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Maestro
Against the backdrop of Darwin -- that small, tropical hothouse of a port, half-outback, half-oriental, lying at the tip of northern Australia -- a young and newly arrived southerner encounters the 'maestro', a Viennese refugee with a shadowed past. The occasion is a piano lesson, the first of many . . .
168 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
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667 people want to read
About the author
Peter Goldsworthy
40 books50 followersPeter Goldsworthy grew up in various Australian country towns, finishing his schooling in Darwin. After graduating in medicine from the University of Adelaide in 1974, he worked for many years in alcohol and drug rehabiiltation. Since then, he has divided his time equally between writing and general practice. He has won major literary awards across a range of genres: poetry, short story, the novel, in opera, and most recently in theatre.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 158 reviews
November 26, 2021
The moths that thudded into the flyscreens that night were the size of bats–soft, powdery bats. And the bats that filled the mango trees in in the darkening twilight were foxes. Even our garden lawn–most domesticated of foliage–needed mowing again almost as soon as it was done…like some lush, green five o’clock shadow.
For even non-musos, this is a book to be relished. A coming-of-age tale of nascent love and lust, and bullying, at a Darwin State school in the sixties. Paul Crabbe has moved to Darwin – 12.5 degrees south of the equator – from sophisticated Adelaide with his parents, his father a Government Medical Officer, his mother plays the piano between (infrequent) bouts of housework, both aficionados of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. Their hopes pinned on Paul’s gift as a pianist, they find him a teacher in aging Austrian maestro, Eduard Keller, dressed in a white panama suit, his weatherboard teaching room above the Swan Hotel, its patrons in blue shorts and singlets, swilling beer.
‘If you want people to believe your lies, set them to music.’
Keller was a student of Leschetizky, himself a student of Liszt, but his mysterious past intrigues Paul. The maestro’s first task is to disabuse Paul of any notion that he is talented and he is not allowed to touch the piano for the first few lessons. What follows is a warm, funny, sad, frank and ultimately uplifting story of friendship, spanning ten years.
The humour aside, what sets this book above the rest are the gilded passages describing the seasons, the music – and the author’s gift of taking the commonplace and somehow, elevating it through parody.
The champagne cork popped upwards, passed neatly through the blades of the revolving fan, rebounded from the ceiling and passed down through the blades again, unscathed, as if synchronised.
At a little over 150 pages, this is surely a modern Australian classic, and one I will remember always.
For even non-musos, this is a book to be relished. A coming-of-age tale of nascent love and lust, and bullying, at a Darwin State school in the sixties. Paul Crabbe has moved to Darwin – 12.5 degrees south of the equator – from sophisticated Adelaide with his parents, his father a Government Medical Officer, his mother plays the piano between (infrequent) bouts of housework, both aficionados of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. Their hopes pinned on Paul’s gift as a pianist, they find him a teacher in aging Austrian maestro, Eduard Keller, dressed in a white panama suit, his weatherboard teaching room above the Swan Hotel, its patrons in blue shorts and singlets, swilling beer.
‘If you want people to believe your lies, set them to music.’
Keller was a student of Leschetizky, himself a student of Liszt, but his mysterious past intrigues Paul. The maestro’s first task is to disabuse Paul of any notion that he is talented and he is not allowed to touch the piano for the first few lessons. What follows is a warm, funny, sad, frank and ultimately uplifting story of friendship, spanning ten years.
The humour aside, what sets this book above the rest are the gilded passages describing the seasons, the music – and the author’s gift of taking the commonplace and somehow, elevating it through parody.
The champagne cork popped upwards, passed neatly through the blades of the revolving fan, rebounded from the ceiling and passed down through the blades again, unscathed, as if synchronised.
At a little over 150 pages, this is surely a modern Australian classic, and one I will remember always.
June 4, 2017
What a great read! And I see in some reviews that this has been on the Australian school syllabus, at least in the past, if not presently. Not in my day - because it hadn't been written - but if I had read this as a teenager I think it would have easily got 5 stars from me.
I read Maestro for its Darwin location, and for me, the setting is one of two things about this book that absolutely shone. Having lived in Darwin for a few years myself, albeit much later than this story is set, I was instantly transported there. “Even our garden lawn—most domesticated of foliage—needed mowing again almost as soon as it was done … like some lush, green five o’clock shadow.” I can almost feel the midges nipping at my bare ankles. There are one or two other quotes I really liked that pinpointed the tropical location so accurately for me (should be visible below).
