Last Night at the Blue Angel audiobook

It just came crashing down, she says. Sometimes in life it just all comes crashing down. There’s all sorts of crashings-down going on here, some real, some not. Some are anticipated, but never arrive, some happen before you know it. Others happen far away but carry a large impact. Naomi Hill has been a singer in Chicago (her kind of town) ten years or so and in a once-important jazz club that has seen better days for less than a year. But when her photograph appears on the cover of Look magazine in 1965, it signals her arrival. On the night of her last performance at The Blue Angel most of the important people in her life, her true family, are gathered. From this stage we look past the footlights to how each of them came to be there. Most important is her daughter, 11-year-old, Sophia. Mother is a singer. I live in her dark margin.For the first ten years of my life, I watch her from the wings. The story is told from alternating perspectives, Naomi’s and Sophia’s. We see Naomi as a disaffected teen in Kansas, It was just—nothingness. It filled us with nothingness. It made you feel so…trapped. Isn’t that funny? With so much space around you? Trapped? Can you explain that? and follow her as she finds her way, geographically, musically and sexually. Naomi is driven by her needs like a dust mote before a haboob: How could I tell Hilda, or anyone, how much I feared such a life, a normal life. How much I feared becoming invisible again, powerless, dependent. I wanted to do the right thing but I wanted something else more. To be known. To be loved. Just as Naomi’s quest for fame and fear of enclosure drive her, Sophia is driven by a need to be loved by her mother, to be a necessary part of her world. Tonight I clap so hard I think she’ll look over at me and pull me out of the wing into the spotlight and introduce me as her daughter, whom I love more than anything, she’ll say. But she doesn’t. Last Night… is a deceptive book. It reads quickly, and weighs in at a modest 325 pages, but this is one of the richest novels I have read in a long time. One could simply follow the melody of the story and hum along, but I suggest you take your time. There is rarely a single voice trilling in a scene. Almost always it is a combo, offering syncopation, harmony, backbeats and meaningful riffs. Take your time, and let all the notes, beats, rhythms, and emotional sound of the book wash over you. The AuthorThe settings are the 50s in Kansas and Chicago in 1965. It is a volatile era, in which sexual and racial norms are being challenged, a time in which the new is rising and the established is crumbling, although not without a fight. This is highlighted in Kansas (Something is definitely the matter there) with a display of the antediluvian notions extant in Naomi’s home town. In Chicago we see this through Jim, a guy who clings to the belief that someday Naomi will love him back, and in the meantime he is not only always there for her, he serves as the father Sophia never knew. He delights in photographing, while the opportunity remains, great Chicago buildings that have been slated for demolition, (He also photographs Naomi) celebrating the glorious before it is gone. Why do you love buildings?He combs his moustache with his fingers while he thinks. This town…it’s all hustlers and thieves from top to bottom. It always has been. But this…He points to the building. I don’t know, kid. Sometimes we do something right. Make something worth taking care of. It is also a time of fear. Sophia is concerned about a possible nuclear holocaust, so has been compiling a list of items, the workings of which she wants to understand, (streetlamp, toaster, record player, percolator, et al) so that after the worst happens she can begin to re-invent a bit of civilization. There is a saying that you can’t choose your family. Well, maybe not your DNA-based family. But you can create a heart-based family, and this is how Naomi and Sophia survive in the world. Naomi may have been raised in Eisenhauer America, but she is at core a modern, independent woman, and strives to find fulfillment on her own terms. We are treated (and it is so very much a treat) to seeing how each came into Naomi’s life. Every story its’ own wonderful melody. Of course, the primary relationship we see is that between Naomi and Sophia, The seed of this story was planted many years ago. I have this very beautiful, dynamic mother. And it seemed, wherever we were she became immediately central. So, to be at her side rendered you a bit invisible, which was of course both wonderful and terrible. If the world was watching mom, I could watch the world, freely and without notice. It carved this automatic space for me, a private world, the world behind another's wings. We see Sophia adapting as a daughter to the spotlight that is her mother much more than the other way around. It is not that Naomi wants to be distant to Sophia, but her drives usually urge