Honeybees and Distant Thunder

蜜蜂と遠雷 #1

by Riku Onda

The Night Circus meets Lonely Castle in the Mirror in this million-copy multi-awardwinning Japanese bestseller.

In a small coastal town just a stone's throw from Tokyo, a prestigious piano competition is underway. Over the course of two feverish weeks, three students will experience some of the most joyous - and painful - moments of their lives. Though they don't know it yet, each will profoundly and unpredictably change the others, for ever.

Aya was a piano genius, until she ran away from the stage and vanished; will the tall and talented Makun bring her back? Or will it be child of nature, Jin, a pianist without a piano, who carries the sound of his father's bees wherever he goes? Each of them will break the rules, awe their fans and push themselves to the brink. But at what cost?

Tender, cruel, compelling, Honeybees and Distant Thunder is the unflinching story of love, courage and rivalry. Most of all, it shows how three young people reconcile with the highs and lows of what it means to truly be a friend.

Genres: Fiction, Japan, Contemporary, Japanese Literature, Music, Asian Literature, Literary Fiction

416 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2016

About the author

Riku Onda (Japanese name: 恩田 陸), born in 1964, is the professional name of Nanae Kumagai. She has been writing fiction since 1991 and has won the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for New Writers, the Japan Booksellers' Award, the Mystery Writers of Japan Award for Best Novel for The Aosawa Murders, the Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize, and the Naoki Prize. Her work has been adapted for film and television. The Aosawa Murders was her first crime novel and the first time she was translated into English. It was selected by The New York Times as a Notable Book of 2020.

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had goosebumps reading this book, and I wanted this book to last forever. Usually, I speed read through books because I have an insatiable greed to gobble up all the words. In this case, it was the exact opposite. I wanted to savor every word, every page, every scene. So I read only a couple chapters a day, and I enhanced my reading environment with Spotify running piano music in the background (how could I not?). I wanted the book to last so much that I dreaded finding out the competition results, and when I did, I wished I hadn’t - partially because I would’ve switched first, second, and third places and partially because I wanted more story to fill the pages before I got to that last one.

It was a book with almost no action, and yet, it was full of drama, tension, surprise, and inspiration. I enjoyed so many swells of emotion. At the end of each day, I wanted to jump onto my piano myself and pretend I was a competitor too.

I am unsure if my reading experience would’ve been different had I not studied Japanese literature in college, lived in Japan for several years, and/or played piano for many years myself. I think it would’ve been hard to appreciate a lot of the nuance and subtle beauty of the book. But because I did study Japanese literature and lived in Tokyo and played classical piano all those years, this was the only way I could experience the book, and I’ll never be able to know what it would’ve been like otherwise since I only read it after closing all those other memories.

This is going on my reread shelf. I also bought a copy after returning it to the library. This is a book I’m grateful to have read.

[Matthew Ted · Rating 1 out of 5]

51st book of 2023.

1.5. Honeybees and Distant Thunder is a million-copy bestseller in Japan and is finally being translated into English now by Philip Gabriel (esteemed Murakami translator), and is published early next month in May. I've had the advance copy for a while, I'll admit, and never felt hugely drawn to read it despite my initial interest. I imagined that the book would be a music competition in the opening, and then tracking those involved for the next few years, maybe their whole lives. In actuality, all 432 pages of this novel are about the same competition. The parts are split into 'Round One', 'Round Two', etc., and then other chapters such as 'Interlude'. In the beginning there are quite a few characters and I found it a little disorientating: Onda throws us into the heads of contestants and judges alike. I just can't understand how Onda managed to spread out one competition for 400 pages. The book, by the three hundred mark, just felt flogged to death and repetitive. There's a lot of boring descriptions of how the music made different characters feel, like they were flying, or that they were brought to tears. The contestants think about their nerves and what they are going to play. It's just boring. There's also a sort of love interest subplot that is just forgotten for most of the book and feels incredibly half-baked. I can't fathom why this is a million copy bestseller in Japan, why it's taken-off over there. Maybe it'll take off here next month, I suppose it's yet to be seen. I just found boring, overlong, uninspired. Talk about show don't tell, this is tell-tell-tell. Thanks to Random House UK for ARC anyway, glad I tried it being so popular in Japan.

