Brother of Sleep

I first read this book in German for a college course seven years ago and have not been able to forget about it since then. The description of life in an isolated village, and what happens to a genius who emerges there, is thought-provoking. What happens when a genius is born into surroundings of people who cannot (or will not) appreciate him? What if he has no way of leaving a record? Skip the movie, which sacrifices much of the book's reflectiveness and grace in favor of soap opera love triangles and disastrous fires, and buy the book!PS Any organist who has not read this should be ashamed of himself, but the writing is so evocative that non-musicians will understand (and even hear) the virtuosity of the main character.

I looked into it at a friends. Then I startet reading and was hooked! I finished it the next morning. It is one of the best books i've ever read! So I read it again, and again, ...

this book is in my opinion a book of the category "the parfum" from patrick süskind, a praise of the senses. it s a story of high talented young man which goes, against all odds, his way of musical carreer... without performances in big operas or concert halls, but with a never heard perfection in harmony, a divine like artist who is going to confuse his "simple" world around. it is written in a never seen quantity of neverheard words, in the search of trying to transform this divine harmonies into words. ...a word opera...

Reading the first sentence tells you what will be at the end of the final paragraph, and yet....passion in between those pages is unmatched by any pen. A must for outcasts, atheists, religious zealots and musicians....for everyone who holds a flame of any kind....poets and artistes to the hard of heart. You will be in tears.

this book is one of the best books i've ever read. since i've just read the german editon, i will soon order the english one. there is also a movie to this book, but the movie just destroies your whole imagination of this wonderful book. so, don't watch the movie, but read the book.