A review by serendipitysbooks
Trumpet by Jackie Kay

emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

 The trumpet player at the heart of Trumpet is Joss Moody, a Black jazz musician. The novel opens with his wife Millie grieving his death. And what a devastating, poignant bittersweet chapter that was. I don’t think I’ve read grief written better or more lovingly, nor felt it more viscerally. Unfortunately Millie is not able to grieve in peace because Joss’s death has revealed a secret that shocked many (but not Millie who has long known about it ) and a tabloid journalist is determined to write a tell-all expose. Joss and Millie’s son Colman, shocked by the revelation and upset by its nature, is assisting her. I love that we heard from multiple voices during the novel. Each revealed more about Joss as a person and traversed different attitudes to his secret, attitudes that revealed far more about them than they did about Joss. The characterisation was excellent. Both Colman’s story arc and the final chapter, a letter written by Joss, were satisfying. This is a story about the love between a man and his wife, and between father and son. It’s the story of a man who chose to live life his authentically, despite some costs. Its exploration of issues surrounding tabloid journalism and the public’s obsession with the private lives of public figures was thought provoking and timely. 
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