{"id":9003,"date":"2016-12-10T12:11:42","date_gmt":"2016-12-10T18:11:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/?p=9003"},"modified":"2026-02-24T22:30:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T03:30:06","slug":"book-review-still-life-with-strings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/blog\/book-review-still-life-with-strings\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Still Life with Strings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-16393\" src=\"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/20161210_stilllifecover.jpg\" alt=\"An image of the book cover STILL LIFE WITH STRINGS by L. H. Cosway\" width=\"250\" height=\"377\">Review policy: I only post reviews on my blog for books I feel strongly about, good or bad.<\/p>\n<p>Title: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Still-Life-Strings-L-H-Cosway-ebook\/dp\/B00J72UJ76\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">STILL LIFE WITH STRINGS<\/a><br \/>\nAuthor: L.H. Cosway <!--more--><\/p>\n<p class=\"separator\">\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/16158740-painted-faces\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">last Cosway book I read<\/a> (which was the last book I read at all) was (I think) the author\u2019s first and it showed. But though <em>Painted Faces<\/em> was rough, I enjoyed the author\u2019s voice, so I dove into the next one.<\/p>\n<p>This book was beautiful. There were so many things I loved about it, including these quotes:<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"p9003\">\u201c&#160;\u2026&#160;when everything else in life fails, there is still music.\u201d<\/span> Goodness, how I love music, how it makes me dream and hope. Also, how its angst is cathartic.<\/p>\n<p>In re dogs (which I hate): <span class=\"p9003\">\u201cThey never have any shame about letting you know just how much they\u2019ve missed you.\u201d<\/span> Also, toddlers (which I also hate except for my own) and clingy 11-year-old boys, which are the most wonderfullest things in the world. All that was to say it made me look at my children in a different light.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, the thing that took away from the book: too much time spent on the sex. At some point, it doesn\u2019t add to the plot or characterization, which it stopped doing about 5\/8ths through the book (yesisaidthatshutup).<\/p>\n<p>So, the wonderful things:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"post\">\n<li class=\"post\">The descriptions of the music playing as flights of fancy (this isn\u2019t an accurate-enough term and it\u2019s far too whimsical for what\u2019s in the text, but it\u2019s the best I can come up with). It\u2019s absolutely brilliant, how it\u2019s done. I can\u2019t hear the music, but I can see it.<\/li>\n<li class=\"post\">The first sexual encounter was also approached brilliantly. It had depth with no trace of sleaze.<\/li>\n<li class=\"post\">The portrayal of Jade\u2019s life as a lower-working-class girl was spot-on. I admired her for her easy stoicism, which was more than I could muster with dependents.<\/li>\n<li class=\"post\">Both characters\u2019 motivations were reasonable and logical given their backgrounds and circumstances.<\/li>\n<li class=\"post\">In both books, the characters\u2019 codependence is obvious, but I don\u2019t have a problem with it as long as it\u2019s healthy and I do think their relationship is healthy. I think it will remain so because they are both strong people.<\/li>\n<li class=\"post\">In spite of Jade\u2019s poverty, I could feel her innate optimism and, dare I say, happiness. This spoke to me like the quotes above.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Aside: I wish there were a playlist for this book. I\u2019ll have to look.<\/p>\n<p>Aside 2: I LOVE that these are set in Dublin and have local vernacular instead of Anytown, USA, with dumbed-down vernacular for stupid Americans.<\/p>\n<p>Well done, Ms Cosway, well done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Review policy: I only post reviews on my blog for books I feel strongly about, good or bad. Title: STILL LIFE WITH STRINGS Author: L.H. Cosway<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[521,532],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-reading"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9003"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9003"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24124,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9003\/revisions\/24124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}