"Beautiful Music is a sweet and endearing coming-of-age tale
measured in album tracks."
--Wall Street Journal
"His third novel--Beautiful Music, about a radio-loving teen's
transformation through music during the early '70s in
Detroit...[is] rich with Detroit details (Korvette's, Bill Bonds,
Iggy Pop), [and] follows Danny through racial tensions at high
school, his changing body and his imploding family life."
--Detroit Free Press
"[Zadoorian's] new novel speaks of death, race, music and youth
in a voice that has been compared to Nick Hornby and Tobias
Wolff. It is set in 1970's Detroit at the cusp of punk, and
centers around high school loner and music fanatic Danny Yzemski.
One to look forward to for fans of rock music and sad, funny
writing."
--Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Michael Zadoorian's Beautiful Music takes us back to Detroit of
the early 1970s, when 16-year-old Danny Yzemski, a relatable
composite of shyness, unsureness, and anxiety, navigates his city
and high school environments of elevated tensions and rapid
change. When tragedy strikes, his favorite music saves his life."
--Daily Tribune
"Then there are writers and artists who journey back in time,
ransack their memories of the '70s, and embellish them to create
a sort of time-lapse portrait. Michael Zadoorian's fourth book,
the terrific Beautiful Music, is a semi-autobiographical
coming-of-age story."
--The Millions
"[A] raucous bildungsroman...Zadoorian touches on white flight,
iconic radio stations, and the racial history of Detroit, but
remains rooted in [protagonist] Danny's transition out of his
shell. With its echoes of works by Nick Hornby and Stephen
Chbosky, Zadoorian's ebullient novel is full of energy, pain,
growth, and great music."
--Publishers Weekly
"This affectionate, nostalgic novel about a sometimes-troubled
teen is a crossover delight with appeal to both adults and
teens."
--Booklist
"A teenager in 1970s Detroit takes his first steps toward
hard-rock rebellion about a soft-rock upbringing...[Zadoorian is]
skilled t capturing the feeling of release that music can provide
('something snaps in your heart and a jolt of pure happiness
shoots through you better than all the dope in the world') as
well as the anxiety the novelty of that experience can produce in
a sheltered kid...A likable bildungsroman that cannily evokes how
music transforms teenage identity."
--Kirkus Reviews
"Set in early 1970s Detroit, a racially divided city still
reeling from its violent riot of 1967, this novel is the story of
a high school boy's transformation through music."
--Publishers Weekly Spring 2018 Adult Announcements, Literary
Fiction
Set in early 1970s Detroit, a divided city still reeling from its
violent race riot of 1967, Beautiful Music is the story of one
young man's transformation through music. Danny Yzemski is a
husky, pop radio–loving loner balancing a dysfunctional homelife
with the sudden harsh realities of freshman year at a high school
marked by racial turbulence.
But after tragedy strikes the family, Danny's mother becomes
increasingly erratic and angry about the seismic cultural shifts
unfolding in her city and the world. As she tries to hold it
together with the help of Librium, highballs, and breakfast
cereal, Danny finds his own reason to carry on: rock and roll. In
particular, the drum and guitar–heavy songs of local legends like
the MC5 and Iggy Pop. In the vein of Nick Hornby and Tobias
Wolff, yet with a style very much Zadoorian's own, Beautiful
Music is a touching story about the power of music and its
ability to save one's soul.