Name: Muted
ISBN: 9781338673524

Tami Charles

A ripped-from-the-headlines novel of ambition, music, and innocence lost, perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo and Jason Reynolds! Be bold. Get seen. Be Heard. For seventeen-year-old Denver, music is everything. Writing, performing, and her ultimate goal: escaping her very small, very white hometown. So Denver is more than ready on the day she and her best friends Dali and Shak sing their way into the orbit of the biggest R&B star in the world, Sean "Mercury" Jones. Merc gives them everything: parties, perks, wild nights -- plus hours and hours in the recording studio. Even the painful sacrifices and the lies the girls have to tell are all worth it. Until they're not. Denver begins to realize that she's trapped in Merc's world, struggling to hold onto her own voice. As the dream turns into a nightmare, she must make a choice: lose her big break, or get broken. Inspired by true events, Muted is a fearless exploration of the dark side of the music industry, the business of exploitation, how a girl's dreams can be used against her -- and what it takes to fight back.

Muted

Sarah Sammis

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.

A ripped-from-the-headlines novel of ambition, music, and innocence lost, perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo and Jason Reynolds! Be bold. Get seen. Be Heard.For seventeen-year-old Denver, music is everything. Writing, performing, and her ultimate goal: escaping her very small, very white hometown.So Denver is more than ready on the day she and her best friends Dali and Shak sing their way into the orbit of the biggest R&B star in the world, Sean "Mercury" Ellis. Merc gives them everything: parties, perks, wild nights -- plus hours and hours in the recording studio. Even the painful sacrifices and the lies the girls have to tell are all worth it.Until they're not.Denver begins to realize that she's trapped in Merc's world, struggling to hold on to her own voice. As the dream turns into a nightmare, she must make a choice: lose her big break, or get broken.Inspired by true events, Muted is a fearless exploration of the dark side of the music industry, the business of exploitation, how a girl's dreams can be used against her -- and what it takes to fight back.

Melissa Palmer

This young adult verse novel is powerful, disturbing and unputdownable. Three teen girls dream of becoming musicians. A star musician takes them under his wings....but is he really a good thing for him. Strong R Kelly vibes....this is a cautionary tale and a must read.

Flavia Louise

A very scary look at what power dynamics can lead to in the music industry.

Amy Grieve

I am a huge fan of verse novels because they are such fluid mediums and give authors a chance to tell a story in a less linear way. In the case of Muted, verse worked perfectly to enhance the lyricism of Charles’ story. The verse in question was well written and flowed seamlessly building up to the novel’s climax. 

I was so surprised by the novel's ending, however it did highlight an issue I had with how Denver’s relationships with her family were written. The impact of the novel’s climax relied heavily on the complex relationships Denver had with her family especially her father, but I felt like even though she mentioned her family throughout the story I just didn’t know enough about them other than some very basic facts and a very surface level conflict. 

Denver’s main conflict with her family is that she wishes to pursue music professionally instead of taking the same route her parents and her older sister took, namely Stanford. This is not a new concept, but it can be an interesting concept if developed enough. If I knew more about her family it could have been an interesting concept. 

For example, it is heavily implied that her parents who are both people of colour feel a pressure to comply with the strict cookie cutter image of the perfect family set by the small town standard even as their marriage is crumbling. If I knew more about her parents it would all matter, but I could count what I knew about them on one hand. 

I felt like I didn’t know her family enough to care about how they felt. I could not imagine how Denver’s father was feeling in the ending. He was the one who apparently inspired Denver with music when she was younger, yet all I know about him was that he was a pilot who knew how to play the piano. Even with her mother and sister there was little development with a few small anecdotes which didn’t leave a lasting impact. 

Overall I did find this a powerful read. The manipulation of young women, especially young women of colour, in the music industry is a deep rooted issue which is sadly still pervasive to this day. Denver and Dali’s story was powerful and needed to be told. This novel deals with a number of sensitive topics including rape, grooming, manipulation, fatphobia and many more.

Tiffany Robinson

This book was so good! And I was not expecting that ending.

Ashley Moncayo

Wow. This book GUTTED me. I have no words.

Gaby Flores

Siobhán

•Title: Muted•
•Author: Tami Charles•
•Genre: YA, Poetry/Verse•
•My Rating: ★★★★☆•
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⚠️TW: Sexual Assault. Mental and physical abuse. Forced Dieting. Gaslighting. Kidnapping. ⚠️

READ MY REVIEW

Abi Baker

sorry but i just can't vibe with a lesbian of colour being raped, held captive, abused and then murdered 🤷