Tune It Out

Tune It Out

Jamie Sumner2020
From the author of the acclaimed Roll with It comes a moving novel about a girl with a sensory processing disorder who has to find her own voice after her whole world turns upside down. Lou Montgomery has the voice of an angel, or so her mother tells her and anyone else who will listen. But Lou can only hear the fear in her own voice. She’s never liked crowds or loud noises or even high fives; in fact, she’s terrified of them, which makes her pretty sure there’s something wrong with her. When Lou crashes their pickup on a dark and snowy road, child services separate the mother-daughter duo. Now she has to start all over again at a fancy private school far away from anything she’s ever known. With help from an outgoing new friend, her aunt and uncle, and the school counselor, she begins to see things differently. A sensory processing disorder isn’t something to be ashamed of, and music might just be the thing that saves Lou—and maybe her mom, too.
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Reviews

Photo of Sarah Sammis
Sarah Sammis@pussreboots
4 stars
Apr 4, 2024

The book opens somewhere along Lake Tahoe on the California side, although honestly the story could have opened more realistically anywhere else. Northern California was clearly described by someone unfamiliar with the state. Early on Jamie focuses on a cardinal while she sings to a crowd at a coffee shop but we don't have cardinals in our state, save for a few escaped pets in Southern California. To get the plot rolling, Lou crashes the family truck while driving in snow. Apparently already at twelve she had learned how to drive but had never driven in snow. It's stated that it's September when the snow falls. Snow typically doesn't start falling until November and in these climate change years, it's often even later than that. The frustrating thing about this stumbling opening is that it's not needed. The novel would have been stronger if it had happened at the airport with Lou and her assigned case worker arriving Nashville. All of the relevant stuff happens there and the area is better, more accurately described (according to reviewers who know the area). http://pussreboots.com/blog/2021/comm...

Photo of tash lee
tash lee@tashaalee
5 stars
Aug 26, 2023