The Music Shop

This book made me really, really mad. I hate books that are described as “love stories” when the relationship between the two main characters doesn't even come close to resembling real love. I will admit that the sections devoted to music are well done, and while I might not agree with Frank's interpretations I appreciate the absolute joy he takes in each diverse piece.

The rest of this rant will be hidden due to spoilers.
So we're supposed to love Frank because he finds everyone the right music and tries to help perfect strangers. But when he meets Ilse he is in turn shy, rude, long-winded and finally cruel. This is supposed to demonstrate that he is IN LOVE and doesn't know how to handle it.Why can't Frank handle love? Well, because he had an evil mother who taught him all about music but never did any maternal things like show him warmth and affection. But his mother's ultimate sin happened many years ago, when she encouraged his high school girlfriend to have an abortion instead of letting the teenagers get married. Never mind the fact that the couple were probably too young to have a baby or make decisions about their future, it was EVIL. And then his mother left all of her money to charity instead of to Frank, who as a grown man really should have been able to support his own damn self. Get over yourself, Frank.And what are we to make of Frank's true love, Ilse? She faints when she first sees him. She's shy and does a lot of listening as he expounds on music. For some unknown reason she can fix mechanical things. But other than that one characteristic, she's basically a cipher who Frank loves because...well, because he just does. Every time he turned her down I wanted her to smack him around or stand up for herself, but what does she do? More than twenty years later, she drops everything and goes looking for him, spending all of her time and energy to find him and capture his attention. Does he finally come to his senses? Does it matter? The two never really had a real relationship, just a series of one-sided encounters in which he mansplained and admired, and she listened adoringly.

The secondary characters are quirky, as they usually are in this type of novel, but at least I was more invested in seeing them find some level of happiness than I was in Frank finally getting his head out of his butt. I realize I am in the minority here but I found this book more disturbing than charming.