Wanderer: A Novel

by Sarah Léon, John Cullen (Translator)

An exceptional debut novel that explores the stifled, unspoken feelings of a music teacher and his former student, and the damage done by their years of silence

Hermin, a composer and instructor, leads a secluded life near the Bourbonnais Mountains in France, composing an homage to Schubert. On a bitter January night, this studious peace is broken when his former pupil, Lenny, a piano prodigy, mysteriously knocks at his door. The two men must confront the ghosts of their past, somewhere between
musical harmony, erotic tension, and revelation.

Wanderer, echoing Schubert's recurring theme, is a novel of rare delicacy, a twilight adagio, a Winterreise, and a subtle ode to German Romanticism.

Genres: Fiction, Music, France, LGBT, Adult, Queer, Literature

209 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 3, 2016

Reviews

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Translated from the French, Wanderer tells the story of a student-teacher relationship when the two reconnect after some time has passed. It can be read on that level but really the story deepens if you can read the language of Schubert, whose music permeates the dialogue, the setting, the characters, even the plot. (I gave in and listened to Schubert while I read it.)

I found myself wishing the translator had translated more of the German lyrics, because the meaning of them is what is most important, leaving the punch of an interaction delayed until I flipped to the endnote. The original narrative moves between present third person pov and past first person pov that I was confused at times.

This is a quiet wintery read that I would particularly recommend to my classical music loving friends. It came out January 8, and I was sent an eARC from the publisher.

[Nikola · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

You can find this review on my book blog here.
You can find more of my book reviews here.

Other Press is one of those publishers you love because of their ability to choose and publish brilliant new voices in fiction as well as non-fiction. Wanderer by Sarah Leon was such an interesting and thought-provoking read but not a perfect one.

Wanderer by Sarah Leon is set in France, in a small territory near Bourbonnais Mountains, where we are introduced to Hermin Peyre, a composer who has decided to isolate himself in order to spend his time composing a piece dedicated to Schubert. One wintry night Leonard Wieck, Lenny, shows up on his doorstep after ten years of not having any contact with him. This event will put years of unspoken words and frustrations out in the open for both Hermin and Lenny. They must revisit their past together in order to better understand what happened between them and what kind of damage has been done. What happened between the two? What lies behind their silence?

‘’The fabric of his life had slowly worn itself out during those years of virtual solitude.’’

Leon having written this book at the age of twenty-one amazes me. Not only because of the fact that she was twenty-one but because of the way she crafts sentences and how she perceives certain things. The way music and certain musical pieces were intertwined within the story was beautiful and Leon combining music with winter made me feel like I was right there with Hermin and Lenny. Both characters are very flawed and interesting. Our story is told from Hermin’s POV which revisits the past and the present in each chapter so we get almost a full picture of what happened. Since the book is told from Hermin’s POV and since Lenny is his guest, Leon makes us a part of Hermin because we experience everything from his perspective – it feels as though we have welcomed a long lost friend into our home and are experiencing all of the consequences that this brings. What I found most enjoyable was the language in the story and the way Leon creates them which are all wonderfully translated from French by John Cullen. The translator did a fantastic job! The story is something I found to be weak – although the ‘ghosts of the past’ came to haunt both characters I felt as though the story could’ve been thought-out better. I get the decision behind bringing Lenny back after ten years of silence but I felt dissatisfied in a way because of the way the story went. I hope this makes sense to people who have read it but the story felt predictable to me. Wanderer being Leon’s debut novel shows to me that she has a lot of skill and I’m excited to see what she comes up with in the future. I feel like what Leon fell short on [for me] she made up by the way she wrote this novel.

‘’I’d looked at him helplessly. I’d never had any gift for consoling people – I could listen to them talk about their trouble, sure, but then how to find the right words? And this particular case seemd to be precisely the sort about which there was nothing to say; no phrases would have the power to cushion the blow that had just struck him. But in spite of all that, I was required to say something...’’

Wanderer explores the psychological effects of what long periods of silence do to a friendship and what damage they may cause.

If you’re someone who likes their reads to be more on the psychological side then I definitely recommend this book.

I would like to thank the publisher Other Press (NY) for providing me with a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed here are my own and weren’t influenced by the fact that I got this book from the publisher.

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5, rounded up.