EDIT: Forgot to mention - a book set in Darwin with not one mention, not even an allusion to, crocodiles! What?!
The other thing of course, was the wonderful relationship between gruff piano teacher, Eduard Keller - the Maestro - and Paul Crabbe, teenage would-be prodigy. At the start, Paul is the type of kid who is 100% confident in his talent, because it's always been nurtured by his musical parents and he's probably never really received the kind of constructive criticism needed to grow and excel. Keller changes all that. He won't even let Paul play for him for the first few weeks of lessons, or consultations, as he calls them. Keller is so sparing with praise that Paul eventually learns that the rare words of approval are worth every moment of his frustration with being taken back to endless scales and practising the childrens' version of concert pieces. Movie equivalents might be Dead Poets Society, or To Sir With Love, or Goodbye Mr Chips - you get the picture.
It's a short book, but underneath all this there is still room for a sad sub-story about Keller's wartime experiences in Europe. Is he a war criminal, as Paul initially only half-jokingly suspects? Could he in fact actually be Jewish? And why do people from his past think he is dead?
This is one that I will probably re-read in the future.
I read Maestro for its Darwin location, and for me, the setting is one of two things about this book that absolutely shone. Having lived in Darwin for a few years myself, albeit much later than this story is set, I was instantly transported there. “Even our garden lawn—most domesticated of foliage—needed mowing again almost as soon as it was done … like some lush, green five o’clock shadow.” I can almost feel the midges nipping at my bare ankles. There are one or two other quotes I really liked that pinpointed the tropical location so accurately for me (should be visible below).
EDIT: Forgot to mention - a book set in Darwin with not one mention, not even an allusion to, crocodiles! What?!
The other thing of course, was the wonderful relationship between gruff piano teacher, Eduard Keller - the Maestro - and Paul Crabbe, teenage would-be prodigy. At the start, Paul is the type of kid who is 100% confident in his talent, because it's always been nurtured by his musical parents and he's probably never really received the kind of constructive criticism needed to grow and excel. Keller changes all that. He won't even let Paul play for him for the first few weeks of lessons, or consultations, as he calls them. Keller is so sparing with praise that Paul eventually learns that the rare words of approval are worth every moment of his frustration with being taken back to endless scales and practising the childrens' version of concert pieces. Movie equivalents might be Dead Poets Society, or To Sir With Love, or Goodbye Mr Chips - you get the picture.
It's a short book, but underneath all this there is still room for a sad sub-story about Keller's wartime experiences in Europe. Is he a war criminal, as Paul initially only half-jokingly suspects? Could he in fact actually be Jewish? And why do people from his past think he is dead?
This is one that I will probably re-read in the future.
February 6, 2017
Peter Goldsworthy’s Darwin. In Maestro, the setting, vibrantly alive, is a character in its own right.
Darwin circa 1967 may seem an unlikely place for literary inspiration, but Peter Goldsworthy’s, Maestro, with its exotic setting and the emotions he attaches to it, is an irresistible combination. Music infuses the story and it is at a piano lesson, that the teenage Paul Crabbe, a recent arrival from the south, encounters the maestro, a refugee from Vienna with a shady past.
I hoped to experience Darwin the way his protagonist, Paul, experiences it. There’s a risk involved in seeking out novel settings and the locations within because they may not be real and if they are real, may disappoint. Writers usually get the detail correct through research, but unless they have lived, even temporarily, in a place they write about, their pages are not imbued with the warm rain and wet earth smearing itself with greenness, like Goldsworthy’s prose is. Like the Crabbes, the Goldsworthy family moved to Darwin in 1966. Would the written Darwin mismatch the real thing or would I understand why Paul loved the tropical hothouse blooms where everything grew larger than life as I walked the streets of this lush and isolated town, a mix or orient and outback, a port to where immigrants drifted as a place of refuge.
Visiting a novel’s setting can be disorientating and laden with a ‘where am I’ aura. The heavy embrace of Darwin’s scent laden air strikes the minute the plane doors open and there’s no mistaking, this is the tropics. Ominous black clouds loom on the horizon and thunder rumbles away in the background waiting for that almighty moment when rain clouds burst, releasing moist compost air, sweet and sour, just as Goldsworthy describes.
