A review by sonia_reppe
The Ensemble by Aja Gabel
4.0
Four members of a competitive string quartet share good times and bad, and become like a family. Spanning grad school to mid-life, from California to NYC (and back), with flashbacks and the multiple viewpoints between the four players, the plot could've been tighter, but Gabel writes well-drawn characters and engaging vignettes. Gabel's novel shows how having a career as a string quartet player means everyone in the quartet affects each others' lives. For instance, to take a job on the East coast, they all have agree yes and move cross-country. It's an interesting life.
I had a hard time believing that Jana became such a successful violin player coming from her situation (a waitress mom who was not a musician). I know that music teachers can have a big influence but we don't get to read about this aspect in Jana's life. (There was one brief mention of a teacher in one sentence). As a reader, I wanted to know more about Jana's path. It is a committed, demanding path in one's youth. Jana found this direction out of nowhere, it seemed.
I believed Henry, the prodigy, although my first thought was: the prodigy is the viola player? I don't know all about the world of competitive classical music, but usually a viola player is someone who plays violin as well, or switches from violin to viola to get a scholarship or something; but Henry was rich, so he wouldn't have needed to do that, and he's a musical genius so why wasn't he a violin player. (Midway through the book, Gabel does admit that there are hardly any viola concertos, but that is all she says about it).
Also, Brit is written as a kind, open, warm-hearted girl, but when we get chapters from her viewpoint, she is just as jaded and unsatisfied as the others, and this got me thinking that all the voices sounded the same. Also, Gabel writes some really long sentences.
But hey, the fact that I'm thinking so much about these characters shows that I was into this book.
I had a hard time believing that Jana became such a successful violin player coming from her situation (a waitress mom who was not a musician). I know that music teachers can have a big influence but we don't get to read about this aspect in Jana's life. (There was one brief mention of a teacher in one sentence). As a reader, I wanted to know more about Jana's path. It is a committed, demanding path in one's youth. Jana found this direction out of nowhere, it seemed.
I believed Henry, the prodigy, although my first thought was: the prodigy is the viola player? I don't know all about the world of competitive classical music, but usually a viola player is someone who plays violin as well, or switches from violin to viola to get a scholarship or something; but Henry was rich, so he wouldn't have needed to do that, and he's a musical genius so why wasn't he a violin player. (Midway through the book, Gabel does admit that there are hardly any viola concertos, but that is all she says about it).
Also, Brit is written as a kind, open, warm-hearted girl, but when we get chapters from her viewpoint, she is just as jaded and unsatisfied as the others, and this got me thinking that all the voices sounded the same. Also, Gabel writes some really long sentences.
But hey, the fact that I'm thinking so much about these characters shows that I was into this book.