A somewhat slight book, almost a novella, that slowly grows in power and meaning. It takes awhile to get going, and the outcome seems foreordained, but it's still a lovely minor divertissement. I only wish my classical music knowledge, in particular about Schubert, was more acute, since I probably would have gotten more out of it in that case.

[Robert Blumenthal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a lovely novel, especially to someone who loves the music of Schubert as much as I do. It is based around one of Schubert's later song cycles, Die Winterreise, which translates to Winter Wanderer. The story revolves around the relationship between a composer and a younger pianist. The composer became a mentor for the pianist, who became an instant success then proceeded to disappear for ten years. The story begins as the pianist, now 27, arrives at the house out in the French countryside where the composer now resides. It is unclear what their relationship in Paris was in the past or why the pianist suddenly left. This is slowly revealed, and all is explained by the end.

The novel has a somewhat unique and unusual structure. The author consistently alternates the present with the past simply by writing the past in italics. She shifts periods, which took a little while to get used to, sometimes several times in one page. She does such a good job of revealing bits and pieces and keeping a mystery going that I felt completely enrapt throughout the novel. It is very well written, and her intermingling of the Schubert song cycle with the narrative of the story was very well done. The winter imagery was a wonderful backdrop to the goings on, and the life of Schubert was also mixed into the tale.

I found myself stopping and listening to some of the music that was mentioned in the story which helped to understand the mood being set. The author knows her subject and clearly has much passion for his music. This was like a Schubert song cycle come to life, which is about as good as life gets, as far as I'm concerned.

[Samantha · Rating 1 out of 5]

People were raving about Sarah Léon's debut novel Wanderer. It sounded right up my alley—a queer story of unrequited love. Instead, I got an amateurish effort that feels very much like a debut in the worst possible ways. This is a try-hard novel that fails as a love story of thwarted affections; I just was not invested. I don't get the hype surrounding this book.

Hermin is a French composer living in seclusion in a remote house near the Bourbonnais Mountains. It's the middle of a harsh winter when an unexpected visitor arrives at his door. The visitor is Lenny, now an acclaimed concert pianist. Hermin last saw Lenny when he was a teenage piano prodigy who was his pupil. They haven't seen or heard from each other in ten years, after their relationship ended abruptly on a sour note. Now the two men share Hermin's home, tiptoeing around past resentments and things left unsaid. All the while Hermin struggles to compose an homage to Schubert, a composer both men feel an especial connection to.

Wanderer did not inspire me to care about either of the leads. Hermin, who is the main character, is very annoying without being interesting. The novel fails as a character study, where it ought to succeed, since plotting isn't its strong point. Léon is too on the nose; she overstates things. When describing the characters' emotional lives and relationships, she's too literal. This novel is the epitome of telling not showing.

The switches been time periods are extremely confusing. Léon will switch between the present action of the story and ten years ago with nothing to divide the sections. She simply italicizes the portions set in the past. Sometimes there is just a paragraph of the present and then a paragraph of the past, and back and forth. It's whiplash inducing. She'll interrupt mid-conversation with an intrusion of the past and vice versa. There's no rhyme or reason to the transitions. You can never get settled in either storyline. The reader has to keep flipping back and forth between sections to see what's going on in each timeline. It doesn't flow well. It's trying too hard to be interesting and different and it fails.

Both the third-person narration of the present and Hermin's first-person narration of the past are poorly written. This is an overwritten, overwrought novel. It's a clunky translation by John Cullen. There are mistakes and typos that are distracting. The story is sterilized and sanitized—it's not gay enough. There was a beautiful prologue that got me hooked, then the writing quality deteriorated. Wanderer never lives up to the promise of the prologue.

There are too many unexplained things about Lenny, such as his whole backstory, why his French is selectively broken (it comes and goes) 12 years after moving to France from Germany, and why he has tuberculosis in the early 2000s. Wanderer is a boring read. And the ending sucks. It's a non-ending, like Léon didn't know how to end the novel so she just left off.

Wanderer feels pointless. It's such an underwhelming novel. I honestly can't say that I liked or enjoyed anything about it, except for that misleading prologue.

[Kathleen Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a slim volume that explores the relationship between two men- Hermin, a teacher, and Lenny, his former student. To be honest, nothing much happens so this is more about character than plot. This is arguably either over written or poetic because the language is lush. Thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC. A worthy read for fans of literary fiction.

