Muted: 02/20/21

Muted by Tami Charles is a YA novel in verse about three talented teenage musicians whose lives are torn apart after they skip school to demo their music for a favorite star. Denver, Shak, and Dali get their friends to set off fire alarm at school so they can sneak away on the day that Sean "Mercury" Ellis is performing a shortish drive away. They get his attention, are given back stage passes, and are soon under his control.

The novel is told in flashback from Denver's point of view as she's at the airport, boarding a plane. Like The Canyon's Edge by Dusti Bowling (2020), the verse is used to show Denver's emotional state. That said, I found it less effective here minus the prose bookends the verse.

Famous men whether in the music industry or other forms of entertainment have a long history of abusing the women who work with them or are otherwise close to them. With recent stories and the #metoo movement on social media it's no surprise to see recent novels covering this topic. I personally found Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson (2018) far more engaging. The verse of Muted kept me too separated from Denver to feel the full emotional impact of what she experienced.

Three stars

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