LitPick Review
Miss Novak’s Christmas written by Robert A. Valle follows the story of a recent Slovakian immigrant, Anya Novak. She is a reserved and talented viola player, who despite her skills is extremely self-conscious. She doubts herself as a result of the many adverse experiences she faced in Slovakia, the most recent of which led her to move to Manhattan. The novella opens with Anya’s chamber group wrapping up rehearsal for their winter concert where Anya is told by her conductor that she needs to play bolder. Anya runs into a mysterious old man named Niels when leaving rehearsal. Anya, accompanied by Niels, heads to a local pub where readers first meet the main love interest of the story, David. David, like Anya, is a shyer man who lost his wife to a brain aneurysm. David and Anya’s eyes meet during his guitar performance, and he encourages her to play alongside him. Together, they play a beautiful tune, but Anya becomes overwhelmed by the attention and goes to head home. David suggests they play a duet on Christmas Eve and gives her his business card before she leaves. Tragically, Anya’s cab crashes and her viola is lost, effectively leaving her with no instrument for the concert. Although Anya mourns the loss of her viola, she can borrow one from a fellow chamber member. How will the concert pan out with Anya’s prized viola gone? Will Anya have the courage to meet David on Christmas Eve? Find out at the heartwarming end of Miss Novak’s Christmas.
Opinion:
Personally, I was a fan of this book. I thought the parallels that the author, Robert Valle, drew between Anya’s personality and her playing were clever. The symbolism of Anya’s viola is also smart, with the loss and return of her confidence mirroring the viola’s. Along with this, all of the information given is relevant to the story later. An example of this is the initial mention of Anya's previous long-term relationship ending messily when she discovered her boyfriend cheating on her with the violinist of her chamber group in Slovakia. This experience then returns to Anya when she sees David interacting with Annie, her group's violinist. This fuels her actions as she is plagued with the insecurity attached to the memory. Robert Valle’s technique makes the plot feel stronger and thought out. Another story aspect that he does well is incorporating side characters. In the format of a novella, side characters are quite difficult to flesh out since the space is so limited. But, despite the limits, the author does this phenomenally well by including many relevant characters with individual backgrounds. Whether it be Jose the cab driver or Becky the coworker, the fictional version of New York feels filled with many other people with their own stories, aside from just David and Anya. The cosmopolitan feel makes the environment richer and immerses the reader in the story. A criticism that may be acknowledged is the heavy reliance on direct exposition to orient the reader. This leaves the reader less room to draw their own conclusions about the text since much is explicitly told to the reader. Of course, it has no interference with the story or reader enjoyment. For some time, I did have a theory that Niels would secretly be Santa Claus, but the truth the author reveals is far better. All in all, I think Miss Novak’s Christmas is the perfect book to read while sipping hot cocoa. I would recommend it to anyone in need of a short and sweet book to read this holiday season.
