Where The What If Roams And The Moon Is Louis Armstrong By Esther Krivda (Review) RandomThingsTours

Good morning dear readers. Today is my turn on the blog tour for Where The What If Roams And The Moon Is Louis Armstrong By Esther Krivda. A big thank you to Wobble Hill Press for sending me a copy to review. And as always the lovely Anne Cater who invited me to take part. Thank you!

About The Author

Esther Krivda has acted; studied ballet; worked as an admin in the movie studios in LA and in a talent agency in NYC; and loves to sing and draw faces. But she didn’t discover writing til she took a course in Stop Motion Animation and soon found out her movie would need a script. And that’s when she got the idea of a little girl who cries out but only the man-in-the-moon hears her. She never turned the idea into a Stop Motion Animation movie but she did turn it into this novel, her first.

Where the What If Roams and the Moon Is Louis Armstrong

Sophia Oomla leaves the talking world. When her teacher calls on her. When her classmates speak to her. But at midnight, when no one can hear her, no one can see her, she finds her tongue. In fact, she is the Star-of-the-Talking-World, and a vamp, too, who can strut and hold forth and thunder away in her very own clandestine Midnight Movie Star School. For Sophia Oomla only wants to talk in the Talking-World the way Movie Stars do, the way her Mother does. Because surely they are from the Land-of-the-Perfect, and not from the land that she comes from, the Land-of-the-Timid-Tongues. Because wordless-ducklings from that land get sentenced to see speech therapists for non-communication, like she’s been.

Eloquent in one place, but not another?

Do you smell a paradox, Readers?

The magical creatures sure did. They lived in our protagonist’s head and know all about minds and thinking, except why this girl could be so very confident in one place and so very faltering in another. Those creatures needed someone who not only understood the problem but who would write a book about it. Which lead their noses right smack to me, another falterer and a writer besides. Those sniffer-extraordinaires must’ve sniffed my own about-faces – like when my inside-me is dying to write but my outside-me can’t type a word. So those tricksters drafted me to narrate Sophia’s story. But those imps weren’t finished; they knew that paradoxes were running amok in her parents, the Oomlas’, minds as well and they insist I tell their story, too.

‘Where the What If Roams and the Moon Is Louis Armstrong’ wonders why somebody is one way on the outside, but inside, something else entirely. Can the Oomlas, can I, can anyone, live with our paradoxes? Or will each of us collapse like a house divided? And it wonders, too, about those nagging voices within, some of whom, in this story, take the form of magical creatures who wouldn’t leave the Oomlas alone (or me, either). Just who are those voices? Who is that interrupting us, haunting us, stopping us from going on our merry way? Who really is inside us calling our shots? Our parents, the universe? Where do they end and our true selves begin? And how can we be who we really are if there are so many others inside us? And just who exactly is that pest inside Sophia who keeps comparing her voice to her Mother’s? And who is that nagging voice within me that wouldn’t let a writer write? Will Sophia ever stop believing it? Will I?

My Review

The best way for me to start talking about this book would be to burst into song. This particular song to be exact dear readers; “Come with me and you’ll be in a world of pure imagination, take a look and you’ll see into your imagination” Think yourself lucky you don’t have to actually hear me sing, it’s awful. But in all seriousness, this book oozed magic. I could feel it slipping off the page and onto my fingers the more I devoured its contents. It’s extremely unique which is much-needed in today’s literature. An experience like no other that remains with you long after you have finished reading. Sheer brilliance. 

I found the duelling narratives style worked perfectly. It’s unlike anything I have read before, the writer is interrupted on a frequent basis by the other characters. It takes a bit of getting used to at first if I’m honest but once you’ve got the hang of it, you’re certain to start hearing the faint buzzing of tiny fairy wings around your ears. Although buzzing is probably an offensive description of the sound of their wings and the fairies would probably tell me off for saying that. Sorry fairies! Sorry. 

“Readers, as you already know. I’ll be telling this story. And so, alas, will the Fairies.
I must apologize in advance for the interruptions. And some of their behavior.”

Krivda’s use of voice and language is effectively used throughout. Different accents and tones really brought life to the story and I could hear them clearly in my head. I felt a kindred spirt to Sophia as I am very often at times more of a listener and not a talker. I enjoyed how this book centred on about accepting yourself, the person you are. To speak up and be proud of your voice. To not hide or be scared but to shout about your existence to the world and the moon. Sophia hates how her voice sounds and likes to hear other people talk. The world is full of endless racket and noise. Too often we don’t take the time to just sit and listen. This book allows you to do just that, to really focus on how the characters are talking, the sounds, the words they use. It’s extraordinary to witness. And also allows the reader to explore their own hidden voices inside their head and discover what they are really trying to tell them. 

‘Is their tongue touching the roof of their mouth or is it laying like a carpet on a floor?’ She would listen and watch and calculate and never let on to a soul what she was up to. It was her secret. (At least until Miss Kitty found her out.) For Sophia was hopelessly in love with voices and accents. 

I could also envision this book adapted to the stage, much like a Shakespeare play. There are so many elements that would work well, the fairies, the magic, the use of voice. It would be interesting to see but of course would never beat the stage that is our own imagination. Nothing can compare to a good book and this dear readers is certainty that. 

I give Where the What If Roams and the Moon Is Louis Armstrong By Esther Krivda a Four out of Five paw rating. 

   

With magic and a world of imagination on every page you will be hard done by to find an experience like this one. It captures you from start to end and leaves you breathless, thirsty for more. It’s a feast for your mind so tuck in and don’t forget to wash it down with a glass of giggle pop. Click here to buy a copy and experience the mysteries that happen deep within your remarkably small place. 

 

Don’t forget to follow the rest of the blog tour! 

 

 

Links

@advirk777

Esther Krivda Website : https://www.estherkrivda.com

Buy A Copy Where the What If Roams and the Moon Is Louis Armstrong By Esther Krivda  : https://www.amazon.com/Where-What-Roams-Louis-Armstrong/dp/0997589205

 

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