[Marvin · Rating 2 out of 5]

As this novel opens, a young (23-year-old) concert pianist knocks on the door of a remote lodging in the mountains of France near the Swiss border, where his one-time friend and mentor, a 33-year-old composer, lives. They’ve had no contact for 10 years. The narrative follows their interactions over the next several weeks of winter as they’re isolated in the composer’s home. It’s a pretty straightforward, chronological, third-person narrative, but interrupted periodically by paragraphs in which the composer recalls in first person the two years 10 years earlier when he took the young pianist under his wing. It’s a fraught relationship (both times). The third-person narrative focuses exclusively on the two characters, and the earlier narrative introduces only a couple more, who are important but take up very little space in the narrative. One of the two main characters is unable to admit or even recognize his feelings; the other is unwilling to articulate his. That leads to frustration for both--and, I must say, for the reader, at least if the reader is me. The flashbacks, too, seem to me to be handled awkwardly even though the earlier narrative is roughly parallel to the later one. The prose, too, seems somewhat awkward (though I never know, in such cases, how much of that might be attributed to the translation). It’s too bad, because this should have appealed to me. The author writes about music with an authority and sensitivity that are rare among novelists, but then she has studied musicology as well as literature. And the quotations from Schubert’s lieder (especially Der Wanderer and Winterreise) and occasional other works are handled sensitively. But in the end, the story of the friendship of these two diffident, stunted characters is just not all that interesting and somewhat repetitive. Certainly readers looking for dramatic action in a plot should avoid this. And knowledge of classical music history and performance will certainly enhance one’s reading experience of this novel . This is a very young author, so she might be someone to watch for as she matures.

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solitude. A wintry landscape. Remote cabin. A classical music composer reunites with his prodigal pianist student after many years. An unrealized relationship with much left unspoken. After reading the sypnopsis, I had romantic notions of what Wanderer would be. It was fulfilling to note the chapters built upon specific classical music pieces such as Fantasia or Sonata Opus, mostly Schubert's works, riding on their cadence and tempo. Sarah Leon writes with authority and panache of musical theory such as tonality and music practice/performance.

What was not satisfying was to see the two main characters, Hermin and Lenny, engage in repeated arguments, tiffs, squabbles due to ego and stubbornness. They quickly fall back to their dysfunctional relationship of non-effective communication after reunion and it just turns melodramatic from there. Lenny clings and Hermin turns/runs away. Lenny is clearly unwell and Hermin inexplicably doesn't seem to care or notice. Lenny collapses multiple times in a dramatic fashion amid an inhospitable cold landscape. It reminds me of a Japanese novel I read years ago where the ending had the male hero coughing up copious amounts of blood on white sheet snow, not telling the heroine he was dying until it was too late. In the dramaverse, it's called the 'noble idiot' syndrome - the notion that going away quietly, suffering and sacrificing by oneself, withholding information from the loved one is somehow protective and noble.

I was disappointed The Wanderer wandered into noble idiocy territory. The interesting tidbits of Schubert's life such as being called 'the wanderer', an intelligent tender interlacing of his works into the story (especially the exciting last chapter "The Erl King") were captivating. The tiresome one-sided crush between two rather emotionally immature people was not. Hermin, especially, was frustrating to read because he himself didn't know what he wanted and didn't want to confront the difficult questions.

[Thienan Nguyen · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I was to rate books based on how much impact it had overall for me I would rate Wanderer very highly. As a classical music lover, I loved how this book made me want to find recordings of the many Schubert masterpieces, close my eyes and immerse myself. However, the rest of this review is on just the book itself and not the associated experience that came about from reading it.
Wanderer is an atmospheric character driven story about the relationship between the young composer, Hermin, and the younger piano prodigy, Lenny. Lenny has just shown up after 10 years stating he has given up a very promising career. As they reconnect, lots of the subtext in their relationship is left mysterious to only be revealed later under harrowing travails

The structure of the book constantly shifts back and forth from the present to 10 years ago throughout the book. The 10 year old flashbacks direct first person accounts by Hermin. I found this to be very well executed. Because of the connection the parallel stories shared you seem to get double the character development at the same time as well as good reveals about some of the mysteries of the relationship. The ending and the true nature of the relationship felt formulaic and never well developed. I do very much want to see what this debut author does in the future. I can’t believe she’s this young!

