Having the opportunity to speak with Julia Butler at the Book Expo America this year turned out to be a wonderfully engaging conversation with a writer who is making her first literary foray into the world of publishing with her debut novel “The Last Encore.” Among the many interesting morsels of information she divulged about her novel, she said the story was drawn from true events. Additionally, she enticingly referred to an important, controversial psychological phenomenon at the core of this novel’s ingenuity, in non-explicit details by referring to it as a psychological phenomenon that is very well-known in Europe, more so than America. More importantly, the story was deeply inspired by Beethoven’s very moving, very somber, though delicately tragic composition, The Moonlight Sonata. This piece proves to be a very essential poetic force in the novel, offering readers a deeper glimpse into the rich, underlying nuance that suffuses the whole novel with a lot of depth.
Yet, as with Kate Morton or Madeleine L’Engle’s works, Julia Butler writes with a rich mastery of subtle language, which she uses in effect to hoodwink us into believing one temporary truth, before throwing a sudden counterpoint in the forward progression of the novel, causing the reader to never have a clear idea about what is really happening. The language in this book is exceptionally well-refined, meaning that there are no moments of pedantic prose that ponderously lures the reader to sleep. Rather, the effectively precise, though deftly descriptive prose unwittingly pulls the reader’s conscious and subconscious mind into the story’s unrelenting flow of tawdry drama and salacious secrets. During our conversation, Julia Butler mentioned that she worked diligently on editing every word of the novel, till everything flowed perfectly, in a way that the progression of the sentences never was stultified by careless prose. This novel has ample evidence of this type of meticulous labor, as the novel’s captivating story catapults the reader into an ephemeral work of art that accurately represents the whole gamut of human emotions, including the volatile nature of human passion and love.
Certainly, there is a particularly important plot point that will prove to be very divisive for readers, but it is something Julia Butler handles with great authorial care. She never becomes trapped into sentimentality or incidences of gratuitous description. Rather, she is very careful with approaching the emotional sensitivity of this issue, allowing her subtle prose to provide the reader with enough insinuation about the deeper psychological dimension of this particular relationship, and of other relationships that work in dramatic tandem with one another.
Also, Julia Butler mentioned that you do not need to be well-versed in the jargon of music to grasp the deeper meaning of the story, yet for a literary critic the unorthodox way that musical terms find themselves into her novel does seem intentionally done. Creatively, each chapter utilizes a different musical term and seems to chronologically envisage the structure of the novel, at least in the reader’s mind, as a musical composition. Another talented writer, Anne Rice, has written two noteworthy books-Violin and Cry to Heaven- that straddled the blurred artistic lines between the ways that the seemingly divergent types of artwork, musical composition and writing, both are either similar or different. On a linear level, the terms that define the various methods used for either form of art may be radically different, but their role within either a novel or a piece of music similarly serves to elicit deep emotions within the audience. It is Julia Butler’s way of displaying the shared artistic merits of exceptional writing and music. These are two forms of art that can help to reach a greater understanding of the deeper, underexposed territory of the human psyche. Novels, such as The Last Encore, open our hearts and minds to realities that we rather relegate to the region of “unacknowledged human phenomenon” till we think it no longer exists in our immediate life. The way this story is written allows the reader no escape from serious questions that arise upon reading the novel’s shocking ending.
Impressively, the ending of the novel leaves the audience suspended in the silence. The following quote from the wise religious scholar, Karen Armstrong, may be talking about the most important aim of skillful theology, yet it aptly describes the sensation that accompanies the chilling ending of this novel.
“The finale can, perhaps, be compared to the moment at the end of the symphony, when there is a full and pregnant beat of silence in the concert hall before the applause begins. The aim of good theology is to help the audience to live for a while in that silence.” (Karen Armstrong)
Karen Armstrong’s quote brilliantly reflects the same ineffable feeling of awe or mendicant silence that accompanies a thought-provoking book: the type of masterpiece that never condescends to provide the reader with easy explanations for the various difficult issues or conflicts that arise in our lives. Rather, skillful writers immerse themselves and let their minds be the conduit for ideas that spill forth in an abundant overflow of artful expressions.
Julia Butler clearly writes without deliberating too much on the audience’s expectations, neither she is trying to fit a tight marketing scheme or appease a certain type of readers. Rather, The Last Encore is the type of book that trusts the reader to experience the story firsthand. Never, audaciously or retroactively, does it fill in the various narrative ambiguities that often arise during the course of reading a book. Instead, the deep questions that this text admirably generates in our minds are yet another product of Julia Butler’s fantastic writing.
What a mind opening experience! Julia Butler’s The Last Encore is impossible to put down. Written with the sensitivity of a poet and the creativity of a true artist, it is, at its core, a beautiful and sensual love story, conflicted with an unthinkable human drama that forces the reader to confront their moral values and personal biases. At times shocking, bordering on the taboo, it is written with such grace and sophistication, you cannot be emotionally uninvolved. It's a book that will stay with you for a very long time.