[farahxreads · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who has zero knowledge about piano and classical music, I’m absolutely pleased to have come across this absolutely vibrant and emotive story by Riku Onda. Set during a prestigious piano competition in a small coastal town, Honeybees and Distant Thunder centers around four individuals as they embark on a journey of self-exploration via their shared love and passion for the piano and classical music.

What the blurb said was true: This is beyond a reading experience and it felt like some sixth sense was at work. Honeybees and Distant Thunder is about music, and everything that comes with it. Notes, chords, sounds. And to write and describe them with nuances and varied interpretations in such a way that readers can hear and visualize them is no easy feat. But Riku Onda and Philip Gabriel did it, and they did it excellently. The mastery and precision with which they employed to describe the musical pieces and their emotional impact really astounded and impressed me. It felt like I was actually there in the concert hall, listening to the nimble and vibrant notes of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto and immersing myself in the soft and gentle melody of Chopin’s Ballade. This novel has just reaffirmed how magical and powerful words are. They have the ability to make you feel, and even hear things. Just have a look at this description, for example:

“The cadenza that Jin Kazama spun out was cruel and brutal to an absurd degree. The frightening, clamorous tremolos stabbed you right in the chest, and were painful to listen to. A shrill scream, a low rumbling, a raging wind. An openly threatening, irresistible menace…Takashi realized he was barely breathing. This was Ashura indeed.”

In addition, Riku Onda did such an amazing job of exploring the distinction between genius vs ordinary pianists: Is the latter inferior to the former? The author also illustrated that the classical music world isn’t as elegant as we might think. It’s a cut-throat and terrifying industry, and unless you come from a wealthy household, it would be difficult to begin and continue playing. There was also the housing situation in Japan and the cost of maintaining the instrument. I also admired how the author presents the dilemma between preserving the original intention of the composer vs free interpretation by the new pianists.

Ultimately, Honeybees and Distant Thunder is a story that could be described as a love letter to music and nature. Passion, resilience, self-discovery, friendship and expectation also blooms across the narrative. As someone who knows nothing about this particular world, I’m surprised that I really enjoyed it and I learned a great deal from this novel. Thank you Times Read for the gifted copy. I really appreciate it.

[Vicente Orjales Galdo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro sobre una competición de piano no era algo que en principio me entusiasmase, y eso que estudié piano en el conservatorio y me podría sentir más identificado. El libro se centra sobre todo en las interpretaciones de los protagonistas. Es curioso como algo tan abstracto puede ir creando un hilo conductor de una novela y darle coherencia. Reconozco que en algunas ocasiones las descripciones de las interpretaciones me han resultado algo repetitivas. Su lenguaje es poético y conmovedor, pero hay cierto exceso. A pesar de eso es una obra que se lee fácilmente y emociona en muchas de sus partes. Una lectura agradable y sobre todo original.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some books just resonate with you personally. Honeybees and Distant Thunder follows the course of a prestigious international piano competition and some of the remarkable pianists who are competing for their own various, deeply felt reasons. I picked this one up already knowing the likelihood I would enjoy the read was high, having grown up in a musical household and studying music myself. It did not disappoint. I read it in almost one sitting only pausing to add every piano piece mentioned into a playlist to listen later and to grab tissues because despite this not being a sad book I found myself crying. There’s just something about this book and its unabashed reverence for the power of music and the love these performers have for their art that really got to me. At the very least, I loved closing my eyes and listening to parts of the mentioned pieces against Onda’s written descriptions of them. This isn’t a cutthroat read about intrigue at a competition or even exactly suspenseful, it’s almost restful and idyllic. A beautiful, lovely read. Put this in the hands of music lovers.

[Arbuz Dumbledore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fajna!
Mało jestem w stanie więcej powiedzieć, bo nie rozumiem muzyki klasycznej i tych mistycznych przeżyć bohaterów. Przyznam, że nieco mnie śmieszyły już w pewnym momencie, bo były bardzo pretensjonalne, ale ponownie - nie znam się na tym, może to wybrzmiewa naturalnie dla kogoś, kto się muzyką zajmuje. Wciągająca nawet dla niewtajemniczonych. Minusem jest Jin - nie sama postać, która się broni, ale to, jak traktuje go narrator, bo opisywany jest jak pięciolatek.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to Simon and Schuster for the advanced reader copy of the English translation of this book - being released in May. For an avid reader, it's pretty amazing to be able to say "I've never read a book like this before" but that is exactly how I feel about this novel. Before I even finished the book, I went and pre-ordered myself a copy because I know this is a book I want to own and revisit. I am not a pianist, but I have a deep love for music, so I'm sure that affected the way I read this story. The novel centers around an international piano competition. It moves from character to character - competitors, family members, friends, judges -- all with unique views and stories who come together for this competition. The connection of music to nature, and to people's souls is so exquisitely written and moving. I loved every bit of it.

