In Arnett’s incredible novel, music pops up to pull Sammie out of her discomfort in the moment, most notably in the chapter when Sammie goes to a lesbian bar alone. The pressures of keeping her household running while her high-powered wife works and trying to mother a son who won’t listen has eroded her selfhood to the point that she no longer knows what’s her own anymore. Here’s a list of a few books I’ve read recently that speak to the power of music and dancing in our lives. It got me thinking about the importance music and dancing has played in other books. I listened to it continually while working on the book, letting Owen’s music seep into my own life. In the end, the playlist had almost 200 songs. Music like the Pixies, Angel Olsen, Leonard Cohen, and the Dirty Projectors. A lot of it was music I discovered in high school and in my twenties. While writing the novel, I made a playlist of songs I thought Owen would love. It is here that he finds his community and within that community, he discovers music. After a harrowing escape, Owen is sent to live in Puget Sound with his uncle and cousin.

When he starts exploring on his own and ends up suffering an asthma attack due to a forest fire, his mother reluctantly takes him to a doctor. His mother hides him away for a decade, terrified of what will happen to him if his secret is let out. In the book, Owen is born with a chatty bird named Gail living inside his chest. When I was writing my debut novel, The Boy with a Bird in His Chest, I wanted to capture the feeling music gives me, the way it can turn a mood or make me feel seen. In high school, punk quite literally kept me alive. It is a rare day that ends without me having taken a dance break, moving my body to music to get my blood flowing. I listen to an album while I cook breakfast, shower, and get ready.

With teeth kristen arnett review