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The Full Cycle of Love and Life as Seen through Gifts, May 6, 2004
 Reviewer: Donald Mitchell from a happy Patriots fan in Boston
Most of us are much more comfortable giving gifts to others than receiving them. Sometimes the gifts we receive are puzzling. What are we to do with what we did not expect? In other cases, the gifts are overwhelming. Where will I put that? Yet at other times, we are unsure how to express our appreciation. What karmic debt have I incurred if someone spends their life savings to give me a gift? In any event, we often feel the need to reciprocate... as soon as possible!
How does all that change when the gifts are not material... but spiritual? Ah! That's the beauty of Sharon Maas's latest triumph, The Speech of Angels.
A young girl in India discovers the beauty of music while visiting with her mother. But then Jyothi's life is torn apart when the family that has always employed her family to do their laundry purchases a washing machine. Further disasters follow when the family tries to eke out a living in Bombay with laundry and begging. Then, she receives her first gift... a European couple saves her from a fate worse than the streets and raises her as their own daughter in Germany. Naturally being overwhelmed by all that has happened to her, her sense of obligation steals away from her sense of self. She next receives her second gift... the realization that she can make marvelous music herself. But the music doesn't move her like it does her listeners... so it's a dangerous gift. More disasters follow and she finds herself feeling cut off from all but one person... someone who isn't really worthy of her trust. How can she become reconciled to her gifts? That's just what you will find out by reading The Speech of Angels. Like all outstanding novels, this one will also teach you something about yourself in terms of how to receive and appreciate your gifts.
Anyone who enjoyed Of Marriageable Age or Peacocks Dancing will probably agree that The Speech of Angels marks a new high in the work of the very talented Ms. Maas. I also hope she will write a sequel to The Speech of Angels. I'd like to know more about Jyothi after she comes to terms with her gifts.
Like her previous two novels, this one is filled with karmic lessons that will appeal to those who enjoy Buddhist thought.
As someone who loves music, I enjoyed reading a novel about the life of a musical prodigy. It must be terribly difficult for the prodigy. Yet, we music fans demand so much from them! I also liked the theme of what it truly means to make music. I can hear the love (or lack thereof) in most performances I attend. Ms. Maas is quite perceptive about music. I wonder whether she favors the violin or the sitar.
As I finished the book, I realized that sometimes books should really be multi-media products instead. The Speech of Angels could have taken on totally new dimensions if accompanied by a CD that captured the music that is described so beautifully in the pages. Perhaps the publisher will provide such a product in a future edition. I certainly hope so!
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Have you read The Speech of Angels? Leave your comments on Sharon’s guestbook.
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Of Marriageable Age was Sharon's first novel. When she wrote it she was living in an ancient farmhouse: very pretty to look at but lacking central heating. Her computer stood in a corner of the bedroom, which was unheated and freezing cold in winter. But... writing kept her warm. [read more]
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Sharon on Peacocks Dancing:
When I started writing this story I did not plan to enter Bombay’s notorious Red Light District. I certainly did not plan to write a book about child prostitution... [read more] [buy the book ]
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