[Sara Jesus · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Abelhas e trovoada ao longe" é um livro sobre o poder da música, jornadas de superação e grandes amizades. É uma narrativa da qual sentimos cada som, cor e textura.

Acompanhamos ao longo de duas semanas uma competição de piano, observamos a pressão deste mundo mas também o modo como a música os irá inspirar a querer ser melhores.

Entre os concorrentes se destacam Aya, Mansuro e Jin Kazama. Aya tenta voltar aos palcos depois da morte da sua mãe, e acabará por reencontrar no concurso um amigo de infância. Mansuro é um pianista brilhante que irá tentar atingir o estrelato, mas ao longo da competição se deixará contaminar pelas belíssimas prestações dos outros concorrentes. E Jin Kazama, um desconhecido que conseguirá surpreender todos com o modo irreverente como toca.

Um livro mágico e poética, que me provocou muitos sorrisos e lágrimas. Assim com uma imensa vontade de assistir uma orquestra clássica ao vivo.

[Larnacouer de SH · Rating 2 out of 5]

MİYOP’UN KAHIR YA DA E BU N’ALAKA OLM DRAMA KULÜBÜ sunar: Bir daha müzik temalı hiçbir kitap okumayacağıma ant içtim demin. Unutmayayım diye buraya da yazıyorum. Boğdu boğdu duvara vurdu bu kadar olur ya. İlkin bir heves açtım bahsi geçen müzikleri, can kulağıyla dinliyorum falan ama yok anam- böyle iş mi olur? Öyle bir çaldı ki falan diyor. Nasıl çaldı kardeşim düz beste işte açtım dinliyorum? Yok ama şey çok ahenkli çaldı diyor. Alla alla bilemedim bak şimdi sen böyle deyince?
Kız diyor bu bambaşka bir şey, öyle bir çaldı ki diyor BU TANRISAL YETENEK diyor. Harbi mi? Ne bileyim ne kadar değişebilir ki bir beste ya? Çalıyor işte.

Bu kavga bitmedi anlayacağınız. Japon edebiyatının o soğuk duvarlarını aşamadığımız için atıştık durduk dümdüz 500 sayfa boyunca.
Müzikle haşır neşir değilseniz ilk turdan sonra kahrı çekilmiyor ben diyeyim. Çünkü betimlemiyor ya da o bize bahşedildi kendisi ilahi bir armağan resmen bir uyuşturucu betimlemesini ben kabul etmiyorum.

Karakterlerin hiçbirinin ruh halini anlamadım kazananla kaybeden hep aynı bön bön bakıyordu insana. Ki kendilerini tanıyamadım bile. Bir noktada dönüp arkadaşıma* dedim ki bunların yaş aralığı nedir niye hepsi aynı falan. Zaten kız mı erkek mi anlaşılmjdjdkdkdoIRKÇI ŞAKA. O kadar da değil şimdi uydurdum bunu.

Haricinde müzik ruhun gıdasıdır repliklerini tatlı buldum klişeleri pek severim.

3 puan verecekken seri olduğunu fark edip kinlendim. Bırak seriyi 500 bile fazlaydı 250 sayfada dürülürdü bu mevzu,
*arkadaşımla okumamış olsaydım yarım bırakırdım kitabı, tamamlayacak gücü bulamazdım kesin bunun kinini de ekleyelim etti sana nur topu gibi 2 puan.

Yine de beni referans almayın. 30 yaşından küçük B rh+ kimselerin sevme potansiyeli var hala.
Kan grubu opsiyonel onu da şu an uydurdum çünkü. 30 çok oldu max 23’e kadar 0 rh- kan grubu dahil.
Greyfurt sevenler bilhassa okusun.
Bu meyveyi hür iradesiyle yiyen kimselerin böyle ucuz kurgulara ihtiyacı olduğunu düşünmüşümdür hep.

