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Feb. 29th, 2004 09:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariIt's book review time again:
Mr. Vertigo, by Paul Auster
This book is wonderful. It starts out in the 1920s and is the story of Walt Rawley, a nine-year-old orphan from St. Louis who throws his lot in with Master Yehudi, a mysterious man who promises to teach Walt to fly. Within two years, Walt has indeed learned to fly, and he and Master Yehudi tour America with a stage show in which "Walt the Wonder Boy" exhibits his talent.
One of the best things about this book is Auster's unique way with language. The story is narrated by Walt, and his voice and choice of words and expressions sound much more like the way people spoke and expressed themselves in early twentieth century America. People just don't talk like that anymore. The other great thing is that the book touches on several myths about America and American life. The most important one of these is the whole Horatio Alger, bootstrapping idea that no matter how low a person starts in life, there is no limit to how successful he can become. And no matter how far that person subsequently falls, he can always start over and get a new chance at life. Mr. Vertigo also addresses American myths about show business, wealth, and old-fashioned gangsters.
The whole book feels like a Tom Waits song. The characters and events are exactly what you would expect Waits to sing about. since I'm a big Tom Waits fan, this made the book a extra delight.
On Saturday night, I went to a concert by Auros, a local new music group. The concert was very good. I was particularly pleased to hear Elliot Carter's "A Mirror on Which to Dwell". I had studied it in one of my classes at Boston Conservatory, and I really like the piece. Carter's style can be quite difficult to grasp, but I think his extremely good understanding and setting of the Elizabeth Bishop poems in this piece help make the music more comprehensible. Oddly enough, the only piece on the program I didn't like was Shulamit Ran's setting of Plath's "Apprehensions". Ran, after all, teaches at my first choice graduate school, and I've been told I would like her music. I guess she composes in other styles. At any rate, I especially disliked the fact that the piece took a lot of liberties with the text, pretty much rearranging the poem. I prefer to keep the poem as intact as possible in order to (hopefully) preserve the poet's intentions and meaning. The words must be something other than a prop for one's musical ideas or compositional technique. Otherwise, it seems one might as well use the ingredient list on a can of soup.
Mr. Vertigo, by Paul Auster
This book is wonderful. It starts out in the 1920s and is the story of Walt Rawley, a nine-year-old orphan from St. Louis who throws his lot in with Master Yehudi, a mysterious man who promises to teach Walt to fly. Within two years, Walt has indeed learned to fly, and he and Master Yehudi tour America with a stage show in which "Walt the Wonder Boy" exhibits his talent.
One of the best things about this book is Auster's unique way with language. The story is narrated by Walt, and his voice and choice of words and expressions sound much more like the way people spoke and expressed themselves in early twentieth century America. People just don't talk like that anymore. The other great thing is that the book touches on several myths about America and American life. The most important one of these is the whole Horatio Alger, bootstrapping idea that no matter how low a person starts in life, there is no limit to how successful he can become. And no matter how far that person subsequently falls, he can always start over and get a new chance at life. Mr. Vertigo also addresses American myths about show business, wealth, and old-fashioned gangsters.
The whole book feels like a Tom Waits song. The characters and events are exactly what you would expect Waits to sing about. since I'm a big Tom Waits fan, this made the book a extra delight.
On Saturday night, I went to a concert by Auros, a local new music group. The concert was very good. I was particularly pleased to hear Elliot Carter's "A Mirror on Which to Dwell". I had studied it in one of my classes at Boston Conservatory, and I really like the piece. Carter's style can be quite difficult to grasp, but I think his extremely good understanding and setting of the Elizabeth Bishop poems in this piece help make the music more comprehensible. Oddly enough, the only piece on the program I didn't like was Shulamit Ran's setting of Plath's "Apprehensions". Ran, after all, teaches at my first choice graduate school, and I've been told I would like her music. I guess she composes in other styles. At any rate, I especially disliked the fact that the piece took a lot of liberties with the text, pretty much rearranging the poem. I prefer to keep the poem as intact as possible in order to (hopefully) preserve the poet's intentions and meaning. The words must be something other than a prop for one's musical ideas or compositional technique. Otherwise, it seems one might as well use the ingredient list on a can of soup.
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Date: 2004-02-29 08:48 pm (UTC)