her in another direction. One strong thematic current here is wind. People in Kansas will tell you how beautiful it is but all I can say is that in Kansas, the wind blows everything down or away, it just beats the shit out of it. There is even a Sister Windy who is a much more beneficent prairie breeze. You will not go more than a few pages without encountering a draft, a flutter or a gust from a wind reference. It is also amusing to see how people are always racing ahead of other walkers, or struggling to keep up.Among the many love stories tucked inside …the Blue Angel, a major one is about a love of beauty. Jim loves those great old buildings. And Naomi loves singing I lay there in the moonlight breathing deep until I was sure she was asleep. Then I just let my head run back to the music, to little phrases I’d committed to memory. I felt my throat move a little as I imagined singing. And I understood that this must be love, to visit a place in your mind where music is playing, to have such a place at all. And there is another scene of Naomi singing in an unexpected venue that will leave you gasping. I have two issues with the book. I thought it could have used a bit more humor. It seems that kind-and-gentle moments are used to serve that purpose. There is one surprise revelation scene that also serves well to turn that frown upside down, but a couple of yucks here and there wouldn’t have hurt. Secondly, there is a hint of danger here. No, not the automatic-weapon sort. The romance sort. I am disinclined toward such things, and there are definite aromas that waft through. For good or ill there is a dishy female lead being wooed by (among others) a male yin and yang, a gun-toting bad boy gambler and a camera-toting too-good-to-be-true guy of the doormat persuasion. Such things usually make me wretch, but it was held in enough check here to stave off any unintended regurgitation.If Rotert is not working on a musical stage production of this, she should work up a tempest and get cracking. This is major Broadway musical material. Whatever awards this book will win, and there should be many, there are Tonies, and then Oscars just waiting to be scooped up. Which requires a casting call. Much as I would love to cast Amy Adams as Naomi, and as great as she looks, Naomi is, maybe 27 or 28 and the actress would have to pass for 17 in a few scenes. Adams is 39, (even Jessica Chastain, who might be wonderful here, is 37) so, for the umpteenth time, we will return to the well and wonder how cool it would be to see Jennifer Lawrence as Naomi, (but she probably lacks the singing licks - ☹) Bradley Cooper as Jim, whose age is not specified in the book. And Johnny Sequoyah, of the TV show Believe, as Sophia would be just about perfect. (Please don't let her age!) And if you think I am getting all sexist about age and gender, I had John Hamm in my tiny mind for another character here, but even Don Draper couldn't sell Hamm as a twenty-something.Be warned, I don’t care who you are, young or old, big or small, male or female, hell, human or alien, this novel will break your heart (or hearts in that last case). 210 pounds of old guy was sobbing on the couch at the back end of this book. Ok 220. You had better have those tissues handy. You are gonna need ‘em. Ok, ok, 225, geez. And could you hide those jelly beans please? Thanks. Yeah, went major wet-face. Like a baaaaaaaby.Last Night at the Blue Angel is one of those rare works where craft meets entertainment. It is not only a brilliantly written novel. It is a dazzlingly satisfying read as well. This angel is indeed heaven-sent.Review first posted – May 2, 2014Publication dates----------Hardcover - July 1, 2014----------Trade paperback - 4/14/15=============================EXTRA STUFFA couple of the many pieces of music mentioned in the text: Sam Cooke When I fall in Love Naomi listens to Bird and Diz when she is sadSaint Cecilia comes in for a look here as well, yes, Saint Cecilia=====================================AUTHORRebecca Rotert (roe-tear) has been a poet and singer for many years. Her familiarity with stage performance informs much of the novel. Links to Rotert’s personal site and her Twitter feedHarper posted on Soundcloud an amazing audio piece. You must check this out, not only does Rotert sing, smoky and sultry, but she talks about elements that went into the story, and reads a passage from the book that simply dazzlesA nice profile of the author from Femmes Folles Nebraska A video interview with Rotert from NCTV17 - worth a look

I find good reviews much harder to write than bad, because all I want to say is, "This! Read this!" So this is a very hard review to write, because I loved the little girl, and the self-absorbed mother, and the poor guy who loved her, and all the other random characters who inhabit the pages so vividly but are only ever incidental to what's going on with the bewitching lady at the middle of it all. A wonderful read. So ... this! Read this!

