Broken Chords | Teen Ink

Broken Chords MAG

By Bapalapa2 ELITE, Brooklyn, New York
Bapalapa2 ELITE, Brooklyn, New York
1044 articles 0 photos 1 comment

     Barbara Snow Gilbert's Broken Chords will truly strike a chord with all who read it. Depicting the internal struggle of one teen, Gilbert develops her theme with great technique. Using rites of passage, she accurately shows teenage life.

The daughter of musical parents with high expectations, Clara, at 17, has conflicting desires about her future. After an injury, she struggles with trying to accept life as she has known it (with long hours of piano practice) or pursuing what she has started to want - a normal teen life hanging out with friends.

Snow's writing resembles Allen Ginsberg's. Through detail and a non-sugarcoated perspective, Snow delivers beautiful displays of confrontational predicaments.

“Clara, my darling, you should not play this concerto until - unless - you yearn to play it,” says her piano teacher. Such instances occur often throughout Broken Chords. It is almost as if Clara's whole life represents a cry for individuality. Her mother basically runs her life. Clara needs freedom, and the ability to make her own choices. Snow's depiction of one of life's greatest conflicts - parents controlling children - makes Broken Chords a book that teens and parents alike will enjoy.

Broken Chords is in its own class. It gives a new perspective to all who have experienced a parent-child conflict. What makes it so compelling and magnetic are the issues it addresses that are dear to the hearts of many. Broken Chords is a masterpiece that gives the reader a new sense of self.


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This article has 3 comments.


i love this !

on Jun. 18 2010 at 11:57 am
Writingstar SILVER, Hayward, California
9 articles 0 photos 26 comments
this was really good i think i might go buy the book

on May. 15 2010 at 9:11 pm
Alice_in_Wonderland GOLD, San Clemente, California
16 articles 0 photos 620 comments

Favorite Quote:
“I could give up, I could stay stuck, or I could move on, So I put one foot front of the other, No no no nothing’s gonna break my stride, “ –David Archuleta (The Other Side of Down)

Wow! great job! That was really fascinating and wasn't boring at all! Good job selling the book too because I might read it. I can see why it was chosen to be in the magazine. keep writng! :) WIll you please read, comment and rate my writing too?