[Audrey RZR · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dans la campagne reculée, en plein hiver, deux amis, l'un musicien et l'autre compositeur, tous les deux très talentueux, se retrouvent.
L'occasion de comprendre le pourquoi de leur séparation subite dix ans plus tôt.


Avec une plume et une construction narrative pleine de charme, alternant dialogues au présent et discussions passées, romantique et pleine de nostalgie, nous découvrons l'histoire d'amitié de deux jeunes hommes partageant une passion débordante pour la musique.
Alors qu'ils sont heureux de se retrouver enfin, isolés dans une petite maison perdue au milieu de nulle part, il plane au dessus d'eux une multitude de non-dits qui assombrissent leurs retrouvailles.
Quand la tendresse amicale éveille chez l'un des sentiments plus qu'amicaux, chez l'autre ils créent la confusion.


Un roman de l'intime, une bromance émouvante où la nature et la musique répondent au balai des émotions.

[Stephanie Pieck · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the story of a cellist-composer who meets a 15-year-old boy who turns out to be a gifted pianist. The novel tells the parallel stories of the two musicians' early relationship, when the boy lived with the composer and studied piano with him since he had never had formal lessons before, juxtaposed with the story of their unexpected reunion ten years later at the composer's remote house in the French mountains.
The writing frequently evoked the Romantic German traditions--frozen landscapes, idyllic nature, passionate love, and undercurrents of magic. There were frequent quotations from song texts, and as a pianist, I enjoyed the running commentary about various piano works, particularly those of Schubert.
I also appreciated the portrayal of that intimate bond that forms between teacher and student sometimes when classical music is involved.

[Dev · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.3 stars

Wanderer is another book I'd like to hand to my partner to see if she has a different experience of it. I understand that Leon tried to use Schubert's music to evoke certain emotions throughout the book, but even when I put on the various pieces that I could find on Apple Music as I read it didn't quite work for me because I know nothing about classical music. Without that emotion, it was just a book where nothing much happens during the present (we don't even find out why Lenny quit piano until 50 pages from the end!) and I'm really only learning anything from the flashbacks. Also, for a while the present-in-normal-text and past-in-italics worked, but at the end it got confusing for me, and throughout the whole thing Lenny seems like a controlling jerk to me. If every book has its reader, I am not this book's reader.

[Forrest · Rating 3 out of 5]

The description on the back cover claims it's a "subtle ode to German Romanticism". There's nothing subtle about this book. It's just as contrived and overwrought as The Sorrows of Young Werther. Wanderer is a better read - simply because Léon's descriptions of the landscape and surroundings are beautiful.

When characters behave uncharacteristically and withhold information (which is obvious to the reader) it just seems like the author is clumsily trying to create literary tension and propel the novel forward. I don't wanna read a book and constantly be reminded that there's an author creating these characters. Especially when neither are believable.

[G L · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author, who is pretty young, shows promise. I had to force myself to finish this book. The major plot developments at the end were pretty obvious from the start of the book. Getting to them was tedious. The structure—interweaving reminiscences of 10 years ago and related sequelae now—was an interesting idea, which is the main reason I kept going. I suspect that if I knew Schubert’s work more intimately, the book might have been better. As it was, it was a slog toward an all too obvious conclusion.

[John Benson · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author of this book was only 21 when she wrote this book. It feels like someone much older wrote it. Translated from the French, it tells the story of a former music student after ten years of no contact coming up to his former music teacher's remote mountain cabin in winter. The story tells of their efforts to reconnect. The story seems to have a lot of musical illusions that I didn't understand. The back story is told in italicized paragraphs within the chapters. In the end, I didn't find the book went anywhere.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This is the debut novel for this author and it’s quite moving. Translated to English from French. I absolutely loved it! The story is about a man and a younger man and their friendship over a decade long. I found the writing style eloquent and romantic. The narration is present tense with constant flashbacks to 10 years prior. I enjoyed that style of narration quite a bit though some may not like it. This book was a wonderful read I highly recommend.

