Roberta Writes – Book review: Saturn’s Favorite Music by Laura Lee #bookreview #readingcommunity

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Picture caption: Cover for Saturn’s Favorite Music featuring a microphone and an old fashioned control box.

What Amazon says

It’s the summer of 1992. Clara Jane is an alternative music-loving graduate from a broadcast school in Detroit. She lands her first job at a small market station in northern Michigan in a one-stoplight town called Saturn.

The hyper-local programming (featuring lost farm animal reports and radio obits) and its mix of light hits and great oldies is a far cry from the rock star glamour she hoped to achieve with a radio career.

But Clara finds a home with an eccentric cast of characters, especially the recently-divorced morning man Seth Jones. As Clara and Seth bond over their shared sense of humor and a mutual love of different genres of music, the station is sold and staff members start to be replaced by automation. Will Clara find the radio stardom she craves before the station goes completely robotic?

My review

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I reviewed this book in my capacity as a member of Rosie’s Book Review Team. If you would like your book reviewed, you can contact Rosie Amber here: http://rosieamber.wordpress.com/.

I must say upfront that I really appreciated the time and setting of this book. I enjoyed learning about how a radio station, and the DJ’s who worked at them, operated during the early 1990s which was when I was listening to radio stations and top music hits the most. I also appreciated the insights into life for a female DJ at a time when women were just starting to come into that market. The commentary around the ‘boss’ expectations of what a working woman should look like and how she should dress took me right back in time to when I first started working in 1997. There was no equality between men and women in the workplace, and it’s still difficult in many countries and work situations.

The intricate details about the working of the equipment, the chats and impromptu conversations between the morning team, and the selection of music for the audience was all fascinating to me. And then there were the characters.

Carla is a young woman who has pushed back against her parents’ expectations for her and followed her own path. She is on a journey of discovery and soon learns that many obstacles are placed in the path of working women in male dominated jobs. The exploitation of Carla and her ambitions by the new boss were frustrating, sad, and very relatable. Carla, of course, needs to learn what life is all about and she makes a judgement error that almost leads to disaster. Walking Carla’s path of discovery reminded me of my own and I found it riveting. This is not a thriller or an adventure, it is a coming-of-age story with a romance element.

Seth is an appealing character, dreamy and fun, but also idealistic, unrealistic, and recovering from a failed and disappointing relationship. I found myself routing from him throughout this slow burn romance. Rad is the opposite of Seth, ambitious, self-absorbed and competitive, he doesn’t come across particularly well, but he is on his own coming-of-age journey and improves dramatically over time as he too starts learning about change and needing to constantly evolve as a career person.

In summary, a most entertaining and interesting book that shares much about life as a DJ in the USA in the early 1990s and which is populated with relatable and interesting characters.

Saturn’s Favorite Music is available from Amazon US here: https://www.amazon.com/Saturns-Favorite-Music-Laura-Lee/dp/0965734552

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Published by robertawrites235681907

I am a writer of young adult fiction and poetry

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30 thoughts on “Roberta Writes – Book review: Saturn’s Favorite Music by Laura Lee #bookreview #readingcommunity”

  2. The reminds me of all the hours I spent listening to radio, before it too became corporate–just a playlist for the DJs to follow. It’s good to remember that it wasn’t always so. (K)

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  3. It sounds like an interesting book. I like how you wrote of how you related to it.

    Our high school had a radio station, and my husband worked on it! (But in the 1970s.)

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  6. It sounds like a very interesting book. In 1992 I lived in Cleveland and I visited Detroit on several occasions but I do not know anything about the radio business. You wrote a very interesting and helpful review.

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