LAST NIGHT AT THE BLUE ANGELRebecca RotertLAST NIGHT AT THE BLUE ANGEL is a stunning and emotionally packed novel about Chicago in the 1960’s which was undoubtedly one of the most vibrant jazz scenes in the country. The times they are a changing’ the country had to deal with segregation, free love, sexual experimental and the cold war. Despite all the things happening around them, this is basically a mother daughter story with a wonderful cast of eccentric and off beat characters.Beautiful and talented Naomi Hill has been singing at the Blue Angel for ten years seeking her big break. Naomi is fiercely ambitious and very self destructive with an only child. Sophia, her daughter is ten years old and old beyond her years having an unconventional mother and always being surrounded by adults. She is constantly vying for her mother’s love, and worrying about the end of the world.Mrs. Rotert has created an incredible cast of characters that are truly the only family any of them have. There is martyred Jim, an ex cop now a photographer trying to save the beautiful buildings and architecture of old Chicago while madly in love with Naomi , and serving as the only father Sophia has ever known. There’s Sister Italia, an ex Catholic nun banned for her lesbian tendencies, and Rita who was born a man but has completely turned himself into a woman.This family of misfits are there for each other, especially Sophia when her bi sexual mother is otherwise occupied. Naomi’s big break finally arrives but at enormous personal cost for everyone!!This is a powerful and wrenching novel with unexpected twists and turns that creates a fantastic book.I feel sure Ms. Rotert has known a talented and ambitious artist since her so brilliantly emulate the joys, the rejections, the stumbles, the self doubts and the triumphs of an artist’s life.

Naomi and Sophia live alone as mother and daughter. Naomi is a singer and got her start i​n her ​Catholic school with Sister Idalia. Sophia loves her mother, sits at the night club when her mother sings, and sees things an eleven-year-old shouldn't be seeing.LAST NIGHT AT THE BLUE ANGEL is mostly dialogue with wonderful characters who truly care for each other. Well...most characters care for each other. Naomi seems to be all about herself even though she appears to love her daughter, Sophia.​LAST NIGHT AT THE BLUE ANGEL flashes back to Naomi's childhood then to her current situation that includes Sophia. ​Sophia is always worried and keeps lists of things she can improve and re-invent in case of a nuclear disaster. I loved Sophia but wasn't too fond of her mother.Jim, the photographer, was sweet and was always put aside by Naomi, but he was so loved by Sophia.​ Jim was obsessed with taking photos of buildings that were falling apart and ones he said he had to photograph before they would be gone forever. David along with Naomi was not a favorite even though he was involved with Naomi. LAST NIGHT AT THE BLUE ANGEL is about family relationships, love, and living with and loving what you have. ​For a debut novel, this book has a lot of depth and characters that will stay with you even after you have finished the book. Ms. Rotert writes beautifully and pulls you in so well that you become part of the story.I enjoyed LAST NIGHT AT THE BLUE ANGEL, and enjoyed Naomi's early years a bit more than her present situation even though the early years were a bit wild.Adorable Sophia made the present​ ​very interesting and at times comical. She was so sweet and yet such a bundle of worries, but who wouldn't be worried with the life the confused but precocious child led.There are adult situations scattered throughout the book but nothing graphic or explicit - simply insinuations.Naomi's last night at The Blue Angel turned out for the best for her, but the last few pages are ones where you will need tissues. ENJOY!!! 4/5 ************At the end of the book, Ms. Rotert shares information about where her characters and storyline grew from. These pages were quite informative and interesting. After reading these ending informational pages, I would say LAST NIGHT AT THE BLUE ANGEL can also be classified as historical fiction. This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation in return for an honest review.

