The only thing I noticed is that the melody of the words was not equal to the quality of the writing and story arc.

It was the text equivalent of hearing a singer whom you know has perfect pitch sing atonal playground songs.

Take this sentence:

Tom had been an agricultural equipment technician, which meant he’d fixed tractors, combines, GPS guidance systems, and the increasingly complex control software that made modern farming possible.

Perfectly fine, a nice set up for a next sentence, but then you get hit with this:

He’d worked for a John Deere dealership in Marshfield for eleven years.

Bad. The rhythm is all off. Minor improvement:

For eleven years he had worked for a John Deere dealership in the nearby town of Marshfield.

Minor change, really, but the fluidity of the language matters a lot and just that one sentence written that one way breaks the flow.

It's almost as if a second person interjected and wrote that sentence like a friends annoying girlfriend who won't let him finish a story without adding in her parts.

But two notes does not a music make, so let's compare that 1 minor change with a before and after of all three opening sentences:

Original:

Tom had been an agricultural equipment technician, which meant he’d fixed tractors, combines, GPS guidance systems, and the increasingly complex control software that made modern farming possible. He’d worked for a John Deere dealership in Marshfield for eleven years. Then the transition happened, and the dealership’s software repair business evaporated; the machines still needed repair, but the software on the machines stopped being something you repaired.

Modified:

Tom had been an agricultural equipment technician, which meant he’d fixed tractors, combines, GPS guidance systems, and the increasingly complex control software that made modern farming possible. For eleven years he had worked for a John Deere dealership in the nearby town of Marshfield. Then the transition happened, and the dealership’s software repair business evaporated; the machines still needed repair, but the software on the machines stopped being something you repaired.