian's a little more self-aware. Honestly, he grew up to be a better person, because he wasn't nursing a 20 YEAR GRUDGE like Meche did. In spite of the "happy ending", I had sad visions of Sebastian turning out like Meche's father did, years after falling in love with Meche's mother. He slowly got sadder and more beaten down by his faults, real and perceived-by-his-wife. Based on Meche's attitude, I don't think Sebastian would fare much better in the long run.

Heh, I guess the book made me think more about the people and relationships in it than I thought! 
 I did have to work to finish it though. I suspect I'm not the target audience for this book. YMMV.

Magnus Dahl

The magic of records/the records’ magic. What a thrilling, lovely, vivid book. Reads like a movie, seemed to be there. Characters stay with you afterwards. Made me well up when I read the ending, and it almost never happens. Brb, gotta find if someone made a playlist on spotify.