Sara Bennett Wealer's Rival

Ever since I was as young as two or three years old, my passion was music – specifically, singing. I took singing classes for as long as I can remember and still do today, whether it’s choir at school, Indian classical music or singing with my vocal group in Seattle. Therefore, my personal interest is singing which led me to find the book Rival by Sara Bennett Wealer. When I read Rival, I compared it to how my interest of singing was approached in this book. There were similarities and differences, which can be good or bad for the novel because the way the novel had presented this interest may not have been the most realistic approach. I will be comparing Rival to my interest in singing in this essay, to show how books can over-dramatize a subject that need not be exaggerated that way.
One portrayal of singing as a passion that I thought was well done was the description of the two main characters’ voices. While one had a deep and rich voice, the other had a light and air one. I was happy to see that this author showed that each person has a different voice and can sound good with proper training and practice. I
also was happy to see that that was one of the main topics discussed in the novel, because not everyone can sing every song with the unique voice they have. They made sure that the novel showed the ups and downs for having a rich but low voice or a light but breathy voice.

The author also made sure that the main characters didn’t hate each other all that much, like most singers competing head to head.
This makes the plot less generic as the protagonist and the “antagonist” or the rival, hate each other completely but the protagonist always wins in the end. As stated in chapter four by main character Brooke about the other main character Kathryn, “She will never not be on my shit list” (Bennett, Page 33). This shows that Brooke outwardly expresses her distaste to Kathryn, especially since the two are competing for a first-place spot in a national singing competition. However, in page 32, Brooke states “I’ll come right out and say it because it’s pathetic to deny the obvious: Kathryn is really pretty.” (Bennett, Page 32). This shows that Brook and Katheryn aren’t your generic rivals who always hate each other until the
end.

However, I did realize that the book had many flaws when it came to portraying singing in a more realistic manner. It seemed like Brooke and Kathryn almost never practiced except in their choir, but then sounded amazing in the competition. It might make sense for at least one of them to have this natural talent, but both seems unreasonable. Most singers practice their heart out even if they already sound amazing, and it takes up a lot of their time. Brooke and Kathryn also always seemed to be at a party, or at a beach whenever the competition wasn’t going on. This also seems unrealistic, because if a competition was coming near then practicing would be the first thing on the minds of singers who hope to get first place.

Apart from singing, the book was generic and the characters lacked personality. The only good thing about the book was how realistic the singing was, which is why I could enjoy it to some extent. I liked how the characters were relatable singing wise, even though the plot could have been much more detailed and included more singing – the focus of the novel. Overall, I wouldn’t recommend the novel to those who don’t like singing, but if you are a singer then I would recommend it because it’s pretty similar to singing in real life. Rival by Sara Bennet Wealer was a simple read, nothing too challenging, but I would not read it again as it is just one boring plot that seems very repetitive in other novels, movies and TV shows about singing.