Wow! I truly enjoyed this book. I struggled with giving it 4 or 5 stars. I'm not sure that I've come across a story quite like this one and it was nice to read something fresh. Too often do I encounter books that are simply re-creations of tried and true story lines. Okay, yes - it was a love story of sorts and don't they all tend to follow the same agonizing paths before they get to the end? Well, yes - usually. But, the premise behind this story was something quite refreshing. The 4 main characters found themselves tormented, tortured and desiring more from their lives. Their journey within the music world was quite interesting and it painted a picture in which I could believe these 4 people actually exist.

On a few occasions, I found the story becoming bogged down with bits and pieces that could have been streamlined so that it flowed a little more smoothly and kept pace a little better, but that didn't detract too much from this story of love, lust, music, and personal growth.

Thank you Matthew Gallaway for allowing me to read this book - I will certainly look forward to more from you. ( )

Okay. I read this novel in two days. And I was totally captivated by it. And it all revolves around Wagner's huge opera Tristan und Isolde. Gallaway is an amazing writer considering this is his first novel. The structure is complicated with a constant change of time periods. He pulls it off. Even made me laugh. I'm not an opera fan, but this novel made me want to find a filmed version of the opera or a recording. ( )

I was intrigued with an opera being the center of a book's plot. As I read this book, I was impressed with how the author moved between the different stories, but still "moved" the overall plot forward. All of the characters seemed not to care about the consequences of their actions, but simply lived life to the fullest.

Gallaway's portrayal of the typical New Yorker reacting to the events of 9/11 through Martin definitely resonated with me. While I wasn't in New York that day, I lived in within an hour of the city at the time of the attacks. I saw many of my coworkers and friends react and try to cope with the what happened that morning.

I had a hard time relating to Anna and felt that she was the least developed character. I expected to learn more about her as the book progressed. Maria was an interesting character, but continued to be troubled even as an adult.

Lucien provided a good perspecive on life in a different century and how the focus back then was on different priorities - building new places and cities. It's easy to forget that the grandeur of Europe wasn't there initially and it had to be developed.

I found a hard time relating to most of the characters and found that if there hadn't been the mystery of the opera's influence on their lives I would have had a hard time reading this book.

The story focuses on four characters and each chapter gives us a look into their life. The book revolves around the opera of Tristan and Isolde. I am not an opera fan and worried I may not enjoy this book, but that was far from the case. As the storyline moves along, we slowly learn how these characters are connected. When I first started reading this book, it took me about 20 pages or so before I was hooked. The writing style felt a little awkward to me. But then the story took off and I didn't want to put it down. We are introduced to Martin, a 41 year old lawyer who feels disconnected from his life. Then we meet Anna, who used to be a big opera star. Their is also Maria, a lonely teenager who has nothing in common with her classmates, but instead learns to embrace her singing and finally, Lucien, a young singer who lives in the late 1800s. These characters stories weave together throughout the book. I highly recommend! ( )

Spoilers!! – sort of??

I enjoyed this book – but I had high expectations, so I was rather disappointed. The narrative follows several characters connected in tangential ways and also through their association with Wagner’s monumental, revolutionary opera Tristan and Isolde. Martin is a disaffected lawyer trying to navigate a post-9/11 NYC as well as his own detachment from life and love, Maria is a former high school outcast trying to harness her talent as a singer the 70s and 80s, Lucien – living in mid 19th c Paris – despises school, trains as a singer, and gets a chance to be in the first performance of T&I. There was another character, Anna who, after triumphing as Isolde in the 60s, disappears for a bit from the plot. That was one odd thing with the switching plots. Another was the structure of the Martin narrative. Martin’s story follows him over the course of one day as he thinks about his past, so there was a lot of jumping between time periods there. Presumably, the author didn’t want to have two similar juxtaposed coming of age sections with him and Maria. Lucien’s at least was different because of the time period – that one was a fun comparison, since it showed him with all too modern school irritations. The divided plots also made it hard to develop all the characters and care about side characters. The protagonists experience some significant losses, but it’s hard to feel much, since there just isn’t enough time spent on the supporting cast. Also, the next section dealing with that character often jumps ahead some years, further minimizing losses. I would have liked to have read more about Maria’s struggles to move from student to singer – that was glossed over, and more with Lucien after his plot point ends – he still has some youthful optimism, wanted to see the slow decline of that.

But despite the plot issues that I had, the book was a very fast read with fluid prose and a number of memorable sentences and descriptions of subtle emotions, especially the day-to-day ennui felt by many of the characters. It is very accessible despite the focus on T&I– even starts in sly mode with an enthusiastic email extolling the virtues of T&I so you have some idea of the status of the opera. Actually, there was almost not enough of T&I – there are several performances described but in most cases, there’s not much time spent on the actual performance or its lead-up - like with Anna – her Isolde was just skipped over, and with Lucien – the premiere takes backstage to his partner’s job problems. The actual premiere/history of T&I comes with plenty of real or apocryphal baggage (orchestra can’t play it - singers going crazy, becoming stalkers, dying – furious patrons horrifically offended by content and chromaticism). So there was nothing very dramatic in the depiction of the performances – not like, say, the hysterical and hilarious depiction of T&I in Mawrdew Czgowchwz. Also, there was not a lot of backstage maneuvering or glimpses of all the work that has to go into putting on a production. We get some of that while Lucien works as a stagehand, but would have liked more – esp in the 20th c parts. Another thing – one might have an idea after reading the book that singers are apt to jump in bed with a person upon first meeting – happens quite a few times. So you don’t have to be a huge opera buff to enjoy this book – though that might help explain some of the plot twists at the end. It actually might be better – was disappointed because -

1. I love Tristan and Isolde – did want more - and 2. also love Janacek and his opera that gives the book its title – both not mentioned in the book, but clearly the inspiration (this does act as something of a spoiler – one could go read the plot synopsis for the opera or play to find out some of the plot points in this book – but that would be all on such a person. I suppose a person could already be familiar with said opera/play – but then it seems as though they would already have some predictions about what it might be about, given the pun. Then they’d read the book and be like, hey – that kindof sounds familiar. Or I suppose a person might be sort of familiar in that they know that such an opera/play exists but are somewhat hazy on plot points, then something might click at the ending and they’d go look stuff up on Wikipedia and be like, oh, that does make sense. ) Unfortunately, both of those set an extremely high standard. Both are about large topics – love, death, the meaning of life, and both, in vastly different ways, say that death is the only way to give life meaning. I didn’t get that from the book – more of a general love comes with loss, but never portrayed in such stark and moving ways as the Wagner or Janacek. The extremes of emotion – intense, pretty much narcissistic, united-in-the-cosmos love and its opposite – dead-inside indifference – never quite come across as they do in the operas.

So the author can clearly write and write a very readable book, also his love of music (not just opera – music in general) comes through – but was let down by this one ( )