Book Review: “Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm” by Laura Warrell

Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm by Laura Warrell

This is one of those stories where nothing much happens.  I mean, life happens, of course, but mostly the story is about aging jazzman Circus Palmer and the women in his life.  A lot of women per unit of life, that’s for sure.

Warrell manages to make this non-story interesting, despite the fact that Circus has few redeeming merits that I can identify.  What do these women see in him, get from him, want from him?  You got me.

(I have to hope that these characters are mostly not autobiographic, because there is a lot of sadness here on all sides.)

Circus is an aging musician going nowhere.  He’s a poor dad, not least because he seems to have given up on being a dad.  Pia, his ex, is a troubled single mom who has tolerated a lot more than I would have.  Koko, his daughter, wants a dad and a mom, but somehow hasn’t given up.   Most of Circus’s lovers don’t get what they want from him, and it isn’t clear what he wants from them, beyond a brief comfort.

It’s pretty bleak.

Still, everybody wants love and hopes for happiness, and the Warrell delivers a lot more than anyone has a right to expect.

Not least, she gives us a happy ending for Koko and most of the characters, possibly even Circus himself.  I was shocked.  I never saw that coming!  : – ) 

There are a lot of beautiful characters in this story, though it takes some effort for them to discover each other.

What does it all mean?  If nothing else, Warrell makes us believe that it is never too late, and we should never stop trying. 

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1. Laura Warrell, Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm, New York, Pantheon Books, 2022.

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