[Eli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved how much musical masterpieces were included in it. I wasn't expecting the degree of how many were incorporated. Although there aren't a lot of pages, it is a mouthful to read this. I recommend for sure!

[Heidi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lenny was such an unpleasant person I couldn’t like the book itself.
I found myself shouting at Hermin the get a grip and to put his foot down.
It screams of toxic relationship and along the way the musical thread was lost or didn’t really matter because of it.

[Tina Panik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Similar in tone to Isherwood’s A Single Man, with more musical references. It’s a little confusing, full of nuanced romance, and slow in pace.

[Portia Kapraun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful and heartbreaking.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Barbara Bengston · Rating 4 out of 5]

The way Sarah Leon weaves past events with current events adds an interesting dimension to this story. It is surprising that this is Leon's first novel; beautifully written.

[João · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unexpected, a beautiful story being crafted at every turning page, unexpected at times, like a classic aria.

[Elizabeth Breen · Rating 5 out of 5]

crying in the club

i think “destined to almost be” is even more tragic than destined to fall apart

[Alice Béteille · Rating 5 out of 5]

Petit bijou, ce presque huit-clos mystérieux et sensible est une plongée fascinante au cœur des sentiments des 2 protagonistes, de la musique de Schubert et de la beauté de l'hiver.

[Natalie Gracia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Awful. Could barely finish it

[Daniell · Rating 5 out of 5]

lyrical, evocative novella. A romance for people who don't like romance novels.

[Raphaël · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sarah Léon livre un excellent premier roman, mature déjà, vivant, qui transporte dans des paysages atemporels. Dans ce récit rythmé par Schubert -- et d'autres, mais Schubert avant tout --, les motifs se succèdent, les voix se croisent, présent et passé mêlés, avec succès; il n'y a (presque) aucun des défauts que l'on trouve généralement dans un premier roman: l'écriture est précise, belle, le rythme est (le plus souvent) bon, l'ensemble est sous-tendu par une force inouïe... On pourrait regretter une trop grande présence de la musique, qui donne parfois au récit l'air d'une oeuvre pour initiés; mais la puissance évocatrice de certains paragraphes fait fi de tels doutes, et, du reste, nombre des morceaux mentionnés sont connus, consciemment ou non. On pourrait aussi regretter trop de prévisibilité par endroits; mais, la plupart du temps, cela ne fait que renforcer le tragique auxquels sont soumis les personnages. En somme donc, une très grande réussite, délicate, puissante, et belle.

[Jim Coughenour · Rating 2 out of 5]

Leider cannot survive translation into prose.

[Jeffrey Sobel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hidden away in the frozen French countryside the solemn sounds of a piano drift over the crackling cabin fireplace as a tutor and his protege reflect on a decade of unrequited love.
❄️
WANDERER by #SarahLéon (a millennial author - swoon) is a French novel that was just translated and published in the States. It’s a tale about a music student taking care of a younger, gifted musician (played by @tchalamet in my head) and their rocky relationship that blurs the line between friends and the unknown.
🌫
++Writing Reaction++
Take a seat, we’re gonna be here a minute:
To be honest, when I was younger (tenyearchallenge) I was always afraid to write about a gay romance because I didn’t want my writing to be pigeonholed as a ‘gay book’ instead of just ‘a book’. The world has come a long way since then, and Léon's masterpiece has taken us even further. Thank you to @nycbookboi for recommending/throwing this book my way.
🥀
I’ve never seen past and present sewn together so seamlessly. Léon's masterful stitching keeps us, and the characters, continually with one foot in Paris and one foot in the mountains. I loved this technique almost as much as the actual story.
🗻
I don’t know anything about music, but this read like a song - blending two different art forms into one. I typically enjoy listening to classical music when I read anyhow, but for this one it’s a must.
🎹
The setting itself is its own character as the scenic beauty matches that of the alluring yet icy connection between Hermin and Lenny. And as for their relationship - so much is said with so little. Like a finger pressing a piano key, every hint of a touch between them sends waves echoing throughout us. I ate up this book like a thriller, aching to see what would happen.
•
🥃 #book quote:
“To be able at last to reach accord, in the musical sense of the term, after so many years of playing side by side, trying to mingle their respective songs without ever achieving real success, as if their souls had been the strings of two instruments, vibrating together, certainly, but in different keys...”
@otherpress