Reminiscing about earlier years on the Bay, Mrs. Birmingham tells Rob how his grandparents spent their evenings with his Auntie Lou and Uncle Harry.
“What a crew those four made! Harry and Lou built their cottage just across from the Point… It had a nice lookout over the water, but the whole place was crammed with trees. Nowhere else had as many mosquitoes as over there. I think that’s how they got to know your grandparents. The point on your side was open enough for a breeze, so it had a lot less bugs….
“Your granny and grandpa loved to get outside after dark. He used to wind up a gramophone on the front steps. That was the hint for the others to row across. Then all of them Charlestoned the night away on the flat rocks near the water.”
Indeed, Bix Beiderbecke’s “syncopated melodies” were a musical backdrop to life at the Point. As Rob comments much later, “I catch myself humming them to this day.” And in fact even for those – like many of us! – fated to struggle with two left feet, a compelling tune can capture the essence of a remembered scene far more vividly than the best of photos or verbal anecdotes. A saying attributed to Tolstoy gets it right: “Music is the shorthand of emotion.”
Has that been your experience, too? And for that matter, do any musical pieces come to your mind in relation to particular episodes in Providence Point? By all means leave a comment.
Pp. 212, 28
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Quietly Powerful and Deeply Reflective
I found Providence Point both engaging and quietly powerful. The sense of place and the depth of the characters made the story linger in my mind long after finishing it. Although I teach Japanese language and anime rather than literature, I felt a strong connection to the way the novel explores themes of memory, belonging, and moral choice—topics that resonate widely across cultures and storytelling traditions. It’s a book that invites reflection, and I’m very glad I read it.