Loved the structure of this, the individual short stories which interlink and shares interesting details of each character involved in the music industry. I liked the overall theme of music connecting people.

A lovely book that took me on a journey through human emotion. I connected with the segments and they fit together to make a perfect collection of snapshots that reflect the modern human experience.

Wow! So interestingly done, a really imaginative book. The interlinking episodes were quite addictive, and the way the author tied it all together was perfectly achieved without being contrived.
Highly enjoyable.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this book in exchange for my feedback.

I love character based novels which is why this appealed to me.
The book is a series of short stories focusing on very different characters in some form of the music industry in New York. I have no background to the industry and I found this gave me a good insight into the lucrative world . I really enjoyed each character analysis and its perfect if you want a quick read.

Liz Moore’s The Words of Every Song takes readers on a trip through the contemporary music industry, as witnessed through the eyes and lives of a mixed cast of characters. Each of these episodes is linked with at least one of the others, and is an interesting collection of character studies. I enjoyed this.

The novel does an excellent job of highlighting its characters’ inner and public lives. A&R man Theo Brigham, on a bit of a cold streak, not signing many new clients, but on the look-out for something new. He pins his hopes on a new band — he likes them, but he’s not convinced that enough others will to make them a hit for his label, Titan Records. We read about the demanding and cold label boss, Jax Powers-Kline, whose underlings live on tenterhooks, hiding her anxiety and tension from those around her. As she interacts with her employees, artists, and family, she wonders if she’s sacrificed too much of herself for success, power, and all the trappings that come with it. Tommy Mays, the rock star who’s tired of touring, and would much rather stay home with his family. He is sick of the “rock star” life, depressed and disgusted by the hedonistic tendencies of some of his bandmates, and sick of singing songs he stopped liking years ago (but, they keep the punters coming out, so he keeps playing them). The journalist who starts off rather pretentious, aloof from the frivolity of the music business and this band he’s reviewing. But his preconceived notions of the band and genre are shed as he falls for their singer. We also meet a young rapper and producer at college, who has an incredible positivity and luck, a zest for life and confidence that he’ll make it if he keeps hustling. There’s a young girl group on their first audition, worrying about their looks and clothes, and an overbearing parent-manager. We read of young fans who find themselves in the presence of their idols, but also in unsafe situations they feel they can’t escape.

Each chapter/episode gives us a look into not only these characters’ lives, worries and secret hopes, but also offers some good commentary (albeit rarely explicit) of the industry and its expectations. Why, for example, are teenage girls expected to know how to dance sexily? How do artists navigate the industry’s (and society’s) addiction to the new and young? How much are you willing to sacrifice to make it? How can you balance the relentless demands of the industry with your family, and desire to have a life of your own? How to family members handle being on the edge of the industry, whether related to successful artists or hopeful up-and-comers? The novel does a very good job of dissecting the industry — what it demands, what it can give, but also what it can take.

Moore’s writing is excellent. Nicely composed, devoid of excessive description, readers are pulled on through the story at a good pace — it’s by no means rushed, but progresses at just the right clip. The author’s characters are very well crafted, and quickly come to life on the page. With the introduction of each new perspective, we get a good picture of their personality very quickly. In fact, this is the rare novel when I didn’t have a clear favourite POV character — each felt fully realized on the page, and I would have liked to have spent more time with each of them. Unlike the author’s latest novel, Long Bright River, there’s also regular punctuation and dialogue. (An affectation that has rarely landed for me.)

So, if you’re looking for a very well written, character-led story, then I’d certainly recommend The Words of Every Song. It’s a novel of life: its hopes, hardships, anxieties, joys, and struggles.

There are fourteen episodes, all linked and written by Liz Moore, a singer and songwriter, telling us about a world she knows so well, The Music Industry. The characters in each episode have one thing in common, they are all involved in the Music Industry and it takes place in New York.

Each episode begins with the words of a famous song written by a famous songwriter and sung by a famous star such as Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen, Nirvana, Lauryn Hill, Billie Holiday etc.

The Music Industry is a dog eat dog world. If you are a singer, songwriter and A&R man, you're constantly racing to get to the top. When you are an established Rock Star like Tom, married with children and thirty years old, you begin to wonder "when did that happen?" He feels old. He's going through a "midlife crisis". There is always someone younger and more talented who will take your place. Nothing lasts forever. And so Tom and the band members are off to the bar to chill, while being surrounded by young fans.

