Scan barcode
em_beddedinbooks's review against another edition
4.0
Am not equal to dissecting or reviewing An Equal Music.
Suffice to say that it was a wonderful experience, especially to a person who is not passionate about classical music and who doesn't know the ABCD thereof.
Though I couldn't comprehend differences between D minor, F etc... i enjoyed reading about the musical dilemmas.
Loved the interaction between the music fraternity.
The poignant bitter love story was an added bonus.
Mike, Julia, other members of the quarter and the whole premise of this beautifully crafted take will remain with me for ages to come.
The almost musical language in which rhe tsle was told is the strongest attribute of this book.
personal note - BR with Gorab. I own a beautiful paperback.
Suffice to say that it was a wonderful experience, especially to a person who is not passionate about classical music and who doesn't know the ABCD thereof.
Though I couldn't comprehend differences between D minor, F etc... i enjoyed reading about the musical dilemmas.
Loved the interaction between the music fraternity.
The poignant bitter love story was an added bonus.
Mike, Julia, other members of the quarter and the whole premise of this beautifully crafted take will remain with me for ages to come.
The almost musical language in which rhe tsle was told is the strongest attribute of this book.
personal note - BR with Gorab. I own a beautiful paperback.
extemporalli's review against another edition
4.0
I'm really mixed on this - the descriptions of music were absolutely beautiful and made me, someone allergic to classical music, feel interested and alive to the beauty of it. On the other hand... I simply couldn't sympathise with the big romantic plot or feel ANYTHING about the love affair between Michael and Julia, so that effectively meant I was emotionally removed from about 70% of the book.
lovegriefandgender's review against another edition
3.0
Seth's prose is fantastic but we spend too much time with a selfish drain of a character and too little time with the consequences of that selfishness I think.
fallchicken's review against another edition
3.0
A disappointing book. The descriptions of the music were very nice (the CD of the music is fantastic), but the story itself was disappointing and unbelievable. I keep putting off reading [b:A Suitable Boy|50365|A Suitable Boy A Novel (Perennial Classics)|Vikram Seth|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170368733s/50365.jpg|1651078] because I was so unhappy with this one.
roshio's review against another edition
3.0
For some reason this story always pops in my head randomly, I quite like that. Not many books do that to be honest.
raylene's review against another edition
3.0
In a bid to balance out the Kindle e book binging, I turned to this one I'd left incomplete years ago. Now with the luxury of time, I see why. As someone who is not well versed with western classical music, some parts of it quite frankly turned out to incomprehensible. That aside, the writing was sublime...the book dragged somewhere towards the end but no one can question the craft of the master. Would I read it again? NOO. Do I _think_ I'll recommend it to someone musically inclined? Definitely!
psalmcat's review against another edition
3.0
Well-written, but the narrator is so selfish, although you can't help but like him, even when he's being a putz! For a 38-year-old guy, he sure acts like a 16-year-old! Still, there's a lot in here about getting along with people, accepting the imperfection of reality. And, of course, a lot about music.
meenakshisankar's review against another edition
5.0
I am a big fan of Vikram Seth, and this book was intoxicatingly beautiful. Michael Holme, a restless classical violinist who is a member of a quartet, re-encounters his long-lost love Julia. She is a concert pianist, and is now a wife and mother. She is going deaf slowly. They used to be together as students of music in Vienna a decade ago. Each page is a symphony of sorts and the melody of his writing spoke to my heart, mind, body and soul. I was deeply affected by some of the descriptions of the romance between them, and the pain of letting go. I was thinking about some of the lines for days together, sinking in the indescribably beauty. I have no understanding of classical western music, but even to me the descriptions of the music and the process of making the music was so incredibly stimulating, and that is certainly terrific writing. I was intrigued by the title of the book after I read it, and found out that Seth had chosen it from the works of John Donne, a poet and a cleric in the sixteenth century. This is the passage and it was stunningly written –
Bring us, O Lord God, at our last awakening into the house and gate of heaven, to enter into that gate and dwell in that house, where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light; no noise nor silence, but one equal music; no fears nor hopes, but one equal possession; no ends nor beginnings, but one equal eternity; in the habitations of thy glory and dominion, world without end.
No wonder it inspired such a magnificent book.
Bring us, O Lord God, at our last awakening into the house and gate of heaven, to enter into that gate and dwell in that house, where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light; no noise nor silence, but one equal music; no fears nor hopes, but one equal possession; no ends nor beginnings, but one equal eternity; in the habitations of thy glory and dominion, world without end.
No wonder it inspired such a magnificent book.