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Story of four members of a classical ensemble that spans 20 years. Tale of ambition and what makes a family a family. Beautifully written and orchestrated like a piece of music.
Story of four members of a classical ensemble that spans 20 years. Tale of ambition and what makes a family a family. Beautifully written and orchestrated like a piece of music.
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4.5 but this is a new book and a debut so I’ll round up to encourage others to read :)
Loved the writing in this one, and the depth of the characters. My kind of novel.
Loved the writing in this one, and the depth of the characters. My kind of novel.
Beautiful. Much like a brilliant musician, Gabel makes writing something simultaneously light and bright and deep and emotional seem easy. It‘s not, but it certainly was easy to read. I will miss these characters and following them through their time together.
The story of a string quartet that meet and become a group while in a graduate conservatory program. It follows their friendship and careers.
I liked the ebb and flow of the book. I am not a musician, but I could imagine it being similar to a piece of music. A good debut novel. It was probably closer to 3.5 stars for me. It did get me to listen to classical music as I read, which was fun.
I liked the ebb and flow of the book. I am not a musician, but I could imagine it being similar to a piece of music. A good debut novel. It was probably closer to 3.5 stars for me. It did get me to listen to classical music as I read, which was fun.
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was just fine. Very show over tell and a little slow for me. I didn’t really like any of the characters or feel like I knew them that well, but it also wasn’t unpleasant reading.
My interest was really peaked by the story of four friends playing in a chamber music quartet. I begged for an ARC of it on Netgalley which was unfortunately not available at that time, I joined another book reviewing site just to request it as well.
Each chapter is from the point of view of one of the quartet members so the reader gets a quick impression of who they are. So Jana (first violinist): leader and mother hen of the group, decisive, ambitious, alcoholic mother, absent father. Close platonic relationship with Henry, the viola player in the group (sleeps on occasion with him but doesn't have sex). Britt (second violinist): unobtrusive, pale, quiet, orphaned, somewhat needy, one-sided crush of Daniel, the cellist in the group. Henry (viola): talented prodigy, good enough to be a soloist, rich, wide shoulders, easy-going. Lastly, Daniel (cellist): oldest of the group, perpetually angry and resentful, poor and always obsessed with money issues, careful.
When we first meet the foursome, they are playing at their university graduation recital and participating in an important chamber music competition Esterhazy in Banff, Alberta, Canada. This is presented as an make or break opportunity that could launch their quartet's success. Aja Gabel's classical music background (she plays the violin and cello) and knowledge translates into beautiful descriptions of the music they play; the arpeggios, the sixteenth notes, the challenge of keeping tempo with four players, the key changes and modulations, the evoked moods and images. This is one of the key strengths of the book. I liked too the little specific insider details such as which parts of the body get bruised with which instrument and how the instruments need a much longer tuning time if they are exposed to cold weather. Certain pieces of music recur like a motif as they progress in their lives and careers such as the second movement andante cantabile of a Tchaikovsky piece.
Coincidentally I attended the recitals of a very talented young quartet group at a classical music festival last year that had won a prestigious prize in Banff. Listening and watching them playing in total synchronicity at that time, I idly wondered how their relationship to each other was to achieve that. Certainly, Aja Gabel strives to tell us and emphasize repeatedly that these four are close, closer than friends, closer than family. It is necessary to excel as a group, to produce transcendental sound together. Living, breathing, practicing, playing everyday fosters a special bond that can be difficult to understand to outsiders. However, although I was told that as a reader, I didn't feel that explicitly or come to that understanding organically. Jana and Henry seem to be one unit, Britt and Daniel another. Britt spends most of the time mooning somewhat pathetically over Daniel. Daniel glowers angrily at Henry for having everything come so easy to him. Jana just wants to win badly and has to keep whipping the group to focus and keep their eyes on the prize. They keep doing internal checks to see who is more talented. The quartet is vulnerable to breakage if one of them is not all there or decides to leave.
