Jazz by Cristian Mihai is a novel about a lovesick Chris Sommers who leaves his hometown of New York City to go to Paris in pursuit of Amber, the outrageously beautiful but always-falling-for-the-wrong-guy type. But when Chris arrives in Paris, he is dismayed to discover that he and Amber still cannot be together: she’s with Jacques, another “wrong guy” painter who holds Amber’s interest. The more Chris learns about Amber and the complicated, deceitful life she’s built in Paris, the more dismayed he becomes.
First impression: Mihai has some serious writing talent. Seriously. His writing style reminded me of Fitzgerald or Hemingway, not only in prowess but also in maturity. I love a piece that is multi-layered, and Jazz is just that. It’s a great story of love, heartbreak, and betrayal, but it’s also riddled with delectable metaphors and motifs. In fact, Mihai has Chris read The Great Gatsby at one point which I thought was not only a nod to a great, but also a little bit ironic considered Mihai’s writing style reminded me of that book.
I also loved the characters that Mihai created. Each was wonderfully flawed, and that’s refreshing to me. What’s even more refreshing is that Mihai doesn’t spend the entire novel trying to have his characters revamp themselves or fight their inner demons, so to speak. Amber is just as naive and deceitful at the end of the novel as she was at the beginning. Chris is constantly overly optimistic and easy-to-disappoint throughout the novel as well. But that last scene was a fantastic way to end.
In the final scene, Mihai gives almost nothing away. He paints the scene and then leaves it at the crucial moment between Chris and Amber, leaving it up to the reader to decide if the characters would actually change their ways or if they were fall back into their absurd, detrimental habits. He also doesn’t give away the resolution of their quasi-love affair and I think that’s awesome. I’m a little over novels that end with “…and they fell in love and lived happy together”. I’m glad Mihai ditched the cliche and gave us something new to enjoy.
Among the many highlights of this piece, though, there were a few places for improvement. First and foremost, the literary prowess was a little less impactful in spots because of blatant spelling or grammatical errors. To me, there’s nothing more distracting than tripping over a missing word or noticing that the grammar is wrong. It really breaks the flow. Secondly, I felt that sometimes Jazz was a little too close to The Great Gatsby in some places: Chris is almost an outsider and observer in the same way Nick Carraway is. The female love interest is ridiculously naive and willingly powerless against her perils in the same way Daisy is. I liked it, personally, but sometimes I feel that the allusions to Fitzgerald were a little too strong.
In any case, this is a definite buy! You can check out Cristian Mihai’s website and blog here. Also, buy yourself a copy of Jazz here.
Michael Cristiano 