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jayisreading's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
I’m not sure how to feel about this one. On the one hand, I love that it focuses on the relationship between members of a string quartet and their fierce love for the music they perform. It was lovely listening to the string quartets that these characters were performing, whether it be Haydn or Dvořák, and gave me a newfound appreciation for the genre. On the other hand, I was not a huge fan of the structure of the book. The jumping back and forth between past and present made it hard to feel any sort of investment in the plot and, to some degree, the characters. They didn’t feel as developed as they could have been. The book also felt a bit unbalanced in what Gabel wanted to really focus on, and it resulted in a lot of telling as opposed to showing.
Somewhat relatedly, I can see how this book could frustrate some readers who don’t have a classical music performance background, since Gabel was often invested in the technical details of music-making. I think one of the difficulties of writing about a rather niche topic like string quartets is that you need to find a good balance in making it approachable to a general audience but also try not oversimplify it. There were moments where she nailed it, and other moments where she got wrapped up in the details that some may gloss over.
It was an interesting topic and idea, but it ended up being a bit of a disappointment.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol and Death of parent
Minor: Cancer and Alcoholism
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