Rating: 
Summary: Elegant language, gentle narrative, satisfying end
Review: I don't know much about western classical music- but it was no drawback. This book gives tremendous insight into the minds and inter-relationships of the quartet of musicians (and more). As a love story it is very satisfying- especially the end- which is extremely graceful and peaceful. The single shock device in the narrative seems contrived for a while, but is then explored adequately. The other characters are wonderfully realised- Michael's father, Mrs.Formby, the violin maker etc. The obsession for music is there in all its passion, glory and frustration- and if you have any obsession in your life (not just music) you will understand it and sympathise and identify with the main character. As with Nick Hornby's soccer (Fever Pitch) and music (High Fidelity). The last time I felt so much at peace during and after reading a book was when I read Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro- Japanese writer with British characters- another similarity)- and after seeing a film, it was with Babette's Feast- can't explain this! Vikram Seth need not worry about the Booker prize- with his versatility, sensitivity and understanding of human behaviour, he has Nobel prize potential, in the long run and at this rate. Strongly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect for chamber music lovers
Review: The main character in this entertaining novel, Michael Holmes, is an immature whiner with great talent and passion. In fact, Vikram Seth has given us a cast of very talented and plausible characters who act with passion, who are driven by the need to find the exquisite, and who are changed forever by their encounters with this passion. And who among us, like Michael, hasn't acted dumbly when we think we're in love and that love goes bad and our lives go bad with it? I know I have. I know I've been selfish, dumb, self-pitying. But in these politically correct and psychologically healthy days it's a sin to give in to emotions. One must behave like a "healthy" person, move on, take Prozac, and just GET OVER IT! I wonder, however, if artists, musicians, and novelists were always rational and just "got over" things, would great and meaningful art ever have been created? But about this book: It is a fine entertainment, beautifully composed and easy to read. Yes, it has some minor flaws, some redundancies, but this work overall accomplishes a whole lot. I was very pleased to meet all its characters and live among them for a while. I even went off to my local music store and got the Haydn string quartet that Michael loved so much. I highly recommend this novel to anyone, but especially to those who love Bach and chamber music.
Rating:
Summary: There's love in music or music in love or both......
Review: I was going to tackle Vikram Seth's magnus opus "A Suitable Boy" but being deeply suspicious of big (often overwritten) books, I chickened out when I saw how voluminous it was. So I did the next best thing and plumbed for "An Equal Music (AEM)" and oh...what pure unadulterated joy to read some of the most beautiful, luscious and lyrically luminous prose ever to have graced the printed page. Seth is surely a master of the written word. So, believe the reviewers when they wax lyrical about Seth's eloquence or come seemingly close to overstatement with their claims that Seth's writing IS music or at least transmogrified into the music he so articulately writes about. There's more good news. While classical music lovers will be blissfully lost in seventh heaven with Seth - himself no doubt a music afficionado - the musically ignorant won't feel in the least alienated because music is only a metaphor for the love story that lies at the centre of AEM. The friction and endless struggles among members of the Maggiore quartet mirror perfectly the emotional twists and turns Michael and Julia endure in their tentative attempts to re-engage after a fateful misunderstanding in Vienna which led to the sudden and tempestuous break up in their relationship many years ago. The story is really about love, lost and found and the ownership of love. Julia was never Michael's to have. The violin on loan from an elderly neighbour clearly was. Though a resounding critical success, the novel in my view peaks out too early, so that for much of the middle section it feels like it's treading water as the plot runs out of steam and starts to sag. Seth couldn't sustain the high he hit with an amazing account of how Michael researched and sleuthed his way through virtually every second hand record dealer in London in search of that elusive string quintet in C minor by Beethoven, coveted his treasure only to lose it the same day when he spots Julia sitting in a bus that's moving alongside his own in London. After a rather turgid (some would say mildly tiresome) middle section, Seth recovers some of the lost dramatic impetus with a marvellously observed auction scene that has all the nail-chewing excitement of the real event. You feel your palms sweating and tiny beads of perspiration gathering on the crown of your forehead as he tells it. Piers didn't land the item he was eyeing but that's no tragedy - Seth seems to be saying - because there's no love in his life. Michael, on the other hand, may have lost Julia even before the story began, but because there's love, he gains something immeasurably precious to him to remind him of that love. There's love in music, or music in love. Or both. Whichever. "An Equal Music" is a wondrous piece of fictional writing that will surely endure. It shouldn't be missed.