This book is exquisite and smooth like the music at its base. I cannot believe that this book is a debut novel for Rebecca Rotert. This book will lift you up, and then suddenly cast you down. It will rip out your insides and then calmly place them back in. My heart broke over and over for ten year old Sophia. There is a mind-numbing sadness at times in this book, but then in the next chapter something warm and wonderful happens, and hope soars again. This so exactly portrays the emotions that Sophia's mother Naomi experiences in her never-ending search for stardom and fame. The time is 1960's Chicago and the backdrop is a hot and sultry jazz club called The Blue Angel. The story is told in the first person from two viewpoints - little precocious Sophia and her talented but perplexing mother Naomi. The writing is smooth and poetic and it carries the reader along formidably to the very tragic ending. The cost that unrelenting ambition has on people close to the person with the ambition is calamitous and it spares no one in its wake. This is a heartbreaker of a book, bur so wonderfully written that it almost becomes a part of you as you read it. I highly recommend it.

I am so thrilled to have won this novel through a Goodreads First Reads giveaway because I absolutely loved reading this book. Before beginning, I took some time to read a handful of the early reviews. I have to admit, I am always very skeptical of the initial write-ups, especially when the ratings are high, but this book exceeded even my most optimistic hopes. The true story here isn't about the where and when -- it's about relationships and experience. The longing Sophia has for her mother Naomi's attention and how Naomi treats Sophia is heartbreaking, but Rotert also gives the reader the opportunity to empathize with Sophia's mother. Initially my tendency was to villainize Naomi while weeping only for Sophia. However, once the author began to write from Naomi's perspective and reveal her life experience, I knew that I intimately identified with both characters. Rotert also does a fabulous job of drawing the reader into the experience of performing and the powerful potential of music in individual lives. So many times I found myself stopping and rereading a line or two over and over in order to completely absorb the profound insights and beautiful writing. I highly recommend.

Dear fellow book plunderer--Let me just cut through all the empty page-turners and summer pot-boilers for you and point you to the book you're looking for. You're looking for the book that oozes over you and encases you in its golden lusciousness from the first word, that suspends you in its dreamlike center so that you never want to come up for air. You want characters who break your heart with their goodness, or break your heart for breaking the hearts of the characters you love, and you want to feel like you've seen new archetypes for relationships unfolding in a way that is truer and realer than any you have ever read before. You want all of that golden gorgeousness to find rooms you didn't know you had in your heart, and when you finally, regretfully, turn the last page, you want to feel like the book has made you older and wiser, wider inside. Lucky you. Search no further. Last Night at the Blue Angel is that book.

A fascinating and not wholly flattering study of Naomi,a young nightclub singer, and her friends, including a photographer who loves the old buildings in Chicago nearly as much as he loves Naomi. The singer grows up in Kansas but has to flee that home to escape a scandal and find a place to develop her singing career. She retains three friends from Kansas, but her career is fostered by a former police officer who will become a well-known photographer. A well-crafted story, told mostly through the eyes of Naomi's 10-year-old daughter, Sophia. Naomi's life is dissipated, but free and passionate.

I went into this thinking it was going to be a book about mother/daughter relationships but it was really about so much more. It was a coming of age story that worked its way backwards to the beginning. The format added suspense to the novel as the complexity of the relationships were revealed. Ultimately it was a lesson in not appreciating what you have until it's gone and even then, I'm not sure the lesson was truly learned. I enjoyed the myriad of subplots that kept it interesting.

This was a great listen, though I kind of wish I had read it, to immerse myself in it more. One of the more original books I've read this year. I like Naomi and Sofia's stories. It isn't a particularly happy read but it's wonderfully written. I didn't really understand why the author decided to end it in that way but other than that it was a great piece of historical fiction.