I have just finished it. I feel for you Caleb, trying to read in such distracting places. I deliberately read it during quiet times where there were no disturbances and I could concentrate on the language and the feelings.
To me it was a beautiful meditation on love, loss, grief and pain. I loved the way that music was woven through the story, though I can imagine this could be difficult for people who don't know/don't like the music of Brahms. For me it is beautiful, passionate and often quite sad music that fitted perfectly with the dark story and the beautiful language with which it was told.
I loved this sentence from near the end of the book:
Quote:
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Truth grows gradually in us, like a musician who plays a piece again and again until suddenly he hears it for the first time.
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This echoed the ending of T S Eliot's Four Quartets which we read last month:
Quote:
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
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