Book Review // The Sabbatical
The top of the music industry pyramid is a beautiful and poisonous place. Falling from grace isn’t just for rock gods anymore.
Charles Barca is a ghost in a glass of vodka. He had it all — an artist girlfriend, a music exec job at a cool start-up, the self-assurance, the rock n’ roll entrepreneurship. Frederick Pinto crafts a debut novel rife with self-discovery. When the rug gets pulled out from underneath him, the novel embarks on a journey and a battle. Barca’s battle chronicles an internal struggle: what visceral, cosmic wolf will be unleashed? The headstrong innovator? The ghost in a vodka glass? The Sabbatical becomes a story about choices, on the sense of urgent scrambling when we realize there might not be a choice left.
As Barca gets increasingly dismantled from the mythos of the music industry: the women and the lifestyle as it slips through his fingers. All that remains is the consoling alcohol and the lurking predators in the music industry: jealous, sarcastic sharks and circling wolves waiting for the next strike. With doors closed and opportunities shrouded in secrecy, the novel is a journey. From escapes from and within the music scene, to the protagonist’s adventures through New York, Prague, and Rio — the story sets a pivotal tone of pensive understanding. Charles encounters enigmatic crooning ingenues, two-faced music industry reps, a nonplussed graffiti artist, among the cast of characters to propel his introspection.The fact isn’t about finding an answer on how to pick up the pieces, but the fact is the process of the journey itself.
Pinto’s prose is steeped in richness. Mingling pop culture references from top bands like Arcade Fire and Metric alongside alliteration word chunks: “cosmic clumsiness, supposedly sophisticated cynicism”; brings forth a sense of poetic mindfulness in a tale about crashing down to earth. The Sabbatical aims to cross the channel.
Charles Barca is a ghost in a glass of vodka. He had it all — an artist girlfriend, a music exec job at a cool start-up, the self-assurance, the rock n’ roll entrepreneurship. Frederick Pinto crafts a debut novel rife with self-discovery. When the rug gets pulled out from underneath him, the novel embarks on a journey and a battle. Barca’s battle chronicles an internal struggle: what visceral, cosmic wolf will be unleashed? The headstrong innovator? The ghost in a vodka glass? The Sabbatical becomes a story about choices, on the sense of urgent scrambling when we realize there might not be a choice left.
As Barca gets increasingly dismantled from the mythos of the music industry: the women and the lifestyle as it slips through his fingers. All that remains is the consoling alcohol and the lurking predators in the music industry: jealous, sarcastic sharks and circling wolves waiting for the next strike. With doors closed and opportunities shrouded in secrecy, the novel is a journey. From escapes from and within the music scene, to the protagonist’s adventures through New York, Prague, and Rio — the story sets a pivotal tone of pensive understanding. Charles encounters enigmatic crooning ingenues, two-faced music industry reps, a nonplussed graffiti artist, among the cast of characters to propel his introspection.The fact isn’t about finding an answer on how to pick up the pieces, but the fact is the process of the journey itself.
Pinto’s prose is steeped in richness. Mingling pop culture references from top bands like Arcade Fire and Metric alongside alliteration word chunks: “cosmic clumsiness, supposedly sophisticated cynicism”; brings forth a sense of poetic mindfulness in a tale about crashing down to earth. The Sabbatical aims to cross the channel.
Buy The Sabbatical on Amazon.
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