Wonderful Feels Like This
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4.8 • 5 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Sara Lovestam's Wonderful Feels Like This is “a coming-of-age tale of a young artist and is as soulful as it is triumphant” (SLJ) that celebrates being a little bit odd, finding your people, and the power of music to connect us
For Steffi, going to school everyday is an exercise in survival. She's never fit in with any of the groups at school, and she's viciously teased by the other girls in her class. The only way she escapes is through her music—especially jazz music.
When Steffi hears her favorite jazz song playing through an open window of a retirement home on her walk home from school, she decides to go in and introduce herself.
The old man playing her favorite song is Alvar. When Alvar was a teenager in World War II Sweden, he dreamed of being in a real jazz band. Then and now, Alvar's escape is music—especially jazz music.
Through their unconventional but powerful friendship, Steffi comes to realize that she won't always be stuck and lonely in her town. She can go to music school in Stockholm. She can be a real musician. She can be a jitterbug, just like Alvar.
But how can Steffi convince her parents to let her go to Stockholm to audition? And how it that Steffi's school, the retirement home, the music, and even Steffi's worst bully are somehow all connected to Alvar? Can it be that the people least like us are the ones we need to help us tell our own stories?
"Sensitive and deeply moving: outstanding."
—Kirkus, starred review
"Empathy, identity, and the transformative power of music bind this tale of an atypical friendship between a teenage outcast and a jazz musician."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Lucky European readers have been enjoying YA awesomeness from Sweden's Sara Lövestam for years, and it's finally our turn. Wonderful Feels Like This, Lövestam's first translation into English, artfully melds a witty, sophisticated take on the "high school outcast" narrative with two surprising love stories. This is a magical novel—we hope it's just the start of Lövestam's offerings here.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Empathy, identity, and the transformative power of music bind this tale of an atypical friendship between a teenage outcast and a jazz musician. Swedish teen Steffi Herrera doesn't fit in at her school, where the other girls malign her dark hair and eyes, comparing her Cuban skin to feces and hurling other racist insults at her. When Steffi hears her favorite jazz artist playing from the window of a retirement home, she knows she has found a kindred spirit. During Steffi's regular visits, 89-year-old Alvar recounts his own teenage struggles in Stockholm during WWII, his love for a woman named Anita, and his days as a jazz musician. Steffi and Alvar's stories intersect in surprising ways as they find solace in each other and their musical prowess while coping with harsh realities. There's a an easy, languid flow to L vestam's omniscient third-person storytelling as different characters take the spotlight, but the author doesn't soft-pedal mortality, Alzheimer's, or Steffi's bullies Steffi's self-control is all the more courageous in the face of their genuine cruelty. Ages 12 up.)
