By Jessie Tu
Please note:
The following contains adult themes (yep, more sex). Please proceed with caution …
The Short Version:
- Summary
- Famous violinist grows up and navigates the world as an adult
- Books ends rather well, room for a sequel but doesn’t actually leave you hanging
- Very realistic character. Highlights the confusion that emotions bring, and reminds us that not everyone figures things out so quickly
- Back and forth between America and Australia
- Aussie author. Thank god I’ve been living here a while and still haven’t dipped my toes into the more local writers’ pool
- Draws from personal experience
- Would recommend to:
- Someone who feels at odds with themselves
- Someone single
- Someone artistic
- Would I read it again?
- Yes, but give me a 5 year gap (minimum) so I can revisit it with better perspective
The Long Version:
I’ve been looking for an excuse to go to the library lately.
I saw a woman reading this book on the tram this morning (16 Feb) and felt drawn to it. Sure enough, finished work early and headed to the library to borrow it (for safe-keeping of course). I showed my QR-code check-in to the lady at the door, the final laborious days of this dreary time-consuming task. She muttered a grumpy thank you; perhaps she knew of what the future would bring. QR codes ruled our lives in Melbourne for quite a long time. They don’t give you the title of “World’s Most Locked Down City” for nothing. Even writing that makes me cringe. Thankfully this book isn’t based in Melbourne so we can take a bit of a break from that.
This book was devoured in mere days. The competitive part of me wanted to see the same woman on the tram, just to prove that I could read faster than her. That shouldn’t matter though, the fact that she was reading at all is fantastic. I’m seeing an exponential increase in people reading and it is truly heart-warming to a lifelong bookworm such as myself. The best moments (when I was single, sorry current boyfriend) was seeing a good-looking guy reading, and performing daring feats of angling oneself just enough to see the book title but not enough to make it overly obvious. I’m the kind of person who is a conversation starter, but public transport will make everyone feel awkward. No one really talks on public transport in Melbourne. I’d love to hear what it’s like in other parts of the world. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this book too, if you’ve read it.
There must be something going on with me and choosing books lately. We’ve outdone ourselves; a sex scene on the very first page (although second paragraph so it can be marginally forgiven). As someone who puts so much emotional feeling behind sex, it’s wonderfully refreshing to gain an insight into what a quick fling is like. Those glorified one night stands that my mother said were so much better in her day because you didn’t have to worry about sexually-transmitted infections and diseases. This book isn’t about sex though, although I could call it a motif. Literary experts please challenge and / or educate me.
The star of the show, Jena Lin is a famous violinist that is just a regular, realistic human at heart. So realistic that we find her early on in a regular pharmacy just trying to buy condoms like a responsible, sexually active adult. We follow her in present adult life, as she tryies to figure out her emotions like the rest of us. As a stereotypical white female, I will never be able to identify with everything her character goes through, but I absolutely love her humanity. We need more characters like her. We need more characters who answer the phone while on the toilet and realise they still have to finish after they hang up. We need more characters who feel their emotions and still cannot define them properly because they are far more complex than people give them credit for. My own mother is still figuring out how to explain what she’s feeling to me sometimes. It’s a journey of emotions.
For a comedic touch to this review, as someone who has lived in Melbourne since before the pandemic, it is so refreshing to hear of other cities where constant protests adorn the streets. Trump has been elected within the setting of this novel and now we will all have some entertaining flashbacks of our own. I was in my 9th year of schooling, probably one of the best years in my memory. It was first period and we were all talking about it. How could we not. The only Muslim girl in my class, Fathima, came charging in, slapped her palms to the table and declared, “Guys Trump got elected, I’m going to die!” We laughed because we were young and it made sense to laugh; because everything was already so ridiculous at that point. I wonder how differently the conversation would have gone as adults. I don’t have a stance in politics, not here in Australia and certainly not in America. Only the politics of my home make sense. All these years later and I still remember that moment so vividly. It’s crazy how we can remember things like these. I always wonder if people remember odd moments about me.
Now for the ending. You’ve seen me mention it at the top and no doubt you were waiting for me to bring it up again. Now while I did yell out “Oh you had to, didn’t you!?”, it wasn’t directed at the author, but rather at the character of Mark. Mark, you could say, is the main love interest in this tale of two cities (but mentions of others as well). Mark concerns the hell out of me on multiple levels, but Jena cannot seem to separate herself from him until he tries to marry her. Yep, it’s that serious. This man is dangerous and I feared for her safety while reading (testamount to how brilliantly his character is written). I do think some part of her loved (still loves?) him, but potentially never let herself register that emotion because she knew she had to protect herself in some regard. Now he does what this kind of character tends to do, he goes back to his ex and marries her in a matter of days. Now I don’t want to tell you the ending (total lie, I’m dying to spill the beans). You should read the book. No, really, you should…
Oh stuff it let me put a spoiler section down here!
(don’t say I didn’t warn you though …)
He calls and leaves a voicemail. That’s how it finishes. That is so unbelievable and gross. Dude is married and still tryna hit up a girl that’s moving to another country. Lot’s of potential there though. Lots. Naturally I’m leaning towards a crazed, jealousy-feuled kidnapping later on; but that’s just me of course. Is this why people write fan-fiction? Do you write, or know anyone who writes, fan-fiction?
End of spoiler section
Favourite Quotes
“When the air around me felt like it was melting, slow, dripping like a Dali painting.”
“There should be a name for that feeling when a question you ask goes unanswered.”
“In my heart, I feel the promise of a love so deep and secure expand into a full, round star, burning and pulsating with each breath.”
“Do you want to be happy? Or do you want to be famous? Because you can’t be both.”
Music Mentioned
- Brahms 4th
- Zubin Mehta
- Schubert
- Ravel
- Copland (the quiet city), Strauss and Marsalis
- Gerry’s Gone Outta Town (band)
- Mozart, Bach. Haydn. “Good. Easy. Predictable melodies.”
- Bach’s Sonato for Solo Violin
- Ravel’s Piano Trio
- Stephen Hough’s performance of Beethoven’s Emperor
- Mahler’s 1st, 4th, 5th symphony
- Beethoven’s 7th & 8th, 9th, violin concerto, romances
- Dvorak’s 9th
- Brahm’s 3rd, Sonata, concerto; Piano Quintet in C minor
- Mozart’s 1st
- David Bowie’s “Modern Love”
- Sarah Caldwell’s 1975 take on Lili Boulanger’s “Faust et Helene”
- “Ginette Neveu when she played the Beethoven Violin Concerto”
- Glazunov
- Mendelssohn violin concerto
- Shostakovich
- Franck
- AC/DC
- Chopin
- Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3
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