Scan barcode
A review by adunten
An Equal Music by Vikram Seth
5.0
Me describing this book to my boss: "It's set in London! With excursions to Vienna and Venice! It's about a violinist and a pianist and a string quartet and has tons of music in it! It's about a long-lost and suddenly rediscovered love! And a devastating secret!"
I finally did it. I re-read my official favorite book, a book that has been gathering dust on my shelf for a good decade – first because I was afraid to re-read it for fear I might not love it as much the second time around (the same way I felt about my favorite movie, A Tale of Two Cities, for quite a long time as well), and later because reading print books had become difficult for me due to chronic eyestrain problems. I searched in vain for an audio narration, which doesn't seem to exist. I recently gave up on the idea of finding an audio narration, put on my reading glasses, and started in.
I'm happy to report it's still a delightful book, even though I'm much more aware now that our narrator-protagonist, Michael Holme, is sort of a selfish jerk. You might remember, in [b:A Tale of Two Cities|1953|A Tale of Two Cities|Charles Dickens|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1344922523l/1953._SY75_.jpg|2956372], how our hero Sydney Carton (my all-time favorite literary hero) does that incredibly noble and unselfish thing so that the woman he loves can be happy and secure with another man. Yeah, Michael Holme is not that guy. He's kind of the opposite of that. And he does some typical dudebro things that make me want to smack him around. But as with Amir, the deeply flawed protagonist of [b:The Kite Runner|77203|The Kite Runner|Khaled Hosseini|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1579036753l/77203._SY75_.jpg|3295919], you don't have to endorse all of his decisions, or even remotely respect them, for it to be an incredible book.
An Equal Music is a deeply sensual story, and I don't mean that in a smutty way, but rather in the sense that it is rich with descriptions of light, color, sound, and most noticeably to me, the flowers that are blooming in any given scene. It is lush. And it has a lovely sort of symmetry throughout that unfurls like a sonata. It's curious that ten years after first reading it, I remember so much of the story so vividly, but had completely forgotten how it ends, so reaching the end was really like reading it for the first time all over again.
I honestly don't know what else to say about it because it's hard for me to explain why I love it so much. I just wish you would read it, and if you hate it, for heaven's sake keep quiet about it.
I finally did it. I re-read my official favorite book, a book that has been gathering dust on my shelf for a good decade – first because I was afraid to re-read it for fear I might not love it as much the second time around (the same way I felt about my favorite movie, A Tale of Two Cities, for quite a long time as well), and later because reading print books had become difficult for me due to chronic eyestrain problems. I searched in vain for an audio narration, which doesn't seem to exist. I recently gave up on the idea of finding an audio narration, put on my reading glasses, and started in.
I'm happy to report it's still a delightful book, even though I'm much more aware now that our narrator-protagonist, Michael Holme, is sort of a selfish jerk. You might remember, in [b:A Tale of Two Cities|1953|A Tale of Two Cities|Charles Dickens|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1344922523l/1953._SY75_.jpg|2956372], how our hero Sydney Carton (my all-time favorite literary hero) does that incredibly noble and unselfish thing so that the woman he loves can be happy and secure with another man. Yeah, Michael Holme is not that guy. He's kind of the opposite of that. And he does some typical dudebro things that make me want to smack him around. But as with Amir, the deeply flawed protagonist of [b:The Kite Runner|77203|The Kite Runner|Khaled Hosseini|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1579036753l/77203._SY75_.jpg|3295919], you don't have to endorse all of his decisions, or even remotely respect them, for it to be an incredible book.
An Equal Music is a deeply sensual story, and I don't mean that in a smutty way, but rather in the sense that it is rich with descriptions of light, color, sound, and most noticeably to me, the flowers that are blooming in any given scene. It is lush. And it has a lovely sort of symmetry throughout that unfurls like a sonata. It's curious that ten years after first reading it, I remember so much of the story so vividly, but had completely forgotten how it ends, so reaching the end was really like reading it for the first time all over again.
I honestly don't know what else to say about it because it's hard for me to explain why I love it so much. I just wish you would read it, and if you hate it, for heaven's sake keep quiet about it.