The Music of a Life

This is really a treasure of a book. A musician is forced to assume the identity of a dead soldier in Russia during WWII to save his life. It's a tight, taut lyrical little novel that can be read in an afternoon. To say too much about it deprives the reader of the magic that awaits them, so I will just say this: read it. If you like historical fiction you will be enchanted by this lovely small treasure.

A train station like a dot in the snow-covered expanse of the Siberian plains. People, thrown together by chance, patiently waiting hours for the delayed train to Moscow. Reflecting on the crowd as a collective sample of "homo sovieticus", the narrator singles out some individuals. He describes them in minute detail, bringing them alive for the reader. Suddenly, a piano tune, played elsewhere, breaks the multitude of muted... Read Full Review

This story, told in shockingly clear photographs, details the life of a man, ravaged by the war and Stalin's empire, who chooses against what moves his soul in order to save his body. The book is short, but that's what makes it beautiful. The plot is purposefully underdeveloped in writing; Makine provides the reader with pictures of a time and place, gives them a little knowledge about a man, and leaves the rest to the reader... Read Full Review

Andrei Makine's Music of a Life is a slim book, a mere 144 pages. It a simple story, told in a straightfoward, spare fashion. Yet within the framework of this simple story lies a profund piece of work that has an impact on the reader that, like the most beautiful music, lingers long after the last note fades into the night. Makine, for those not familiar with his work, was born in the Soviet Union in 1958. He emigrated to... Read Full Review

This novel is lyrical, wonderully written, economical with language, and deeply emotional. In this age where post-modern writers craft 700 page monsters that are in dire need of editing (of course there are wonderful novels this size, but mostly written before 1970), here is an intimate tale that is excatly as long as the story requires. With all due respect to the two reviews below--ignore them and you won't be sorry. ... Read Full Review