Book Review: An Equal Music by VIkram Seth
About the author: Vikram Seth is an Indian novelist and poet, most known for his novels A Suitable Boy and An Equal Music. He has received several awards like the WH Smith Literary Award and the Padma Shri for Literature & Education.
Setting: The setting of this book is mainly in London, but also briefly in Vienna and Venice. It takes place in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Type of narrator: First person narrator.
Summary: Michael Holme is the protagonist of this novel. A 30-something male who plays the second violin in a successful string quartet called the Maggiore Quartet. He grew up in a small town called Rochdale. His father never supported his decision to become a musician. We follow his journey as he reminisces of a girl who studied with him in Vienna who he loved and lost. He reconnects with this girl, Julia in London and discovers that sh is now married and has a child. They realise that the love they once had is still there which just complicates matters. While the author presents the readers with flashbacks of what happened between the couple in Venice and Vienna.
The music aspect of this novel is great as we see what emotions musicians experience and struggle with in the music industry. I won’t spoil too much. I highly recommend this book. The tension has you on the edge of your seat. Every reader will feel personally invested in the characters lives. This is one of those books which leaves you craving more. It impacts you that you feel depressed the rest of the day just because the book came to an end. Also known as a book hangover.
Please go read this amazing novel, written by one of the great writers of our time. I conclude with a quote from An Equal Music:
Music, such music, is a sufficient gift. Why ask for happiness; why hope not to grieve? It is enough, it is to be blessed enough, to live from day to day and to hear such music – not too much, or the soul could not sustain it – from time to time.
AN EQUAL MUSIC – VIKRAM SETH
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