Sounds Like Titanic

A Memoir

By: Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman

Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley

Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's Summary

A young woman leaves Appalachia for life as a classical musician - or so she thinks.

When aspiring violinist Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman lands a job with a professional ensemble in New York City, she imagines she has achieved her lifelong dream. But the ensemble proves to be a sham. When the group "performs", the microphones are never on. Instead, the music blares from a CD. The mastermind behind this scheme is a peculiar and mysterious figure known as The Composer, who is gaslighting his audiences with music that sounds suspiciously like the Titanic movie soundtrack. On tour with his chaotic ensemble, Hindman spirals into crises of identity and disillusionment as she "plays" for audiences genuinely moved by the performance, unable to differentiate real from fake.

Sounds Like Titanic is a surreal, often hilarious coming-of-age story. Hindman writes with precise, candid prose and sharp insight into ambition and gender, especially when it comes to the difficulties young women face in a world that views them as silly, shallow, and stupid. As the story swells to a crescendo, it gives voice to the anxieties and illusions of a generation of women and reveals the failed promises of a nation that takes comfort in false realities.

©2019 Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman (P)2019 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Wonderful. Fantastic. Heartwarming. Inspiring.

I love this book. I’ve listened to many parts multiple times. Jessica Hindman has a warm and gracious heart. She touches on so many issues that are typically difficult to navigate but she does so with a delicate touch. I’m a new fan.

Sounds Like She Pulled It Off!

Hindman pulls off a 2nd person narrative, which may be a harder feat than writing a successful memoir. The book gives the reader layers of complexity, humor, realizations of mental instability, realities of social, professional, and economic impossibility of surviving and, dare say, thriving as a successful musician. She highlights the fundamental volatility of success, and shows the reader plenty moving imagery along the way. The narration takes the reading experience to another level, Wiley weaves personality and color into the words. Both the story and the audio book narrator create an enjoyable experience, and leaves the reader thoughtful, entertained, and introspected. Highly recommend!

Chicagogirl

Ugh, this was our book club pick. It was everything I could do just to make myself get thru it. Like fingernails on a chalkboard. I thought it was so ‘whiney’.

An amazing account of the damaged caused by lies

This is a weird book. It tells of an immensely successful concert organizer who has quite capable musicians employed at rates above what they would normally expect to earn with their skill set. The odd thing is that they are not employed to play music but to act playing music while a recording of much more competent musicians plays. Almost everybody seems to know the trick but despite this, the concert organizer becomes a very popular star and his main players are treated like celebrities with their own following. However, the lie eventually takes its toll and all of the musicians suffer breakdowns in one way or another. A remarkable story and perhaps much more common than one would expect given things such as the rules saying that a band used not to be allowed to play at a live performance on top of the pops but had to act to a recording.