[quincy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book follows a group of people competing in an international piano competition in a small Japanese town. There’s disgraced child prodigy Aya, mysterious son of a beekeeper Jin, the ‘Prince of Julliard’ Masaru, and the seemingly ordinary Akashi. Each competitor (and those surrounding them) go through immense changes as they affect each other through music.

I’ve been steeped in classical music for my entire life, my mother was a classically trained musician, and i grew up playing the piano, doing ballet, and figure skating. However, I don’t know if I have ever considered classical piano, or music in general, so deeply. What particularly struck me in this novel was the insistence on the universality of music, its ability to not only transcend language and culture, but even humanity itself. While I first found myself confused with the constant page-to-page shifting of POVs, I grew to appreciate the way it communicated how every member of the audience and the performer was experiencing the music together, transcending their individual sensory experiences.

The prose in this book often brought me to tears, particularly parts told from the perspective of the oldest competitor in the group, Akashi. The description of the mulberry buds from his childhood will stick with me. I also particularly enjoyed the way that Aya and Jin's otherworldly, detached natures were described. Neither existed entirely in the physical world, yet were both deeply connected to it, much like the music itself.

Overall, a five star read. I loved it.

[Ewa (humanizmowo) · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5
Nie jest zła, ale ta tematyka zdecydowanie nie jest moja.

[Inês Sousa · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5🌟
Opinião em breve.

[Cecilia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una historia atrapante que desde los puntos de vista de distintos personajes nos adentra en las tensiones y emociones que se pueden experimentar en un concurso internacional de piano.

Rivalidades, nuevas amistades y reflexiones profundas en torno a la vida y la música.

3,5 estrellas

[Beth Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a stunning, beautiful, powerful novel about the glories of music and friendship! This will be a top favorite for 2024!

You’ve probably never heard of Honeybees and Distant Thunder if you live in the US. And that’s a shame, because in Japan, this book won two major literary awards when it was first published in 2017. Let me tell you why this book will be one of my top favorites read in 2024.

This book follows a large cast of characters in the weeks surrounding a famous (fictional) piano competition in Japan. You don’t need to have a background in music to appreciate the story; at the core, this this is a story about friendship and hope, a story of courage in the face of adversity, and a book so filled with beauty that I just couldn’t help smiling as I read.

If you love books that draw you in as a reader, that paint vivid images and are full of slow suspense, give this book a read. I’ve never read a book quite like this but it reminded me of aspects of Peace Like A River, The Phone Booth at the End of the World, and even The Remains of the Day.

[Carla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm sad because I really wanted to love this book. The blurb read exactly like the kind of story I would fall in love with. Japanese Literature about music? Hell yeah. But Honeybees and Distant Thunder was not a highlight for me.

We have Aya, Makun and Jin that are all competing at an important piano competition in Tokio. I liked all of these characters but that's it. After the first 100-150 pages it turned kinda repetitive. The competition itself and also the POVs of the characters. For me the book was simply just too long. I would've kicked out some POVs of people that weren't the main characters and I would've shorten the competition as well.

I am really sad to say this but sadly I'm dissapointed. It was compared to Lonely Castle in the Mirror (my favourite book that I read last year) and that comparision didn't do justice. If you like Japanese Literature and Music I would rather recommend you "The Forest of Wool and Steel".

[Edzia · Rating 4 out of 5]

