Chopsticks 

by Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral  

Chopsticks is an unconventional novel told in photographs, chat conversations, newspaper articles, concert programs, news anchor screen shots, and letters that require close examination and give a feeling of having more there than meets the eye. It is the story of Gloria Fleming, a music prodigy whose mother dies when she is young. The novel begins with a newspaper article reporting Gloria’s disappearance from a hospital and explains Gloria’s mental breakdown and subsequent hospitalization when she reverted to playing the song “Chopsticks” over and over and was unable to play anything else. From there, the story is told in flashback, recalling different events in her life: Gloria’s birth, her mother’s death, her first recital, her rise to musical greatness. Enter Francisco Mendoza who moves into the house next door to hers and their love is reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet.

Unfortunately, I actually was not sure how the story ended and had to re-read several sections of the book several times. I’m still not positive what happened. It’s like the Chopsticks song. It ends where it begins.

Anthony, J. & Corral, R. (2012). Chopsticks. New York, NY: Penguin Group.