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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I really had a hard time with this novel. Not only could I not get into it because it took a long time to get the plot moving but I had a very hard time connecting with the story and its characters.
I also found so many parts of this novel unnecessary and I kept counting the pages until I reached the end. Luckily, I finally did to which I celebrated with a drink!
I also found so many parts of this novel unnecessary and I kept counting the pages until I reached the end. Luckily, I finally did to which I celebrated with a drink!
This was a real struggle to get through. Billed as a true life story of Lev Termen, Russian scientists, inventor (of the Theremin), and a spy. I didn't know the spy element and the narrative idea of recounting the old adventures sounded really interesting, mixing music with spying, electricity is in the air... and it's basically a long, drawn-out, overly-lyrical and quite creepy recounting of unrequited love. It doesn't even seem like a good love story, he's just infatuated with a very young girl he met and hung out with, then stays in love with her through a marriage ending, a new marriage, years in a gulag, and more! It was both boring and overly repetitive, and it distracted from the other elements of the history/story. I know it's meant to be a lyrical and deep narrative (it is a Giller Prize winner, after all), but not one that I liked overly much. I did like the story of Termen and should read more about the real man, because the spy work and gulag story was pretty amazing. I wouldn't recommend this book unless you like long and convoluted unrequited love narratives.
Quotable quotes:
- One does not intentionally squander a life; one looks back and finds it squandered.
- I found that I had a thousand things to do, and all these things were distractions from things I could not do.
- "Dr. Theremin it is good for the spirit to be able to help a mensch."
"A mensch?" I didn't recognize the expression.
"A mensch," Rosen said, "is what we all aspire to be."
- My room was almost completely dark, just the porthole's disc of morning light at the head of my cot. I strained to imagine the scene outside: the lone animal at the end of the corridor, tail wagging, waiting for something. For its owner? I rattled my locked door. I wanted to take the dog above deck, into the sunrise, to watch the brightening sky. The dog would leap and happily snap. We would be friends. We would be the only two friends on this great iron vessel.
- Love is strengthened by distance. Dreams have weight and velocity. They are signals, promises. They have a destination. One night we will know no doubts, feel no foreign forces, and our particles will come to rest.
- In some way, heartbreak is a reassurance. There is no reassurance in hunger, in thirst, in fatigue. Or in fear. These things are hollow things, un-things. I have learned that there are certain absences you can keep and hold; and other absences, like lost memories, that you cannot.
- I had so many friends and these friends could not keep me warm as I push my wheelbarrow through the frost. They could not make me younger or stronger. I was happier for a short time but popularity was a hollow solace. You can pass a man and exchange a smile, and it is worthless the moment you have stepped away, along the ice-packed path, in the next mud-smudged footprint.
- As we approached Moscow, something in me was stirring. I did not want to acknowledge it; it was easier to be a ruin, inert. The tiniest stone, which cannot be broken into smaller pieces.
- "A man has only a slim chance to matter," Andrei Markov said, in a voice that was stony. "A slim chance, like a blade of grass or a poured cup of water..."
- You were furious then, lips drawn in a line. "You stroll through life like you're indestructible. Like an indestructible- an indestructible blockhead, Leon. Immune to everything: to responsibility, to patience. Always wanting, never listening, never-"
Thinkable thoughts:
- Much like [b:Dune|234225|Dune (Dune Chronicles, #1)|Frank Herbert|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389569143s/234225.jpg|3634639] made me want to look more into the history of the middle east, this novel made me want to learn a lot more about Russia during the time of the USSR.
- As you can see by the wall of text above, I was a really big fan of how the book was written. Its blend of science, history, and just regular human emotion was really intriguing.
- Leon was a tragic character, that I would guess is emotionally stunted to some extent. His fascination with Clara is both kind of romantic, but also a bit disappointing. You would hope that a man of such accomplishment would not be so emotionally crippled, but it's interesting to see that even a very accomplished individual can suffer the same emotional maladies that we all do.
- I don't know if everyone would like this book, but if you're looking for a book that combines history, science, and some good ol' fashion human emotion; it does the trick.
- One does not intentionally squander a life; one looks back and finds it squandered.
- I found that I had a thousand things to do, and all these things were distractions from things I could not do.
- "Dr. Theremin it is good for the spirit to be able to help a mensch."
"A mensch?" I didn't recognize the expression.
"A mensch," Rosen said, "is what we all aspire to be."
- My room was almost completely dark, just the porthole's disc of morning light at the head of my cot. I strained to imagine the scene outside: the lone animal at the end of the corridor, tail wagging, waiting for something. For its owner? I rattled my locked door. I wanted to take the dog above deck, into the sunrise, to watch the brightening sky. The dog would leap and happily snap. We would be friends. We would be the only two friends on this great iron vessel.
- Love is strengthened by distance. Dreams have weight and velocity. They are signals, promises. They have a destination. One night we will know no doubts, feel no foreign forces, and our particles will come to rest.
- In some way, heartbreak is a reassurance. There is no reassurance in hunger, in thirst, in fatigue. Or in fear. These things are hollow things, un-things. I have learned that there are certain absences you can keep and hold; and other absences, like lost memories, that you cannot.
- I had so many friends and these friends could not keep me warm as I push my wheelbarrow through the frost. They could not make me younger or stronger. I was happier for a short time but popularity was a hollow solace. You can pass a man and exchange a smile, and it is worthless the moment you have stepped away, along the ice-packed path, in the next mud-smudged footprint.