Rating: 
Summary: False Notes, alas
Review: As a music-lover, amateur musician, Anglophile and devoted fan of "A Suitable Boy", I expected great things from this book. The basic ingredients seemed so promising: a peek into the lives of professional musicians and a tribute to the joys of classical music. Unfortunately, this book just didn't take off for me. There is the odd moment when Seth's feted "poetic prose" lifts the book, but only for a moment. Most of the time it just plods along. It's hard to pinpoint exactly why the book fails. My one take is that his characters, particularly the central character of Michael, do not ring true. Having lived a few years in England, I presumptuously think I know what I'm talking about when I say that Michael and company just don't feel like genuine British folk, who are anyway notoriously complex and difficut to get down right. The characterisations are unconvincing, and the dialogue sounds false to my ear. Perhaps "A Suitable Boy" and "The Golden Gate" worked better because they sprang respectively from his own home experience, and his years living and studying in California. Perhaps he need to restrict the exercise of his undoubted talents to settings for which he has an intuitive and innate feel for. Perhaps another reason why this book fails is because it has nothing truly original to say; but neither did "A Suitable Boy", which was gripping notwithstanding it simply related realistic happenings in ordinary lives - which brings me back to my original theory which is that it is Seth's inadequate feel of the characters which inhibits him in "Equal Music". Many complain of the whineyness of Michael, but it is entirely Mr Seth's prerogative to create a whimpy character if he so wishes. His failure rather is in that he does not make me sympathise with Michael, as a skilled writer in full exercise of his prowess surely could with even fundamentally unsympathetic characters. Finally, perhaps it is hard to get into the emotional stream of the book unless one is very familiar with all the various pieces of music; Milan Kundera in "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" was a lot more successful in his use of Beethovan's Fifth Symphony as a metaphor, but then everyone knows That bit of music. Perhaps Bach's Art of the Fugue is too obscure.
Rating:
Summary: Superbly sensitive!
Review: I must admit, I've never been an ardent fan of classical music and never learned to play an instrument. As I read the book, however, for the first time in my life, I wished I had. Seth's descriptive, highly sensitive, almost poetic writing allows readers like myself to catch a glimpse of the world of classical instrumental music, from the inside. One's heart goes out to Julia for her loss, and also for the fact that she still loved Michael and allowed him to take advantage of that fact. I do not agree with reader Graciella Lopez' review of this book. Seth does not expect the readers to love or admire the character of Michael Holme, but to understand and may be even pity him a bit. Though a good musician, Michael's a selfish loner and rather a loser; there are many men like that out there! The major characters in a good book do not have to be perfect or even lovable. As long as they are recognizable as real, and are capable of drawing some sort of emotion from the reader, they make the book interesting. I strongly recommend this book to all readers, classical music lovers or otherwise, for Seth's writing is superb. This is the perfect book to curl up with on a cold night in front of a crackling fireplace, with Beethoven, Bach or Schubert on the stereo system if possible!
Rating: 
Summary: Pensive writing with a substandard plot..........
Review: I am a classical music fanatic, thus the reason why I secured a copy of this book. Vikram Seth has a way with words and I admire his flair for writing but frankly this time, I really didn't enjoy reading this book because of the plot (A Suitable Boy was really his opus). Michael Holmes (main character) is a selfish, egotistical and insensitive man. He tries to win back Julia (his ex-girlfriend) --- a love that he once had but eventually lost. Circumstances were different when they met each other again because Julia was already married. He had his chance to be with her before but he blew it. I cannot understand why he wants to ruin Julia's life (a life which involves a husband and a son) in order to satisfy his wants and longings. At his age, Michael can be so immature --- he definitely needs to grow-up! If not for my passion for quality music --- I would not have finished reading the book. Well, it was delightful to know that inspite of Julia's handicap --- she was determined to play music. She did not consider her being deaf a deterrent to what she loves doing most. I hope that the author will be able to write a new novel as striking as A Suitable Boy. An Equal Music falls flat in comparison.
Rating:
Summary: There's love in music or music in love or both......
