I so wanted to love Rocking Amadeus by Clare Alexandra Metcalf. A book about Vienna, opera, family tradition and secrets… what’s not to love. I just could not get into this book. I found the writing disconcerting. It is in first and third person at the same time. It was hard to focus on the past and present story because of this. Some people may thoroughly enjoy this book so I will stick with 3 stars.

***** I received an ARC from NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my honest review. *****

Clare Alexandra Metcalf's novel is more than just a love letter to the Vienna Opera House, it broods with subtle undertones of obsessive love, paranoia and fear of the unknown. It evokes with an almost macabre unease the time and place, just before the coming down of the Berlin Wall, when Vienna was in dangerous proximity of the Eastern Bloc and its dark secrets. The narrator never quite tells one everything. Perhaps the truth is just too dangerous, even now, years later?
The writing is elegant and refined, poignant and compelling, and pitch perfect in tone.

First I need to thank Clare for helping when I had trouble with my download. Thank you so much.

This is a book about life and change and following family traditions, etc. I enjoyed the past and the present, the characters Christian and Issie from the present and Walter and Emilie from the past. The way their stories entwine and how the lives of the past can have an affect on how you live your life today.

This book is full of intrigue with stories of family, the Opera, Vienna (and all its beauty) and of course, what is a good book without its secrets.

A great book with just the right length to keep you interested but not overly long so you don't get bored or lost.

A great way to discover a new author.