Rating: 
Summary: Immaculate description of flawed charecters
Review: While reading the reader can't help loathing the protagonist, and his lover, but gradual unfolding of the characters makes one realise the natural flaws of human nature and how one tries to justify it, coming to terms with oneself in the end, after going through a screeching self afflicted melodramatic recluse. In fact, the melodrama here is technically very well handled to bring out the natural shortcomings of the cahracters. Even a person not passionate about classical chamber music will feel the passion of musician, or any artist in general, riding the troughs and crests of the the great creations, trying to clasp that elusive 'something' which a one fathoms momentarily while coming across a beautiful piece of art but can't hold on to it. On the negative side, this book could have done with better editing with some middle portions seeming to drag on forever, but on the whole, definitely a very good book.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully Written
Review: This book works on so many levels that it is hard to pin down its essence. The story is taut, the imagery is compelling, the themes are thought-provoking and I can't stop recommending this book to my friends. If you are a person with an appreciation of music, this is a book for you. If you like love stories, this is a good one. If you prefer beautifully written prose, there's plenty in these pages. If you are looking for a story tied up neatly with a bow, you should probably look elsewhere. Happy reading!
Rating: 
Summary: Confusion all the way
Review: What a confused character!The music part is only an artificial add on to create an interest among musicians.I am surprised musicians read this book.If this is their life,God forbid!There is a violonist who cannot affored to buy a violin.There is another who can but has to sell his house.There is a heroin who is deaf and married and a cool adultress.The American banker husband is so understanding.After 10 years this guy suddenly starts stalking his exlove whom he had left for some flimsy reason.Vow! This book is like one of those missiles you find at village carnivals which goes up and quietly dies.Seth has no deep knowledge of lovers' relationships nor does he know much about music.He could either stick to soap operas like The Suitable Boy or to fine verse like The Golden Gate.He needs more exposure to write novels.Or better still he could be an editor,fixing up others' language skills.I wish the reviewers would be honest.The fact that Salman Rushdie and Arundhati Roy are great writers doesn't mean that Seth is too.A big disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: Love & Music Relationships
Review: For anyone who find Love & music combine, & thrive together. I offer to read this book.The story is about people, whose music is a great part of their lives. How they share (& part) their emotions to it. Through the eyes of the character Michael - a selfish emotional tale. Written by a man who knows how to write.
Rating:
Summary: Second violin
Review: A wonderful book for all those who know and love classical music. The characters are often irritating, exasperating and unlogical in their behaviour - which gives this novel the ring of truth. Of course the real key to the book is Michael's role as second violinist. A flawed character, who has the talent to be a soloist - but lacks the background and confidence. Which leads him to abandon Julia - until, with her, he also plays the second violin. Who stands on the edge of becoming first violin, both in life, and in music, but lacks the courage to take this leap. Which leads him to take the path of music, rather than love, and seek fulfilment, rather than happiness. He seems not to understand why he always ends up in this role - but the reader does. There are many plots and sub plots in the book, delicately and convincingly entwined. And the finish was for me most credible. Not "happy end", not trajedy, but just what one would expect of a second violinist......... And therein is concealed a message for many of us.
Rating:
Summary: It was readable.
Review: I was able to get through the thing with no problem, so I'll give it two stars. There are lots of books out there that can't even offer that. "An Equal Music" did hold my interest. It wasn't one of those "can't put it down" pieces, but it was perfectly good reading for the commute to work and back. The book's size, not like "A Suitable Boy" (which I loved), made it portable, too! That having been said, the characters were extremely one-dimensional and not at all sympathetic. Michael and Julia are obvious illustrations of this. What a couple of selfish, self-pitying whiners! Shouldn't ol' Mike have gotten his head examined for wallowing in unrequited love 10 years after the fact? I was hoping he'd just kill himself at the end. Or better yet, somewhere near the beginning. No such luck. And what about Julia's stupid kid? He really annoyed me for some reason. Him and his damned riddle book. Seriously, what a hack job at portraying a child. The whole thing reaked of melodrama, which was a huge problem for me. The allusions to music compounded this quality. Yuck.
Rating:
Summary: A regular PC novel
Review: I have a bright idea. There ought to be a code of conduct for established authors under which they would, when publishing a new work, use a pseudonym. If the book succeds, their agent can reveal the true identity of the author. Otherwise, well, it is up to them. Wouldn't this help us poor readers who are always being ripped off by aggressive publishers? Take me, for instance. I bought not one, but two copies of "An Equal Music" (one as a gift for my sister-in-law who, incidentally, has not been very chummy since). This, when I skip lunch some days, I am so hard up. What a disappointment. If Seth is so passionate about music, why can't he COMPOSE a piece, either for the Maggiore, or a flesh and blood group? About Michael and Julia, all I can say is that I couldn't make up my mind who deserved a kick in the rear more. Michael, for his obsession with himself, or Julia for her silent self pity. The rest of the characters, I must admit, are not as irritating as these two. I wonder why Julia's dad simply doesn't tell Michael that Julia is married, to avoid being pestered for her address? Parts of the novel read like a poor copy of "The End of the Affair" and for heaven's sake, isn't it a cheap trick to drag in old Lady Thatcher, unlovely as she is? Culture is going to the dogs not because of some right wing conspiracy, but because we have (most of us at any rate) decided that the rat-race is more important. Teach me not to go by big names (or patriotic impuses) in buying books in future.
Rating:
Summary: Uneven at best
Review: I finally succumbed to the praises heaped on this book by critics and readers alike, and found myself finishing the thing only because I'd paid for it. What was called a "superb picture of the international music scene" amounted to nothing more than a tired reiteration of the same over-romanticized, melodramatic and stereotypical view of the music world as has been uttered before. Real musicians do not behave or work in the manner Seth would have us believe, and the transcendental experience of performance is nothing like the affected, auto-erotic one he describes. In addition, his characters are all arch-conservative artists of the if-it's-not-Schubert-it's-trash variety, a breed of performer that simply doesn't exist anymore. His constant derogatory pokes at modern music were unfunny and uninformed at best and, to a composer's ears, offensive at worst. It's this type of Time-Life record club mentality that has promoted the stagnation of artistic progress in music, and I would think that a novelist of Seth's stature would be more sympathetic to the activities in other fields of contemporary art. I would also think that any author writing a novel about world whose inner workings he does know would spend more time researching his material rather turn immediately to the cliched. Far beyond my gripes about the technical content was the writing. The principal characters were shallow, cut-out and uninvolving (with a few minor exceptions), their relationships contrived and melodramatic and ultimately offputting. The romance was slightly compelling, but frankly, I was more interested in whether the principal character, Michael, would be able to keep his loaned violin. Although Seth's prose does manage to take flight sometimes, for the most part it reads like Khalil Gibran at his most gushy. Since this is the first book of Vikram Seth's I have read, I will gladly give him another chance at some point, but I will never recommend this one to anybody, musician or not.
Rating: 
Summary: PRETENTIOUS & BORING
Review: I was SO disappointed in this book. The characters were whiney and unrealistic, scenes were sloppy, characters not developed or stereotypical. Plus the whole story was just ludicrous - Michael never sufficiently explains why he left Julia nor does he sufficiently make up for it - it's just all about his selfish wants...ugh, I couldn't wait to finish this book...almost didn't. The only thing I really liked was the opening poem by John Donne
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.
|
