MARSON, Bonnie

PERSONAL:

Born in Brooklyn, NY; married, Steve Sadler. Education: University of New York at Buffalo, B.A., 1973; attended Douglas College.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Tucson, AZ. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Random House, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Marketing professional and author. Former visual artist. Has also worked at Canyon Ranch Health Resort, Tucson, AZ.

WRITINGS:

Sleeping with Schubert: A Novel, Random House (New York, NY), 2004.

Author of the short story "The Sphinx." Photographer and illustrator for Word Songs, by Carol Chasson, New Renaissance (Los Angeles, CA), 1980.

ADAPTATIONS:

Film rights for Sleeping with Schubert were acquired by Paramount Pictures.

SIDELIGHTS:

Bonnie Marson, a marketing specialist and former visual artist, published her debut novel, Sleeping with Schubert, in 2004. The work began as a short story that, after seven pages, Marson stuffed in a drawer where it sat for several years: she felt the theme was too big for the brief format. Encouragement from a friend prompted her to revisit the work, and she committed to writing a page a day until it was finished. The result proved Marson's effort well spent: agents vyed for her manuscript and, following its publication, the movie option as acquired by Paramount Pictures.

In the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sarah Bryan Miller called Sleeping with Schubert "a lot of fun" and "deceptively simple." The protagonist is Liza Durbin, a thirty-something, Jewish lawyer living in Brooklyn. One day while shopping in a Nordstrom in San Diego while visiting her parents, she sits at a store piano and finds herself brilliantly playing the instrument. She ultimately realizes that long-dead composer Franz Schubert has entered her body. The knowledge prompts Durbin to take leave from her law firm, practice piano under the tutelage of a Juilliard instructor who has somehow heard of her situation, and prepare to perform at Carnegie Hall. A rich sister, a boyfriend returning from an extended trip to Milan, a male best friend, and a caddish male composer all feature in the story.

Most reviews were positive. Amy Ford, in Library Journal, called the book a "rather amusing story," and Eugenia Zukerman, writing in the Washington Post Book World, called Sleeping with Schubert "a dazzling, touching, funny and original tale." A Publishers Weekly reviewer, less impressed with the book, commented that "Off-key simulations of classical music, celebrity journalism and human relations flatten first-time author Marson's high-concert chick-lit novel." Zukerman concluded that "Marson's tone is pitch perfect, her storytelling is both polished and surprising, and her ability to make her characters as zany as they are lovable is alchemic."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Chicago Tribune, July 1, 2004, Sandy Bauers, review of Sleeping with Schubert, p. 8.

Library Journal, March 15, 2004, Amy Ford, review of Sleeping with Schubert, p. 107.

New York Times, June 20, 2004, James R. Oestreich, review of Sleeping with Schubert, p. 26.

Publishers Weekly, March 29, 2004, review of Sleeping with Schubert, p. 35.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 20, 2004, Sarah Bryan Miller, review of Sleeping with Schubert, section F, p. 10.

Washington Post Book World, July 4, 2004, Eugenia Zukerman, review of Sleeping with Schubert, section T, p. 8.

ONLINE

Bonnie Marson Home Page,http://www.bonniemarson.com (October 14, 2004).

University at Buffalo Alumni Association Web site,http://alumni.buffalo.edu/ (October 14, 2004), Keith Page, "Novel Sleeping with Schubert Predicted to Be Best-seller."