Reviews

An Equal Music by Vikram Seth

alexsiddall's review against another edition

5.0

Beautifully evokes the London life of a melancholy musician. As a lover of string quartets, who knows some of the locations, likes good writing, and is a nostalgic old sentimentalist, this was just the book for me. Loved everything about it.

aaairm's review against another edition

5.0

I had forgotten what a great book this was till I reread it this weekend! Great love story that is ultimately doomed - a love that endures the passage of time to the point it refuses to let go and ends up merely grasping at shadows of the past.

samaira's review against another edition

4.0

this is what feels right. It's a combination of the prose and the story for me but I think mostly the prose.

dommdy's review against another edition

3.25

I like the quality of the writing but dislike most of the characters, particularly Michael, the protagonist. He has no ability to regulate his emotions and if he weren’t so overbearing he wouldn’t have been able to seduce his first love, Julia into a painful reenactment of their original doomed relationship. He was the one who ruined it the first time. The relationship does have the all consuming quality of first love, the myopic inability to see that the attraction was almost exclusively sexual, except for the shared love of music. Julia, who was married with a child, in my opinion, fell again with Michael as he so forcefully desired her. 

The best parts of the story were about the music and the musicians, the functional and dysfunctional ways they worked together and shared their visions of what the music is and should be. I believe Michael’s love for his violin was equal to his love for Julia. This book is worth reading, my rating would be higher if Michael had been a better person.  

ninni880's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

annamiller5540's review against another edition

sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated

3.75

kath61's review against another edition

3.0

To be immersed in the narrow world of a string quartet is an experience that the author manages to depict in startling detail. The sensitivities and foibles of classical string players as well as their deep connection to their instruments are integral to the story. Lesser themes are treated with detail and emotional richness. However, I found the main theme of a passionate and often destructive love affair rekindled quite suddenly after ten years rather unpleasant as well as somewhat unlikely.

jwebster's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Really enjoyed this! The perfect mixture of music and London and Vienna and love and poetry - the distress in the final part was particularly well expressed. 

kats__bookshelf's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

kjboldon's review against another edition

1.0

I fully expected to love this book. I read Seth's A Suitable Boy a few years ago and was enamored of it, and sorry to finish it and thus end my time with those characters. These characters I couldn't stand from the get go, and never warmed to them. The story and its characters felt dreary to me. I was glad to finish this book so I can move on to something else.