Some novels can be transported to different cities without affecting the overall story, but some narrative locations are inherent in the story and should the action be moved, the story would be different. Maestro, published in 1989, amusing, wise and enormously entertaining, sweeps effortlessly into 1960s Darwin, a tropical backdrop that becomes its own character.
There’s nothing insipid about Darwin and the two seasons, the wet and the dry, provide a dramatic backdrop to even the most bland of locations, a 1960s designed, form matched to function, school. Darwin High School, where Paul took refuge in the music room from bullies, still overlooks Mindil Beach and Darwin Harbour from the headland of Bullocky Point. Not as isolated as it was in the 60s, it now forms part of East Point Reserve a beautiful place for walking where you may spot red-tailed black cockatoos and wallabies and, depending on the season, witness magnificent sunsets or spectacular lightening displays.
The Botanical Gardens, where Keller arrives drunk during a concert arranged by the Crabbes, are now a heavenly brew of monsoon vine forest, coastal dunes, mangroves, woodlands and plants that have survived cyclones, wildfires and World War 2. Concerts continue to be held in the amphitheatre.
The Swan, the fictional crumbling pub where the maestro, Keller, lives in his darkened room above the bar, shuttered against bright sunlight and the noisy locals below, is surely based on the colonial style Victoria, a heritage listed pub built with local stone in 1890. Before Cyclone Tracey hit in 1974, pictures show a large weatherboard accommodation annex, perhaps the inspiration for Keller’s room in the warren of crumbling weatherboard where Paul took his music instruction. Bougainvillea has grown in the courtyard since 1890, but sadly, although the monsoons of beer remain, I’m told the bougainvillea has been removed since my visit.
Writers capture fleeting moments and no location remains intact forever. But the geography of the setting, the place on the map, its droughts, flooding rains and distant horizons do largely stay the same within the Australian landscape. Our literature often has a complicated, complex relationship with landscape, seeing it as menacing, a place from which we are often estranged. The young Paul’s enthusiastic embrace of Darwin, isolated at the Top End, with Asia to the north and the vast outback to the south, is so infectious, as a setting it becomes a must see.
Darwin circa 1967 may seem an unlikely place for literary inspiration, but Peter Goldsworthy’s, Maestro, with its exotic setting and the emotions he attaches to it, is an irresistible combination. Music infuses the story and it is at a piano lesson, that the teenage Paul Crabbe, a recent arrival from the south, encounters the maestro, a refugee from Vienna with a shady past.
I hoped to experience Darwin the way his protagonist, Paul, experiences it. There’s a risk involved in seeking out novel settings and the locations within because they may not be real and if they are real, may disappoint. Writers usually get the detail correct through research, but unless they have lived, even temporarily, in a place they write about, their pages are not imbued with the warm rain and wet earth smearing itself with greenness, like Goldsworthy’s prose is. Like the Crabbes, the Goldsworthy family moved to Darwin in 1966. Would the written Darwin mismatch the real thing or would I understand why Paul loved the tropical hothouse blooms where everything grew larger than life as I walked the streets of this lush and isolated town, a mix or orient and outback, a port to where immigrants drifted as a place of refuge.
Visiting a novel’s setting can be disorientating and laden with a ‘where am I’ aura. The heavy embrace of Darwin’s scent laden air strikes the minute the plane doors open and there’s no mistaking, this is the tropics. Ominous black clouds loom on the horizon and thunder rumbles away in the background waiting for that almighty moment when rain clouds burst, releasing moist compost air, sweet and sour, just as Goldsworthy describes.
Some novels can be transported to different cities without affecting the overall story, but some narrative locations are inherent in the story and should the action be moved, the story would be different. Maestro, published in 1989, amusing, wise and enormously entertaining, sweeps effortlessly into 1960s Darwin, a tropical backdrop that becomes its own character.
There’s nothing insipid about Darwin and the two seasons, the wet and the dry, provide a dramatic backdrop to even the most bland of locations, a 1960s designed, form matched to function, school. Darwin High School, where Paul took refuge in the music room from bullies, still overlooks Mindil Beach and Darwin Harbour from the headland of Bullocky Point. Not as isolated as it was in the 60s, it now forms part of East Point Reserve a beautiful place for walking where you may spot red-tailed black cockatoos and wallabies and, depending on the season, witness magnificent sunsets or spectacular lightening displays.