Review: I was going to tackle Vikram Seth's magnus opus "A Suitable Boy" but being deeply suspicious of big (often overwritten) books, I chickened out when I saw how voluminous it was. So I did the next best thing and plumbed for "An Equal Music (AEM)" and oh...what pure unadulterated joy to read some of the most beautiful, luscious and lyrically luminous prose ever to have graced the printed page. Seth is surely a master of the written word. So, believe the reviewers when they wax lyrical about Seth's eloquence or come seemingly close to overstatement with their claims that Seth's writing IS music or at least transmogrified into the music he so articulately writes about. There's more good news. While classical music lovers will be blissfully lost in seventh heaven with Seth - himself no doubt a music afficionado - the musically ignorant won't feel in the least alienated because music is only a metaphor for the love story that lies at the centre of AEM. The friction and endless struggles among members of the Maggiore quartet mirror perfectly the emotional twists and turns Michael and Julia endure in their tentative attempts to re-engage after a fateful misunderstanding in Vienna which led to the sudden and tempestuous break up in their relationship many years ago. The story is really about love, lost and found and the ownership of love. Julia was never Michael's to have. The violin on loan from an elderly neighbour clearly was. Though a resounding critical success, the novel in my view peaks out too early, so that for much of the middle section it feels like it's treading water as the plot runs out of steam and starts to sag. Seth couldn't sustain the high he hit with an amazing account of how Michael researched and sleuthed his way through virtually every second hand record dealer in London in search of that elusive string quintet in C minor by Beethoven, coveted his treasure only to lose it the same day when he spots Julia sitting in a bus that's moving alongside his own in London. After a rather turgid (some would say mildly tiresome) middle section, Seth recovers some of the lost dramatic impetus with a marvellously observed auction scene that has all the nail-chewing excitement of the real event. You feel your palms sweating and tiny beads of perspiration gathering on the crown of your forehead as he tells it. Piers didn't land the item he was eyeing but that's no tragedy - Seth seems to be saying - because there's no love in his life. Michael, on the other hand, may have lost Julia even before the story began, but because there's love, he gains something immeasurably precious to him to remind him of that love. There's love in music, or music in love. Or both. Whichever. "An Equal Music" is a wondrous piece of fictional writing that will surely endure. It shouldn't be missed.
Rating: 
Summary: An Equal Music
Review: I have just finished this incredible book and will read it again many times. I am a professional pianist and I was thrilled to read a novel with so much knowledge of music. I felt like I was playing with the quartet! I also agonized with Julia - I can't imagine no longer hearing either the music I play or others. She was dealing with so much grief - the loss of her hearing and ending the relationship with Michael. The only problem I had with the book is like some of the other reviewers have pointed out, I got tired of Michael's self-pity in regard to Julia. I found myself wanting to tell him to grow up & get on with his life, but knowing how sensitive we musicians are, I could understand his agony. I also didn't feel their original break-up was explained in enough detail. But my feelings on these issues wouldn't make me discourage anyone from reading the book. It's wonderful and I'm ordering Seth's, "A Suitable Boy", today. He is a superb writer and will win many deserved awards, I'm sure. I'm so glad I found him. Thank you, Mr. Seth!
Rating:
Summary: Accurate tale of music and change
Review: I couldn't put this book down, and then I listened to ***the CD which accompanies this novel*** You see, Vikram Seth has not only got inside the mind of a musician, but he has also got inside the mind of a musician *going deaf*. How do I know? Because Julia's experiences are exactly those that I have experienced. I spent most of my life singing in choirs, making music in orchestras, teaching music to kids of all ages, studying Music at University level, and enjoying all forms of ensemble music-making, but one day realised that I wasn't hearing properly. So, having had hearing aids fitted, the next stage of my "soundscape" began. I moved from absence of sounds to distortion of sounds. Just like Julia I no longer enjoy ensemble work because there is just too much "noise" with hearing aids in, and uncertainty and lack of confidence with them not in. Visual cues are an integral part of hearing, much more than ever before. Julia doesn't lose her ability to make and live music - she loses her confidence to do it with others. I picked Julia may have been deaf before the text got there. When you understand the "going deaf" process, the clues are there. I found myself reading the relevant parts out to my family as I got to them, and was able to tell them that *this* really is what it's like. My family have read the book now too, so they have a better understanding of coping with a family member losing their hearing. In this regard Michael's reactions are perceptive and accurate - these *are* the reactions those around me had to my telling them I was losing my hearing. Like Julia, though, going deaf just means you need to change direction, career-wise, and the author gives her just the right amount of hope by the end of the novel. I heartily recommend "An Equal Music" if you enjoy music, especially chamber music, if you are experiencing losing your hearing, and if someone close to you is losing their hearing.
Rating:
Summary: Mesmerizing
Review: An amazing book to HEAR on audio. Reader Alan Bates is Michael and brings him to life as a selfish, quirky, sometimes charming character. The best part: you hear the music; played just when you want to hear it.
|
