An Equal Music

So, after shamelessly falling victim to the Twighlight bug and reading parts 1, 2, 3 and 4.. (!!!), I finally decided to pick up Vikram Seth's "An Equal Music" again. That it is SJ's favourite book had a little bit to do with the decision to read the book again because I remembered liking it when I read it in 2000 (gosh! that was ten years ago) but I couldn't say it was even close to being one of my favourites. I wondered if I had been too young then.. and what was so special about the book anyway?!

Now, halfway through the book, I do know that I did not "get it" at age 16! Some of the things I understand more fully now are the way Michael's mind works - the self-obsessive (but endearing) melancholy he indulges himself in, the music and the beauty of what they play (one can almost hear it when he describes how it dips and soars and sounds), the chemistry between the members of the quartet, the scenes of London painted by Seth so lyrically (I want to visit the Orangery at Kensington Gardens!), his sense of humour while writing, such as when Helen says to a waiter "my friend will have some horrible spinach" and the waiter says "we only serve excellent spinach, madam" to which she replies, "well, he will just have to have some of that then". I also like Julia's character - her obvious beauty, the way she plays music, how she would be as a mother - he has described her so vividly that you can almost see her sitting there, playing the piano, unhearing, attentive to her memory but lost in the music she is creating. Even the bits about Luke, the child, are small yet well written. You can sense his irritation at his mother and yet his devotion to and protectiveness of her.

In the first 100 or so pages, the book made me very sad. It makes you miss someone, without there necessarily being anyone to miss, so deep is Michael's grief, even ten years after having lost touch with Julia. Then I wondered if anyone ever actually loves someone else like that, especially in this day and age. Will I ever feel like that? At some level I find myself thinking the book is just mush. It's like a grown up Eric Segal, but then I think that Seth has a way with words. He makes me sit up and read, way past the stage where my eyes are closing with exhaustion.. I carry the book with me on my daily shaadi-shopping jaunts, in the hope that there will be time in the day when I can grab some time to read some more! When my mother is following me around the house with a list of chores, I hide in the loo to read An Equal Music. It is not that it is suspenseful or that I want to know what happens next... its just the way it transports you to this place where there is music, soft sunlight, grey skies, dark green leaves, long overcoats, rain, more music, sadness, happiness, uncertainty, longing and then more music. I find myself looking up and listening to the music the quartet plays..trying to see if I can identify the parts that Seth describes so wonderfully well. I also find myself being grateful that I have the time to immerse myself in a book like this and to have the time to listen to the music. I understand now what he meant when he said "when i read an equal music i felt the whole book was cocooned in this soft melancholic violin." 


I dont want to analyse or "review" the book. I just wanted to write about it because I'm enjoying it so much and am so happy to be reading it again. I love stories for the sake of stories, especially when they're so bursting with relationships!