The Botanical Gardens, where Keller arrives drunk during a concert arranged by the Crabbes, are now a heavenly brew of monsoon vine forest, coastal dunes, mangroves, woodlands and plants that have survived cyclones, wildfires and World War 2. Concerts continue to be held in the amphitheatre.
The Swan, the fictional crumbling pub where the maestro, Keller, lives in his darkened room above the bar, shuttered against bright sunlight and the noisy locals below, is surely based on the colonial style Victoria, a heritage listed pub built with local stone in 1890. Before Cyclone Tracey hit in 1974, pictures show a large weatherboard accommodation annex, perhaps the inspiration for Keller’s room in the warren of crumbling weatherboard where Paul took his music instruction. Bougainvillea has grown in the courtyard since 1890, but sadly, although the monsoons of beer remain, I’m told the bougainvillea has been removed since my visit.
Writers capture fleeting moments and no location remains intact forever. But the geography of the setting, the place on the map, its droughts, flooding rains and distant horizons do largely stay the same within the Australian landscape. Our literature often has a complicated, complex relationship with landscape, seeing it as menacing, a place from which we are often estranged. The young Paul’s enthusiastic embrace of Darwin, isolated at the Top End, with Asia to the north and the vast outback to the south, is so infectious, as a setting it becomes a must see.
September 27, 2015
I will never again doubt the decisions of the Australian high school English syllabus. Time after time I have riddled it with doubt and skepticism and time after time it has proven e wrong.
Maestro, though absurd in its opening pages, certainly fills readers with a longing by the end of the book. Adults, a longing for lost childhoods, children, a longing to not lose what precious time we have, and above all, a longing to have a mentor able to rival the genius of Keller.
This book teaches its readers a very important lesson of our own mortality. It draws our attention from the silliness of childhood and youth, and ultimately warning us about our own vulnerability. A human's mortality is not something faced willingly by everyone, but it is a question we will all face, and though we all try to leave with a mark on this earth, the ultimate truth us that most of us won't, Even geniuses like Keller weren't able to, so what makes us qualified?
Maestro, though absurd in its opening pages, certainly fills readers with a longing by the end of the book. Adults, a longing for lost childhoods, children, a longing to not lose what precious time we have, and above all, a longing to have a mentor able to rival the genius of Keller.
This book teaches its readers a very important lesson of our own mortality. It draws our attention from the silliness of childhood and youth, and ultimately warning us about our own vulnerability. A human's mortality is not something faced willingly by everyone, but it is a question we will all face, and though we all try to leave with a mark on this earth, the ultimate truth us that most of us won't, Even geniuses like Keller weren't able to, so what makes us qualified?
December 5, 2022
I have to thank Kate M for bringing the author to my attention. Just a few days later I managed to pick up a few of his books at The Bookkeeper Bookshop in the Strath, one of two excellent secondhand bookshops a few hundred metres apart, the other being Jeff's. My inveterate reading friend Heather, upon investigation, had no time for Goldsworthy whatsoever. Nonetheless, I dived into this one and more or less didn't come up for breath until it was finished. This is a short book, with the brevity typical of the classic Australian childhood/teenage memoirs. Perhaps also as one expects from a poet.
The Bookkeeper said to me that she had just finished Maestro herself, and was now buying all the copies she could. So now you know where to look.
The Bookkeeper said to me that she had just finished Maestro herself, and was now buying all the copies she could. So now you know where to look.
June 18, 2017
Paul was the most annoying protagonist ever- I acknowledge that he may be one of the most realest- but that doesn't deter from the fact that I still find him extremely annoying. I guess I'll never cut this book some slack; it was detrimental over analysing EVERYTHING for my Authority English exam so I guess it's always going to leave a trauma imprint on me. It wasn't my cup of tea...
March 5, 2014
This novel was dry and drab, apart from instances where you could have developed the plot, it fell back into a boring bottomless pit. Why is it that school books are always the worst?
July 1, 2024
A coming of age story and a novel about ‘msestro’, an old Austrian refugee piano teacher, living in Darwin. Paul Crabbe, the narrator, is fifteen years old, an only son, and relocates from Adelaide to Darwin with his parents in the early 1970s. Paul is a very good pianist and hopes to become a concert pianist. His parents contact an old man in his 70s who teaches piano, an Eduardo Keller. Mr Keller is quite an unorthodox piano teacher who during Pauls first lessons, only talks to Paul. Mr Keller’s background is quite interesting, being a well known pianist in Austria during the 1930s. Mr Keller is quite a hard taskmaster. He is graceless, sharp, and very critical, but Paul comes to respect Mr Keller and Paul’s piano playing improves.
