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February 17, 2022
Sara Goudarzi's Playlist for Her Novel "The Almond in the Apricot"
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, Roxane Gay, and many others.
Sara Goudarzi's novel The Almond in the Apricot is a compelling and imaginative debut.
Publishers Weekly wrote of the book:
"A New Jersey woman tries to understand how she stumbled upon a parallel universe after losing her best friend in Goudarzi’s exquisite and magical debut."
In her own words, here is Sara Goudarzi's Book Notes music playlist for her debut novel The Almond in the Apricot:
Music and words have always worked in tandem for me. From the time I was very young and performing Persian poetry, I collaborated with musicians to combine these two forms of expression. So, when the time came to curate this list, I really enjoyed adding another dimension to the novel and completing it with sound. Some of the pieces on this playlist are mentioned in the book; others were added to either provide more context for specific scenes or convey the atmosphere of either the narrative or the writing process. In traversing the novel’s musical landscape, I hope the reader can better grasp the characters and their movements and the story’s tender moments.
“French Suite No. 1 in D Minor, BWV 812: I. Allemande” by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by Glenn Gould
This piece is one of six that make up Bach’s French Suites, which the book’s protagonist, Emma, learned about from her best friend Spencer. She listens to the album whenever she needs clarity. Glenn Gould’s interpretations, described as quirky and erratic, fall in line with Emma’s mood when the suites are mentioned in the story.
“Honey” by Moby
Spencer liked to listen to Moby when he and Emma spent time gardening on her balcony. I picked this specific song because in its music video, there are clones of Moby, who start in one place and through some portal end up in another, fitting for the book’s narrative which moves through time and space.
“Etude, Op. 76: II” by Jean Sibelius, performed by Göran Söllscher and Jian Wang
Emma, on the other hand, liked blasting classical music when she and Spencer gardened and this piece is from a collection she listened to.
“Oh No” by Andrew Bird
This is from an Andrew Bird playlist that I wrote and revised the novel to on repeat. Listening to Bird’s music was (and still sort of is) Pavlovian for me: When certain songs of his came on, I felt the urge to sit down and work on this story. While I didn’t really know what “Oh No” was about, the lyrics felt right for the book. One evening, at a writer’s residency we wrote down words that inspired us on rocks. “Calcify”— derived from “calcified”—was one of three I picked. The others were also from lyrics by Bird.
“One Love” by Bob Marley
Emma and Spencer used to sit on the concrete slab of her balcony in New Jersey and pretend they were on a beach in the Caribbean. In one scene they are drinking piña coladas, listening to the happy reggae upstroke, “one love, one heart…,” and imagining themselves far away.
“Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson
At her twelfth birthday party, the book’s other main character, Lily, plays a mixtape that her friend’s older cousin had made and this is one of the songs that comes on and the kids dance to.
“خونه ی ما | Khooneye Ma” by Marjan Farsad
There’s a nostalgia Emma feels for Touran (the world she’s plunged into every night), a place that she has come to know as a sort of home that is far away. She feels a similar loss towards her childhood in New Jersey. This song, by New York-based Iranian musician and singer Farsad speaks of home being distant, behind the enduring mountains, the golden fields, the blue ocean and the impatient waves, on the other side of our longing, a place that exists in a dream.
“Tezeta (Nostalgia)” by Mulatu Astatke
When Emma and the physicist she’s connected with (Kerr) have dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant, I imagined there being jazz music turned low, barely filling the airwaves and creating a warmth, and this piece by Astatke fit that mood.
“Without Me” by Eminem
Emma’s work friend Tina has a dinner date with an actor who stands up in the restaurant and spits parts of this rap.
“Are You Serious” by Andrew Bird
Another word I wrote down on those rocks that evening at the writer’s residency was “obtuse” from this song. In my head, and from what I’ve read, it’s about expectations and wants in a relationship.
“Free Fallin’” by Tom Petty
I consider this an all-American anthem, so I have Emma’s co-worker Joe play it in the truck when they are driving from a job site back to the office. It’s also where Emma is in her life, somewhat free but also aimlessly falling.
“You And Everyone We Love” by Midi & the Modern Dance
This song, by a band that my nephew Omeed at a young age fronted, aptly describes how Emma feels after losing Spencer: “You and everyone we love will die and float to stars above and I will be the only one who stays behind…and I can’t sleep but I don’t need sleep anymore.”
“از تو تنها شدم | Az Tou Tanha Shodam” by Simin Ghanem
A classic Iranian number in which the singer describes how a breeze broke her flower (her love) in its vase. If the breeze doesn’t release its grip of him, she’ll vanish in a forest of dreams. I later learned from my mom that Ghanem lived on our street in Tehran and that as a child I went to her house to attend a birthday party for her niece or nephew visiting from the U.S., a delightful cosmic connection.
“Somewhere Only We Know” by Keane
When Emma and Kerr finally get to spend time together without pretenses, it feels as though they’re allowing themselves to act on how they’ve felt all along, and that there’s this experience that only those two know of (something that Emma is convinced of throughout the story).
“Power of Love” by Huey Lewis & The News
After seeing a show on time travel, Emma calls Tina who jokingly asks if Emma had been watching Back to the Future and I thought this was a fun throwback.
“Imitosis” by Andrew Bird
The whole idea of a scientist who knows that he, and we, are basically alone and here only for mitosis (cell division or reproduction; “What was mistaken for closeness, was just a case of mitosis”) is just so sobering and also amazing. Similar to the scientist, we intrinsically understand this but keep ourselves busy so we don’t have to think about the truth. Like the rest of that playlist, “Imitosis” was on heavy rotation while I was writing.
“Saying Goodbye” by Ondara
I think this song bookends the story nicely as Emma finally learns how to say goodbye—the only way she can start over.
Sara Goudarzi's work has appeared in The New York Times, Scientific American, National Geographic News, The Adirondack Review and Drunken Boat, among others. She is the author of Leila's Day at the Pool and Amazing Animals from Scholastic Inc. Sara has taught writing at NYU and is a 2017 Writers in Paradise Les Standiford fellow and a Tin House alumna. Born in Tehran, she grew up in Iran, Kenya and the U.S. and currently lives in Brooklyn.
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