- As we approached Moscow, something in me was stirring. I did not want to acknowledge it; it was easier to be a ruin, inert. The tiniest stone, which cannot be broken into smaller pieces.
- "A man has only a slim chance to matter," Andrei Markov said, in a voice that was stony. "A slim chance, like a blade of grass or a poured cup of water..."
- You were furious then, lips drawn in a line. "You stroll through life like you're indestructible. Like an indestructible- an indestructible blockhead, Leon. Immune to everything: to responsibility, to patience. Always wanting, never listening, never-"
Thinkable thoughts:
- Much like [b:Dune|234225|Dune (Dune Chronicles, #1)|Frank Herbert|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389569143s/234225.jpg|3634639] made me want to look more into the history of the middle east, this novel made me want to learn a lot more about Russia during the time of the USSR.
- As you can see by the wall of text above, I was a really big fan of how the book was written. Its blend of science, history, and just regular human emotion was really intriguing.
- Leon was a tragic character, that I would guess is emotionally stunted to some extent. His fascination with Clara is both kind of romantic, but also a bit disappointing. You would hope that a man of such accomplishment would not be so emotionally crippled, but it's interesting to see that even a very accomplished individual can suffer the same emotional maladies that we all do.
- I don't know if everyone would like this book, but if you're looking for a book that combines history, science, and some good ol' fashion human emotion; it does the trick.
4.5
Review of Netgalley ARC from Bloomsbury - thank you for sending me this free ebook
Release date: July 16th 2015
This book has recently been awarded the Scotiabank Giller Prize, a similar prize in status to the Man Booker, and I can totally understand why.
We follow Leon Tremen (or Lev Theremin) through his life from his lacklustre Communist youth in Russia, to his invention of the theremin – a musical instrument that works by the player manipulating electrical fields with hand movements -to his time living in New York and enjoying fame, and then his not so happy return to Russia as a middle aged man.
This is not a subject I ever thought I would be interested in reading about, but the writing in this book is so fantastic that I found myself reluctant to put it down.
We are always hearing from Lev’s point of view, and much of the novel is a heartbreaking composition to his lost love, Clara. I think the author does a wonderful job of making Lev’s voice removed and distant from emotion by recounting his story in a stoic, Soviet way, but his poetic soul is undeniable and Lev is revealed to be essentially a romantic and not a pragmatist, despite his career as an engineer and inventor.
This also comes across as music is described in this book - not an easy thing to do, but Sean Michaels has managed to convey the ethereal quality of music, especially music conducted from seemingly thin air.
All in all this is a beautifully written, despairing and intriguing novel. I would definitely read more from this author.
Review of Netgalley ARC from Bloomsbury - thank you for sending me this free ebook
Release date: July 16th 2015
This book has recently been awarded the Scotiabank Giller Prize, a similar prize in status to the Man Booker, and I can totally understand why.
We follow Leon Tremen (or Lev Theremin) through his life from his lacklustre Communist youth in Russia, to his invention of the theremin – a musical instrument that works by the player manipulating electrical fields with hand movements -to his time living in New York and enjoying fame, and then his not so happy return to Russia as a middle aged man.
This is not a subject I ever thought I would be interested in reading about, but the writing in this book is so fantastic that I found myself reluctant to put it down.
We are always hearing from Lev’s point of view, and much of the novel is a heartbreaking composition to his lost love, Clara. I think the author does a wonderful job of making Lev’s voice removed and distant from emotion by recounting his story in a stoic, Soviet way, but his poetic soul is undeniable and Lev is revealed to be essentially a romantic and not a pragmatist, despite his career as an engineer and inventor.
This also comes across as music is described in this book - not an easy thing to do, but Sean Michaels has managed to convey the ethereal quality of music, especially music conducted from seemingly thin air.
All in all this is a beautifully written, despairing and intriguing novel. I would definitely read more from this author.
Good, but not amazing. I kind of wonder what the competition was like if this won the Giller Prize, actually. (I think the last winner I read was Lam's Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures and it was much better.)
I was pulled in right away with the book's beautiful—at times, almost languid—prose, simplicity, romance, and its touch of science. The backdrop of Russia and its camps for the last third of the novel was unexpected and hard on the heart (especially as I had just finished Handmaid's Tale and 1984) but was most welcomed. It made me truly feel for Lev and his resilience and heartbreak over his love and his country, especially after the earlier parts which had annoyed and frustrated me with the protagonist's aloofness, avoidant behaviour, and arrogance. I enjoyed reading the parts where Sean described Lev's life in New York; a whimsical, tumultuous, creative whirlpool of culture and artists and love.
So, I was immersed in the novel and enchanted by its beginning, then hardened, saddened, and terrified by its ending. But the story overall did not linger for me. Did not make me think on things deeply as a 5/5 would. I think the two different tones in the book are dramatically too different that it cracks the book in two, makes you feel like you've read two separate stories. I'd prefer more connection between the two parts that is deeper than plot.
So, I was immersed in the novel and enchanted by its beginning, then hardened, saddened, and terrified by its ending. But the story overall did not linger for me. Did not make me think on things deeply as a 5/5 would. I think the two different tones in the book are dramatically too different that it cracks the book in two, makes you feel like you've read two separate stories. I'd prefer more connection between the two parts that is deeper than plot.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I’ve had this book for a long time. I didn’t think I was going to like it, but I did. Oh I did.