An interesting, well written, sometimes humorous, sometimes moving short novel about love, loss and learning. Highly recommended.
This book was shortlisted for the 1990 Miles Franklin Award.
An interesting, well written, sometimes humorous, sometimes moving short novel about love, loss and learning. Highly recommended.
This book was shortlisted for the 1990 Miles Franklin Award.
December 7, 2023
A remarkable book. Based on the author's relationship with her music teacher. Soon to be a major motion picture - I want a ticket.
March 11, 2011
it was okay but kind of a downer...
Read
June 24, 2019Read in high school... Don't really remember what happened, though...
February 19, 2018
Objectively this book is…fine. Nothing wrong with it, except maybe the fact that the protagonist is so self-absorbed. But he’s self-aware by the end so even that is mitigated. I don’t know. It was compelling but I don’t think I liked it.
June 7, 2013
I read this as a year 12 student in 1993. It has stayed with me since, a sensitively written story about a student and a teacher. I can't wait for my son to be old enough to read it...he loves music and plays piano. The only problem I had with the book was that physically its pages literally fell apart.....I hope that the publisher did something about that because it was too beautiful to ever part with.
November 18, 2009
A book of great beauty and sensitivity that has stayed with me for years. Reread recently, it speaks of the growing of a youth into the reality of adulthood, and of the ageing of our dreams, and the realisation of our own enduring ordinariness, with clarity and wit and love.
January 15, 2017
The only time I've ever thanked the English syllabus
February 16, 2023
Fabulous. So well written and thought provoking for anyone interested in the Arts, not just music.
Putting two and two together, this novel written in 1989 must have been inspired by the piano teacher Eleanora Sivan that Anna Goldsworthy writes about in her remarkable memoir Piano Lessons written in 2011.
Anna is the daughter of Peter and she writes about how he accompanied her to her piano lessons.
Peter's novel is astonishing. Not only did it conjure up the humid hothouse of Darwin (I didn't find it at all dated as another reviewer has suggested) but I found the coming of age narrative of an artist very believable.
The music references I just lapped up. Delicious.
In a way the book is tragic. As an artist myself and sometimes teacher, I found the painfully gained education of Paul intensely moving. So much striving and everything just a hair's breadth away.
I am surprised this novel hasn't rated more highly.
Putting two and two together, this novel written in 1989 must have been inspired by the piano teacher Eleanora Sivan that Anna Goldsworthy writes about in her remarkable memoir Piano Lessons written in 2011.
Anna is the daughter of Peter and she writes about how he accompanied her to her piano lessons.
Peter's novel is astonishing. Not only did it conjure up the humid hothouse of Darwin (I didn't find it at all dated as another reviewer has suggested) but I found the coming of age narrative of an artist very believable.
The music references I just lapped up. Delicious.
In a way the book is tragic. As an artist myself and sometimes teacher, I found the painfully gained education of Paul intensely moving. So much striving and everything just a hair's breadth away.
I am surprised this novel hasn't rated more highly.
July 25, 2022
I had to read this book for school and honestly I have mixed feelings.
Young Paul had some questionable moments which I found amusing and it was a short book overall, but I never really clung to it. Maybe if I were to read this book again I could appreciate it more, it was interesting in parts and other parts had me skim reading the pages. I got more engaged towards the end as I learn more about Keller but nothing really stood out to me to make this book an unforgettable one or an overly enjoyable one.
Out if all books I’ve had to read at school, this definitely wasn’t a bad one, I like how it’s an Australian book so it’s relatable in a sense. Overall Maestro wasn’t a bad read, I doubt I’d read it again unless I had to but I was able to learn some new things and it was a book out of my comfort zone.
Young Paul had some questionable moments which I found amusing and it was a short book overall, but I never really clung to it. Maybe if I were to read this book again I could appreciate it more, it was interesting in parts and other parts had me skim reading the pages. I got more engaged towards the end as I learn more about Keller but nothing really stood out to me to make this book an unforgettable one or an overly enjoyable one.
Out if all books I’ve had to read at school, this definitely wasn’t a bad one, I like how it’s an Australian book so it’s relatable in a sense. Overall Maestro wasn’t a bad read, I doubt I’d read it again unless I had to but I was able to learn some new things and it was a book out of my comfort zone.
