Title: Words from the Maestro
Author: Joyce H. Hynes
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 978-1663228987
Pages: 164
Genre: Musical Fiction / Animal Fiction / Fantasy
Reviewed by: Ephantus M.
Hollywood Book Reviews
Words from the Maestro by author Joyce H. Hynes delivers much more than it promises by offering readers a riveting tale, hinged on lyrical prose, and with a moral lesson at its epicenter.
Director Ensemble was a worried man. Abington Academy of Music, once a premier place to study music, was not doing well and was facing foreclosure. He had lost count of the number of notices he had received. He believed that the premier of the Jason Mixoldian School of Music on his music campus would be his saving grace and hopefully save his crumbling business venture.
A three-day assessment of twenty-six students was arranged to measure students’ musical knowledge and performance skills during the following semester which would be crowned by a concert set to bring the music forth. Known to be an ill-tempered and nasty man, Director Ensemble realized that his menacing demeanor had wounded many people, so throughout the audition process, he tried to make amends. This was after he experienced a peculiar spectacle involving clownfish and bubbles that awoke him from his deep sleep of self-centeredness. Between the laughter, melody, and harmony, God changed his heart, giving him a new rhythm and offering him a silver lining in the end.
Hynes writes with oomph and gaiety. Her voice, constant throughout, spells out the themes of compassion, humility, redemption, love, and courage. Across, music manifests in the language used, capturing the imminence and essence of the moment, grabbing the readers’ attention until the end. The author masterfully uses the element of anthropomorphism to establish an emotional connection between her characters and readers, creating an allegory of sorts with a deeper meaning.
Ultimately, the story mirrors modern society with lessons that can be referred back to in the future. Wonderful and resonant scriptural messages, and vividly drawn illustrations, add to the narrative’s buoyancy and sparkle, revealing a musical that offers more than escapist entertainment. Indeed, Words from the Maestro by Joyce H. Hynes is an imminently readable text that is bound to excite musical theater enthusiasts.