A problem I had was I did not care what happened to the characters. Their character arc felt listless and anticlimactic - Henry decision to 'settle down' and marry Kumiko and keep their surprise baby, Daniel's flash in the pan relationship with Lindsay and the desultory divorce after, Jana's somewhat elitist whining that her aspiring actress mother didn't care about her or understand what she was doing, Britt's on again off again relationship with Daniel. Their transformation and journey just didn't ring true and I was not invested. I was really rooting for them whenever they were trying to work out kinks in their pieces or playing at an important performance. However, as their careers and sound matured, I think they turned somewhat apathetic and smug. Especially Henry when he was mentoring/coaching younger players. As they got older too, all of them started to go baby breeder crazy, which is anathema to a successful professional musician's career. I am somewhat conflicted about Kimiko (Henry's student that he knocks up and marries) having her own chapter since she is not part of the quartet. It is definitely unfair that she is the one that has to put her musical career on hold for child-rearing and unfair on the group too that Henry imposes his squalling children on group practices.
There is a lack of diversity in the characters too - all four of the quartet players are white as far as I can tell, Henry's sister is lesbian although that part felt like it was horned in, the french Quebec quartet are absolute caricatures (I agree Laurent is a ridiculous name), another quartet they encounter has some gay members but they act like a soap opera cast, Kimiko is Japanese ethnically but sounds and acts american. The author's understanding (or rather non-understanding) of Canada is rather problematic, especially the two times the group goes to Banff for their competition. Calgary, the city they would have flown into, is not a 'small town.' The lazy impressions of the group are limited to the cold weather and looming mountain. It is hard to believe they would not have gone to visit world famous Lake Louise, Jasper, the ice fields, Lake Banff or missed the plethora of wildlife in the region (deer, elk, moose etc.) In another instance, a perky Canadian medical student Henry and Daniel encounter in Banff is speculated to be good for "Canadian sex." Aja Gabel is definitely more at ease and admiring of the two cities that her characters live and work in - New York and San Francisco - although I thought the inclusion of 9/11 as a background framing event was unnecessary and somewhat manipulative.
My conclusion? Good on the music portions. Weak with the characterization and relationships. I'm still on the hunt for books about classical music and musicians. Musicians can definitely write very authentic fiction on that subject. The Piano Teacher (winner of 2004 Nobel Literature prize) by Elfriede Jelinek (herself a concert pianist) was certainly striking. My next to-read in this category will be Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien and The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes (plus maybe The Conductor by Sarah Quigley, both books on Shostakovich who is mentioned in this book).
Each chapter is from the point of view of one of the quartet members so the reader gets a quick impression of who they are. So Jana (first violinist): leader and mother hen of the group, decisive, ambitious, alcoholic mother, absent father. Close platonic relationship with Henry, the viola player in the group (sleeps on occasion with him but doesn't have sex). Britt (second violinist): unobtrusive, pale, quiet, orphaned, somewhat needy, one-sided crush of Daniel, the cellist in the group. Henry (viola): talented prodigy, good enough to be a soloist, rich, wide shoulders, easy-going. Lastly, Daniel (cellist): oldest of the group, perpetually angry and resentful, poor and always obsessed with money issues, careful.
When we first meet the foursome, they are playing at their university graduation recital and participating in an important chamber music competition Esterhazy in Banff, Alberta, Canada. This is presented as an make or break opportunity that could launch their quartet's success. Aja Gabel's classical music background (she plays the violin and cello) and knowledge translates into beautiful descriptions of the music they play; the arpeggios, the sixteenth notes, the challenge of keeping tempo with four players, the key changes and modulations, the evoked moods and images. This is one of the key strengths of the book. I liked too the little specific insider details such as which parts of the body get bruised with which instrument and how the instruments need a much longer tuning time if they are exposed to cold weather. Certain pieces of music recur like a motif as they progress in their lives and careers such as the second movement andante cantabile of a Tchaikovsky piece.
