anjumstar's review
4.0
For a story in which not much happens, this book was pretty interesting. But I mean it when I say nothing much happens. It's a lot of narrative about what has happened, but very few big physical things happen in this book's present. But, obviously, this book wasn't going for action or really even plot. I'm not sure exactly how to describe what it was going for, but I'm going to do my best.
We have this theme of a fugue throughout. Using musical themes in book description isn't anything new, but I'm not sure I've ever seen it taken to quite this level. It's like Ms. Singer took the word "fugue" and squeezed every last drop of it into this book. We have Esther, the pianist and talks of literal, musical fugues. We have another pianist, who is in the midst of a psychological fugue state. And then the book itself seems to be somewhat in the style of a fugue.
Like a fugue has different instrumental lines, this book was multi-perspective and seemed to be all about connecting what was similar about these characters who had all come to London, but with some heritage that kept them from really belonging. And right from the prologue (which I think was a daring way to start the book. It's about a minor character that we don't meet for a long time, and I certainly didn't retain any of the prologue for that long. I had to go back and read it to make sense of it.) we get that there's some narrative about identity, given that the 'Piano Man' has lost his.
I had to read this book for class, and we have not yet discussed it. So those are my most basic thoughts before we've gone in depth and I will continue with what has been gleaned below here.
We have this theme of a fugue throughout. Using musical themes in book description isn't anything new, but I'm not sure I've ever seen it taken to quite this level. It's like Ms. Singer took the word "fugue" and squeezed every last drop of it into this book. We have Esther, the pianist and talks of literal, musical fugues. We have another pianist, who is in the midst of a psychological fugue state. And then the book itself seems to be somewhat in the style of a fugue.
Like a fugue has different instrumental lines, this book was multi-perspective and seemed to be all about connecting what was similar about these characters who had all come to London, but with some heritage that kept them from really belonging. And right from the prologue (which I think was a daring way to start the book. It's about a minor character that we don't meet for a long time, and I certainly didn't retain any of the prologue for that long. I had to go back and read it to make sense of it.) we get that there's some narrative about identity, given that the 'Piano Man' has lost his.
I had to read this book for class, and we have not yet discussed it. So those are my most basic thoughts before we've gone in depth and I will continue with what has been gleaned below here.
adrienneturner's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Writing was pretty good and I liked the premise, but it took too long for the plot to get going and I easily found myself losing interest.
abookishtype's review
3.0
Margot Singer’s Underground Fugue is a novel that has not only subtext; it has background melody. In this novel, two parents and two children dance uncomfortably around each other in alternating chapters. Esther has returned to London to care for her terminally ill mother, Lonia. Next door, Javad wonders what his college student son, Amir, is really up to when he disappears late at night. Each chapter contains similar motifs to the one that came before, but with variations like the dueling melodies of a fugue...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from Edelweiss for review consideration.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from Edelweiss for review consideration.
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