October 13, 2024
Very short read that I quite enjoyed. Heavy thick imagery that compemented the strong sense of place (Darwin). Ending with a soft scent of nostalgia and regret for the roads untaken. The subject matter of classical music tickled me too. Can see why this was chosen as an English text - the character study, the formative years.
June 30, 2017
Short but poignant. Loved the Darwin setting
September 14, 2022
it was actually a good book after we analysed it in class lmao. also the library scenes was a weird thing like ew
February 8, 2025
A short but wonderful book, its title befitting the Maestro, and, perhaps the author himself. Highly recommend.
January 17, 2023
*pretentious-sounding review incoming, be warned!*
5 stars for how perfectly Goldsworthy captured the nostalgia and claustrophobic joy of childhood. Add in the pure potency of his descriptions of Darwin and the climate of the North, and you’ve got a masterpiece. On top of that, the vividness of every character seen through the eyes of an adolescent, a young adult, and finally a grown man — never static, always evolving alongside Paul, yet still somehow constant — is just captivating. I don’t even have the words to describe the genius that is the creation and narration of Herr Keller.
5 stars for how perfectly Goldsworthy captured the nostalgia and claustrophobic joy of childhood. Add in the pure potency of his descriptions of Darwin and the climate of the North, and you’ve got a masterpiece. On top of that, the vividness of every character seen through the eyes of an adolescent, a young adult, and finally a grown man — never static, always evolving alongside Paul, yet still somehow constant — is just captivating. I don’t even have the words to describe the genius that is the creation and narration of Herr Keller.
November 7, 2012
This short novel, is primarily based in Darwin in the late 1960s, where a boy Paul Crabbe is taught piano by his teacher 'Maestro', Eduard Keller. Paul has a lot of misgivings about his teacher at first, mostly noting that he was a boozer uncontemporary and distant but by the end of the novel he admired him a lot. This tale depicts Pauls growing up in the hot tropical town, his ability at music, his adolescence and his relationship with his parents and his sweetheart, Rosie.
I loved this book. Partly becasue i could totally appreciate the environment that he was writing about ... even though it was the 60s in the book and I now live in Darwin with the assistance of air-conditioning ... I can still appreciate the heat, humidity and other unique entities that make darwin what it is in both eras. The book was often a sad depiction of life, in that it frequently illustrated missed opportunities and opportunities to do the right thing, which the main character often missed ... The book follows paul until he is a middle aged adult and shows his growing of wisdom, fro a young selfish egotistical only child - to a responsible and caring adult with a child of his own.
This book left me thinking and feeling ater I finished it. There are quite a few interesting phrases and philosophies thrown in throughout the book as well.
I can understand why this is a recommended text for Year 12 in places .... good choice!
I read somewhere that the author's daughter has transfromed this book into a stage play.
I loved this book. Partly becasue i could totally appreciate the environment that he was writing about ... even though it was the 60s in the book and I now live in Darwin with the assistance of air-conditioning ... I can still appreciate the heat, humidity and other unique entities that make darwin what it is in both eras. The book was often a sad depiction of life, in that it frequently illustrated missed opportunities and opportunities to do the right thing, which the main character often missed ... The book follows paul until he is a middle aged adult and shows his growing of wisdom, fro a young selfish egotistical only child - to a responsible and caring adult with a child of his own.
This book left me thinking and feeling ater I finished it. There are quite a few interesting phrases and philosophies thrown in throughout the book as well.
I can understand why this is a recommended text for Year 12 in places .... good choice!
I read somewhere that the author's daughter has transfromed this book into a stage play.
February 14, 2017
This is a story about Paul Crabbe and centers on his relationship with his parents and his strict piano teacher Eduard Keller. I enjoyed the light touch of humour, freshness and familiarity of Darwin and the odd tense moments of discovery.
February 14, 2009
I just finnished this book recently, had to read it for school.
Now, I don't know about you, but my school has serious issues with chosing books. This is one of - close to the only - book my school has ever chosen that is decent.
I love this book, the whole book is about music, and that is a huge part of my life, this book hits close to home. (even if the main character is a complete stuck up selfish self centred ass).
If you have music as a big part of your life, than this is definatley a book for you.
The slight touch on the history of Austria during the 1940s also added to the value of this book for me, as I am quite a history nut.