There is Siobhan, a lead singer and guitarist, who is in love with Kurt Cobain, who took his life. Cynthia is a receptionist/secretary, who once was a personal assistant to the President of A & R at Titan, the largest recording Company, but was demoted for no good reason. She has her eyes on the up and coming star, Lenore Lamont. Cynthia used to work for Jax, a female executive, who can't keep track of her busy social calendar. Then comes Tony, the Sound Technician, who is waiting for a band to show up. When they do, one of the members can't perform. He's stoned, so they have to leave. And the episodes go on.

This is a collection of short stories following individuals involved in the music industry. Their stories intertwine as we follow both professional and personal issues such as drug use and heart break.

The stories are quick paced so much so that I struggled to feel connection to the majority of the characters.

I really liked some of the stories but there was a lot that I was mad about. Overall this one wasnt for me.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House for providing me with a copy

Liz Moore's debut novel, The Words of Every Song, uses fourteen interlinked narratives to build a picture of the music industry in New York. I'm often a fan of novels like this that set somewhere between a collection of short stories and a series of vignettes, but this one didn't work for me. Rather than allowing each character to have their moment in their own chapter, Moore head-hops continually, diluting the strength of each section and making me wonder why she hadn't chosen a more conventional structure. Worse, her writing isn't strong enough to hold attention. There's definitely some crossover here with Jennifer Egan's A Visit From The Goon Squad, which I enjoyed on first read but couldn't get through when I tried to re-read it recently; I wonder if there's something about that late 2000s/early 2010s zeitgeist that hasn't translated well to the present. However, I loved the warmth of Moore's second novel, Heft, so I know she can do better than this. DNF @ 25%.

When words meet music. This book explores beautifully the magic and power of music and how it connects people. The Words of Every Song explores the lives of different people who have never met but are all connected through music and don't even know it. Some of them crossed one another briefly others looked up to their idols. Music is their job, live safer, their passion. It is interesting to see how a passion can put you on a path that leads you to your faith. While reading, I had the movie "August Rush" in mind, which follows a similar plot.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who either loves music or to those who want to remember the good and the bad times in which music has been their companion.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is loosely framed around a record label, with each chapter from the point of view of a different character, and they dip in and out of each other’s stories. The stories were really interesting, and very personal to each character - they weren’t all telling the same story, it all felt quite real, giving you a snapshot of each characters life at a point in time. I thought it was very cleverly done, showing how people can project a facade of being confident, happy, settled - but in reality, underneath the facade, they’re nervous or unsure just like everyone else. I liked that the stories weren’t always obvious about what they were going to be about either, I found the stories very touching and really interesting.

I haven’t read anything else by Liz Moore, but I plan to change this as soon as I can! I loved everything about this story, the structure, the characters.. the book could have been twice as long, and I’ve have been delighted.

This collection of ‘short stories’ was first published in 2007 but still feels fresh today and some are very relatable. All the stories are linked or connect in some way through the characters involvement in the music industry, especially Titan Records in New York. Several of the characters reoccur such as Theo the A and R man of the label and Jax Powers-Klein the CEO. The stories are quick and easy to read, they’re well written and give you an intriguing snapshot of that person at a given time, although for some characters Liz Moore gives you a future reference which I like. Some of the stories are more engaging than others and it’s particularly the characters that are struggling in some way whose voices come across the strongest. For example, Tommy Mays, 30, jaded, successful and goes off the rails if parted from his wife and young daughters. I also like Jeffrey (the Great) from Tommy’s band who is feels terrible loneliness which is of course doubly sad because he’s rarely physically alone. Tony the sound man at Titan is haunted by regrets over his failed marriage but the one which resonates the most because it’s so sad is Mike from group The Burn who are trying to make an impact on the music scene. His story is very powerful and sad as he is haunted by a previous girlfriend.

Overall, I enjoyed reading these episodes and the ones that make the most connection are those characters that are struggling in some way as their heartache comes across more powerfully.

The Words of Every Song is a collection of 14 different episodes that explore the music industry, each episode explores a different aspect with characters and settings that cross over in each episode, which can be read together or alone.
This was Liz Moore's debut novel, and it's a good one. It's an engaging and well executed read. It just would have been nicer to see the more nitty gritty side of the industry as it all felt a bit safe, but never the less it's a book well worth reading.

This definitely feels like a debut novel and lacks the sophistication that Moore shows in her later books like 'Long Bright River'. The series of vignettes all connected via a music company have some overlapping characters but feel a bit underwhelming. Superficial with a try-hard and self-conscious tone about the writing, there's just not enough getting down and dirty into the stories, it all stays at a shallow level before moving on. Still, Moore goes on to greater things...