Coincidentally I attended the recitals of a very talented young quartet group at a classical music festival last year that had won a prestigious prize in Banff. Listening and watching them playing in total synchronicity at that time, I idly wondered how their relationship to each other was to achieve that. Certainly, Aja Gabel strives to tell us and emphasize repeatedly that these four are close, closer than friends, closer than family. It is necessary to excel as a group, to produce transcendental sound together. Living, breathing, practicing, playing everyday fosters a special bond that can be difficult to understand to outsiders. However, although I was told that as a reader, I didn't feel that explicitly or come to that understanding organically. Jana and Henry seem to be one unit, Britt and Daniel another. Britt spends most of the time mooning somewhat pathetically over Daniel. Daniel glowers angrily at Henry for having everything come so easy to him. Jana just wants to win badly and has to keep whipping the group to focus and keep their eyes on the prize. They keep doing internal checks to see who is more talented. The quartet is vulnerable to breakage if one of them is not all there or decides to leave.
A problem I had was I did not care what happened to the characters. Their character arc felt listless and anticlimactic - Henry decision to 'settle down' and marry Kumiko and keep their surprise baby, Daniel's flash in the pan relationship with Lindsay and the desultory divorce after, Jana's somewhat elitist whining that her aspiring actress mother didn't care about her or understand what she was doing, Britt's on again off again relationship with Daniel. Their transformation and journey just didn't ring true and I was not invested. I was really rooting for them whenever they were trying to work out kinks in their pieces or playing at an important performance. However, as their careers and sound matured, I think they turned somewhat apathetic and smug. Especially Henry when he was mentoring/coaching younger players. As they got older too, all of them started to go baby breeder crazy, which is anathema to a successful professional musician's career. I am somewhat conflicted about Kimiko (Henry's student that he knocks up and marries) having her own chapter since she is not part of the quartet. It is definitely unfair that she is the one that has to put her musical career on hold for child-rearing and unfair on the group too that Henry imposes his squalling children on group practices.
There is a lack of diversity in the characters too - all four of the quartet players are white as far as I can tell, Henry's sister is lesbian although that part felt like it was horned in, the french Quebec quartet are absolute caricatures (I agree Laurent is a ridiculous name), another quartet they encounter has some gay members but they act like a soap opera cast, Kimiko is Japanese ethnically but sounds and acts american. The author's understanding (or rather non-understanding) of Canada is rather problematic, especially the two times the group goes to Banff for their competition. Calgary, the city they would have flown into, is not a 'small town.' The lazy impressions of the group are limited to the cold weather and looming mountain. It is hard to believe they would not have gone to visit world famous Lake Louise, Jasper, the ice fields, Lake Banff or missed the plethora of wildlife in the region (deer, elk, moose etc.) In another instance, a perky Canadian medical student Henry and Daniel encounter in Banff is speculated to be good for "Canadian sex." Aja Gabel is definitely more at ease and admiring of the two cities that her characters live and work in - New York and San Francisco - although I thought the inclusion of 9/11 as a background framing event was unnecessary and somewhat manipulative.
My conclusion? Good on the music portions. Weak with the characterization and relationships. I'm still on the hunt for books about classical music and musicians. Musicians can definitely write very authentic fiction on that subject. The Piano Teacher (winner of 2004 Nobel Literature prize) by Elfriede Jelinek (herself a concert pianist) was certainly striking. My next to-read in this category will be Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien and The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes (plus maybe The Conductor by Sarah Quigley, both books on Shostakovich who is mentioned in this book).
Writing about music is hard. Aja Gabel did it, and did it masterfully.
The string quartet is such an intimate musical experience, and Ms. Gabel deconstructs the personalities, the lives, the passions, and the music of this fictional quartet in beautiful ways. I cannot recommend this book enough, especially to my musician friends.
The string quartet is such an intimate musical experience, and Ms. Gabel deconstructs the personalities, the lives, the passions, and the music of this fictional quartet in beautiful ways. I cannot recommend this book enough, especially to my musician friends.
Three and an half. I liked this, but it somehow lost steam in the second half, or maybe I just got tired of it. The book itself is beautiful, a nice floral cover and baby blue bindings.