Happy Pub Day to 5+ stars

5 + stars

I love stories of pianists or artists going beyond themselves for the sake of their obsession with the art. I was very young when I watched Amadeus, and it made such an impression on me, I still can't play Mozart without feeling a deep loneliness when his music was mostly playful.

This novel has many layers, but one is very focused on suicide and on how different it is to be a male in the industry or a woman (classical music or not, it happens a lot). The author gives a lot of amazing references, including John Cage's prepared piano; If you don't know, he used bolts and more to change the sound of pianos, and he is well known for his avant-garde 4 minutes of silence in a song. This is an ode to all musicians who are tormented in living their lives, being just an interpreter of the classics vs a composer of new pieces, the jealousy of seeing others get one ray of sunshine, when it demands so much but so much of them. Not just hours and hours of sacrifice and practice.

P.S. I loved her reaction to the "asthma" attack scene. The end was brutal.