Half-Blood Blues

There had been hints of guilt though the book. With no explanation of why Sid was apprehensive, since he couldn't possibly have prevented what happened to Hero. In the end you finally found out whence came his guilt. And at the very, very end, that he gained Hero's forgiveness.

While this book wasn’t exciting or fantastic in any way, shape or form; I’m still glad I read it. It was an enjoyable read, real story around focused mainly on the friends and their love for playing Jazz. Half Blood Blues was short listed for the Man Booker and tells the story mainly of Jazz Musicians Sid, Chip and Hiero during World War 2. As they were African Americans they were labelled Rhineland Bastards and end up been abducted by the Nazis. This is a book not only about racism (thankfully not set in American) but a book of friendship during hardships and the music that kept them together. While there is so much else going on in this book that will give you an idea of what to expect in it. Half Blood Blues made me want to break out some Django Reinhardt and use him as my soundtrack for this book. I know he is more ragtime than the Jazz mentioned in the book but I didn’t feel like playing Louis Armstrong while reading about him would work. For me ragtime suited my mood with this book. I can see why this made the short list but I can also why it didn’t win; Half Blood Blues is enjoyable to read but it doesn’t really stand out as a book.