Review of Little Wonder by Sophie Chen Keller

Sophie Chen Keller's love story to music and the bonds between mothers and sons plunges the reader into traumatic loss, hesitant hope, and, ultimately, a heartwarming and heartbreaking resolution in this Beijing-set novel.

That was the hollowness chewing at him, reminding him that people weren't birds. They weren't made to be free of all burdens. They claimed their place in the world with the weight of their bones, which kept them from becoming ever more lost.

Song is a poor, single, devoted mother who secretly brings her young son River with her when she cleans houses in Northeast China. But when River is just four, he shocks Song as he picks out a tune he's just heard on a piano in a grand home where Song is working. She is determined to find a teacher for him and does, and after years of sacrifice, musical giftedness, and hard work, at age 11 he's invited to study with a prestigious teacher in Beijing.

But in the madness of the Beijing train station on the busiest travel day of the year, Song and River are separated. This is stressful reading--Keller plunges the reader into the discomfort of layers of what-ifs, grief, all-consuming terror, and fear of seemingly endless, potentially devastating ends that a young boy alone might meet in an unforgiving big city.

Mother and son spend days, then weeks, then months and longer searching for each other, even as their lives diverge more and more fully. A piece of each of them remains locked away for the other, yet they must dive into their present circumstances, wake each day, and exist. Eventually, they each thrive within their insular worlds, which are as disparate as could be imagined. The description of the rhythms of life in Beijing--as well as that of Song's earlier life in rural Northeast China--is powerful and serves as almost another character in the novel.

It was little wonder, what had happened to her. It was little wonder that her son was lost. Different rules applied to different people. For someone who mattered, more people would've listened and cared enough to help. They would've believed her. They would've made exceptions for her, and her lost child would've been found.

Music is both a buoy for River and a millstone around his neck, and Keller's training as a classical pianist is evident in her rich accounts of music, playing, interpretation, showmanship, dedication, and frustration.

When River pulls back from quitting piano altogether and becomes set on winning a famous competition in order to garner his mother's attention--wherever she is--the book shifts into an urgency that mirrors that of the earlier, traumatic scenes when mother and son are ripped apart.

She willed for her son a broad sky and a clear road and a swift run, and then she willed herself to hang on.

The ending of the story is both heartbreaking and heartwarming; the rest of the book's blend of highs and lows, joy and loss guides the reader toward this poignant resolution.

I received a prepublication version of this title courtesy of NetGalley and Ballantine Books.

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Sophie Chen Keller is also the author of The Luster of Lost Things.

For more books about difficult family situations, please check out the books at this Bossy link.

For more books about music, please check out these Bossy lists and reviews.