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August 5, 2019
Jean Kwok's Playlist for Her Novel "Searching for Sylvie Lee"
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
Previous contributors include Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Amy Bloom, Aimee Bender, Heidi Julavits, Hari Kunzru, and many others.
Jean Kwok's novel Searching for Sylvie Lee is both literary and a thrille, a family drama filled with unforgettable characters and timely themes.
The Washington Post wrote of the book:
"A moving tale that, while billed as a mystery, transcends the genre….. This is a beautifully written story in which the author evokes the hard reality of being an immigrant and a woman in today’s world."
In her own words, here is Jean Kwok's Book Notes music playlist for her novel Searching for Sylvie Lee:
In Searching for Sylvie Lee, Chinese American younger sister Amy, who has always been timid and shy, needs to step up to the plate after her brilliant, dazzling sister Sylvie disappears while on a trip to the Netherlands. Slowly, Amy comes to understand that Sylvie wasn’t nearly as perfect as she seemed.
Compiling this playlist made me realize how universal Sylvie’s story is, because there are so many songs about the pressure of that need to keep up appearances. Since the novel is a suspenseful family drama, an immigrant story and a romance, here are some songs about lost hopes, longing for unconditional acceptance, searching for your true home, beauty, ambition and most of all, love.
It Ain’t Me (with Selena Gomez): Kygo
For me, this is a song about being in love when you’re young and realizing later on that it’s so hard to make that love last.
Who's gonna walk you through the dark side of the morning?
Who's gonna rock you when the sun won't let you sleep?
Who's waking up to drive you home when you're drunk and all alone?
Who's gonna walk you through the dark side of the morning?
The answer, “It ain’t me” is both courageous and sad, which is how Sylvie must have felt when her love hit hard times.
Havana (featuring Young Thug): Camila Cabello
He took me back to East Atlanta
Oh, but my heart is in Havana
This song always makes me think of longing for your true homeland, wherever that might be. For Ma, that’s China. For Sylvie, it’s the Netherlands, where Ma and Pa sent her to be raised by Grandma when they were too poor to keep her with them in NYC. As we grow older, we form attachments to people in different countries and sometimes, that love can pull us in different directions at the same time.
Natural: Imagine Dragons
A beating heart of stone
You gotta be so cold
To make it in this world
Yeah, you're a natural
This song somehow always breaks my heart. It makes me think of all the sacrifices Sylvie makes to try to keep up the perfect front. She is a natural, filled with talent, and she maintains a façade of cool excellence because she still feels like a homely, unwanted little girl inside.
Stressed Out: Twenty One Pilots
Wish we could turn back time, to the good old days
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out
Inside, Sylvie wishes for an unconditional love that she never had. She wants so much to be accepted and loved as she is but the sad thing is that she feels like she never had that innocent time when her ma sang her to sleep. To Sylvie, her parents never wanted her, since she was given away to Grandma as a baby.
Als Het Avond Is: Suzan & Freek
Since so much of Searching for Sylvie Lee is set in the Netherlands, I wanted to add a Dutch love song. This song is about a two people who have separated but yet love each other still. She sings about how when it’s the evening, she still misses him and she wants to know if they might still have a future together. I think that Sylvie must also feel the same way.
See You Again (featuring Charlie Puth): Wiz Khalifa
It's been a long day without you, my friend
And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again
We've come a long way from where we began
This song always makes me think of Sylvie and her childhood friend and cousin, Lukas, whom she finally sees again when she returns to the Netherlands. They shared so much together and he knew and loved her before she turned herself into the successful, dazzling woman she’s become.
Scars To Your Beautiful: Alessia Cara
But there's a hope that's waiting for you in the dark
You should know you're beautiful just the way you are
And you don't have to change a thing, the world could change its heart
No scars to your beautiful, we're stars and we're beautiful
I love the lyrics to this song and feel like it’s being sung to Sylvie, that Sylvie should know she’s enough, just the way she is.
Unaccompanied Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major: Bach, Yo-Yo Ma
Amy listens to a handsome musician play this while she’s in the Netherlands searching for Sylvie and starts to fall in love with him.
Rusalka, Op. 114, B. 203/Act 1, O Silver Moon: Dvorak, Renee Fleming
Amy listens to this song and thinks about how much Sylvie loved the Moon Festival in the novel. As an immigrant, Sylvie often looked at the moon and thought about how it was one of the few things that accompanied her on her travels across the world.
Jean Kwok and Searching for Sylvie Lee links:
Booklist review
Kirkus review
Los Angeles Review of Books review
Washington Post review
Entertainment Weekly profile of the author
Largehearted Boy playlist by the author for Mambo in Chinatown
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