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A review by shariki
The Ensemble by Aja Gabel
4.0
My choice for book club! I've wanted to read this for almost two years so I'm glad I finally got the chance. Reading The Ensemble started out slowly for me, and I'll admit that it took me a while to get into it: I read the first 50% in two weeks, and the last 50% in one night. C'est la vie!
This book was really interesting and conflicting for me. I am usually not as drawn to male protagonists when there are perfectly good female characters waiting for me to analyze and adore them, so color me surprised when my favorite character turned out to be Henry! Brit and Jana were also great, but I felt that they were less developed unfortunately. I was happy that Kimiko got a chapter to herself and some character traits other than the dutiful wife/mom. Daniel sucked for the first half of the book, and became only tolerable in the remainder. I wanted to relate to his background, but he was so combative and also dismissive to the women in his life that I just... couldn't.
I wasn't in love with how the book was structured. The book takes us through almost 20 years with the Van Ness, but we only heard from each character's POV every 10 years. There was a lot that happened between Jana's 1994 chapters and 2003 chapter, for instance. I think that the characters (their motivations, desires, etc) would have been clearer to me if each person had a chapter in each section of the book, or once every few years. This was the only thing that kept me from giving The Ensemble five stars. That, and Daniel's obsession with areolas in his first chapter (do you WANT me to hate his character??).
Anyways, I still loved this book. As a girl who had a two-year stint as an elementary school violinist, I loved hearing about the classical music world and the intricacies of playing as a quartet. I think that there are some similarities with singing in a choir/acapella group, which I had more experience with. Finding the right sound is so important! I loved the themes of families and found families. I loved the SF and NYC settings, of course. Most of all, I loved the friendship of these four very different people, bound together with creativity and the love of their craft, to create beautiful and meaningful art.
This book was really interesting and conflicting for me. I am usually not as drawn to male protagonists when there are perfectly good female characters waiting for me to analyze and adore them, so color me surprised when my favorite character turned out to be Henry! Brit and Jana were also great, but I felt that they were less developed unfortunately. I was happy that Kimiko got a chapter to herself and some character traits other than the dutiful wife/mom. Daniel sucked for the first half of the book, and became only tolerable in the remainder. I wanted to relate to his background, but he was so combative and also dismissive to the women in his life that I just... couldn't.
I wasn't in love with how the book was structured. The book takes us through almost 20 years with the Van Ness, but we only heard from each character's POV every 10 years. There was a lot that happened between Jana's 1994 chapters and 2003 chapter, for instance. I think that the characters (their motivations, desires, etc) would have been clearer to me if each person had a chapter in each section of the book, or once every few years.
Spoiler
For instance, I would have loved to see Brit's POV during Daniel's first failed marriage. I know that we see some of her reaction through other characters, but it wasn't enough for me. Some other things I would've liked to be explored more were the Henry/Daniel dynamic at the beginning of the book, and how Jana came to the decision to suddenly adopt a child.Anyways, I still loved this book. As a girl who had a two-year stint as an elementary school violinist, I loved hearing about the classical music world and the intricacies of playing as a quartet. I think that there are some similarities with singing in a choir/acapella group, which I had more experience with. Finding the right sound is so important! I loved the themes of families and found families. I loved the SF and NYC settings, of course. Most of all, I loved the friendship of these four very different people, bound together with creativity and the love of their craft, to create beautiful and meaningful art.