Keller would definately be my favourite character - or even the only character I liked in the whole book - he's unique knowledge and some would say eccentric attitude to music, intrested me, and I could somehow relate to his character, though I'm not sure why.
Now, I don't know about you, but my school has serious issues with chosing books. This is one of - close to the only - book my school has ever chosen that is decent.
I love this book, the whole book is about music, and that is a huge part of my life, this book hits close to home. (even if the main character is a complete stuck up selfish self centred ass).
If you have music as a big part of your life, than this is definatley a book for you.
The slight touch on the history of Austria during the 1940s also added to the value of this book for me, as I am quite a history nut.
Keller would definately be my favourite character - or even the only character I liked in the whole book - he's unique knowledge and some would say eccentric attitude to music, intrested me, and I could somehow relate to his character, though I'm not sure why.
January 18, 2015
I read this as a teenager but not for school so i never had to dissect it and i could just enjoy it.
I don’t think I would have made the trip to Darwin without this books influence, the author describes the humid town perfectly.
Set in the late 1960s the main focus is a teenage boys relationship with his music teacher music who happens to be a Viennese refugee.
But its the relationships he has with two girls from his school that touched me the most, we see this boy/mans arrogance as he uses his musical talent to lift his social position in the school yard and eventually seduce the ‘unobtainable popular girl’ only to regret his actions and come to the realisation that the other girl who loves him is who he really wants to be with. All of this is summed up in an exchange that has become one of my favourite lines of any book.
“Do you want to do it again?” she asked meaning now.
“No” I said, meaning forever.
I don’t think I would have made the trip to Darwin without this books influence, the author describes the humid town perfectly.
Set in the late 1960s the main focus is a teenage boys relationship with his music teacher music who happens to be a Viennese refugee.
But its the relationships he has with two girls from his school that touched me the most, we see this boy/mans arrogance as he uses his musical talent to lift his social position in the school yard and eventually seduce the ‘unobtainable popular girl’ only to regret his actions and come to the realisation that the other girl who loves him is who he really wants to be with. All of this is summed up in an exchange that has become one of my favourite lines of any book.
“Do you want to do it again?” she asked meaning now.
“No” I said, meaning forever.
August 7, 2011
I am currently reading this novel because a student I tutor has to read it for Year 12. And I am wondering if I would be able to enjoy this novel if I were just reading it on its own, for enjoyment. As is, I can't stop thinking about how inadequate and simplistic it is (as a Year 12 text to be studied.) I have had similar thoughts the other two times I read it (first as a Year 11 student for class, then as a Year 12 teacher considering adding it to the text list.)
I do have to say that, having actually been to Darwin for the first time in between this reading an my last, that I have more of an appreciation for some of the descriptions of the setting. However, I maintain that the dialogue is inauthentic and the character development inadequate. As far as I can see, no matter where I go on holidays I am not going to change my mind on those last points!
I do have to say that, having actually been to Darwin for the first time in between this reading an my last, that I have more of an appreciation for some of the descriptions of the setting. However, I maintain that the dialogue is inauthentic and the character development inadequate. As far as I can see, no matter where I go on holidays I am not going to change my mind on those last points!
February 10, 2013
What a depressing, pointless book. If there was a plot I missed it. VCE needs to take a good look at the "classics" that they're choosing. And every single character in this book needed a huge slap in the face. The main character was some sort of Holden Caulfield rip-off who didn't have any of the witty, endearing charm of the The Catcher in the Rye character. And, unlike Holden, he had no epiphany moment--he ended up being a middle aged man who hated his life. Brilliant stuff right there. Real inspirational for graduates, might I add. The only thing I enjoyed, kind of, was the style of writing and even that started to bother me towards the end. Oh how fun this will be to study.
October 9, 2017
if it wasn't for the fact that it's owned by the school, i wouldn't hesitate to destroy all evidence of its existence. a complete nightmare – but definitely an accurate portrayal of pretentious south australian teenage boys who think they're clever because they play piano. paul crabbe is the fictional (& musical) equivalent of chris degroot.
October 28, 2019
One of the very best short novels I have ever read. A moving recollection of days spent immersed in music and growing up into adulthood in a Darwin before the cyclone, with the haunting past of a music teacher shaping the story. A reflection on musical genius, obsession, and how we are shaped by past choices. A gold nugget of a book. A masterpiece.
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