To było absolutnie unikatowe czytelnicze doznanie. Prawie 470 stron opisów wystąpień fikcyjnych pianistów na fikcyjnym konkursie, zawiązujących się między nimi relacji i refleksji dotyczących roli muzyki w ich życiu i w świecie w ogóle - aż trudno uwierzyć, że ta opowieść może być tak bardzo dla czytelnika absorbująca.
Ogromny plus za playlistę na Spotify'u, którą można było włączyć skanując kod na skrzydełku książki i słuchać utworów, które akurat grane są przez bohaterów i komentowane przez ich konkurentów. To daje odbiorowi nową jakość, pozwala delektować się słuchanymi dźwiękami i spojrzeć na znane utwory muzyki poważnej świeżym okiem, z nowej perspektywy. Temat muzyki jest mi bliski ze względu na to, że sama miałam do czynienia z graniem na instrumencie (również na fortepianie); spotkałam się z opiniami, że egzaltacja bohaterów w czasie koncertów jest przesadzona, bo nikt w prawdziwym życiu nie przeżywałby tak gry na fortepianie - otóż nieprawda. Dobre wykonanie muzyki poważnej może dawać prawdziwie metafizyczne doznania i poruszać najczulsze struny, zwłaszcza przy występie na żywo. Czułam się poruszona samymi opisami utworów w powieści, które według mnie są mistrzowskie i świadczą o ogromnej muzycznej wrażliwości autorki. Niejednokrotnie zawarte przez nią w książce refleksje były bardzo zbliżone do moich i pokusiłabym się nawet o stwierdzenie, że nigdy jeszcze nie spotkałam się, żeby ktoś pisał o muzyce w tak piękny sposób, ukazując całą jej wielkość i wpływ, który może mieć zarówno na słuchacza, jak i wykonawcę. (to, jak słuchanie wykonań rywali wpływało potem na relacje między nimi - uwielbiam ten motyw)
Powieść ma swoje wady. Nie przekonał mnie wątek Księcia Pszczół, jego postać wydawała mi się mało autentyczna, zbyt ekscentryczna; podobnie niektóre dialogi burzyły harmonię swoją nienaturalnością. Ale to szczegół przy ogromie ciepłych emocji, ekscytacji i muzycznych uniesień, których doznałam w czasie lektury.

[Donna Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really torn. This is tough because it's an amazing feat to make a piano competition sing and tug on your heart strings without physically hearing a single note. But wow it's so repetitive... the voice takes some getting used to and grated on me sometimes. Other times, though, it was poetic and beautiful. I cried like 3 times.

I just... ugh though.

Maybe it just doesn't translate as well to a Western audience? Maybe the translation itself could have used more thoughtfulness? Hard to pinpoint where exactly this slipped from the heights of success it enjoyed in Japan, but it definitely lost something.

[Lena]

Dnf po 250 stronach. Życie jest za krótkie, a lista potencjalnie wspaniałych książek za długa. And that’s that on that.

[Sylvie {Semi-Hiatus} · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[Made by Caroline]

DNF tuż przed połową

[Wiola Myszkowska Re:telling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jakie to było ładne...

[clara · Rating 5 out of 5]

a mesmerising attempt to translate music into words, an attempt so successfully vivid that it read more like a concert than a novel.

[Tom Mooney · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read 100 pages, enough to know this is too pedestrian for me.

[Myrthe · Rating 4 out of 5]

✨ Honeybees and Distant Thunder // Riku Onda ✨

Details: 443p, 2016 (2023 English and Dutch translation), contemporary fiction.
TW/CW: very mild loss, but none too heavy!

First notes: It’s ironic because I order stock for the bookstore I work at and the publisher presented this as ‘The Night Circus meets Lonely Castle In the Mirror’ and obviously I could not not be intrigued, so I read the first few pages of the English translation but wasn’t sold, however when we got an advanced copy in Dutch I couldn’t stop reading? The magic of *translations*, and the joy of being able to choose between languages!

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 𝐏𝐥𝐨𝐭: I’ll begin by saying that this is not plot driven, it’s one hundred percent character driven. However I loved that we followed a piano competition, but just like the circus in The Night Circus is the main event but not the overarching element in the story, the competition here is the thread that binds it all together but is not completely the focus of the story either.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬: The characters though… the characters. We meet a lot of people, but never for a second did I lose count of who’s who and I was invested in all of them from the start. They’re all so unique and their passion and drive is written down so clearly and beautifully that you cannot not fall for them!
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭: The names for the chapters often didn’t make sense to me because they included a classical piece name (as it’s the focus of the story), but it wasn’t distracting. The round division was clever though!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 𝐒𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 (𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 + 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞): Set in Japan, but mostly set in the lives of the characters? Wondrous when an author can achieve this connection to not only a physical place, but make the place the people connected to music, speechless.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞: This is what made the entire story and its inhabitants come to life, it was so vivid you could taste the music. I was afraid I would get bored because I knew pretty much nothing about classical music let alone their world, never did I think I’d be so invested in something I have no active passion for. Incredible!

Final notes: I see why they give you the Night Circus comparison, but it’s also nothing like it. It’s just as character driven and they both have an event leading the story, but (and yes, I’m biased) it’s just not as good as Night Circus (but this is not a comparison review haha excuse me). It was fantastic though, slow, so not for everyone, but pfew does it make your heart melt a little and make you give a silent thank you to music.

4⭐️

[Sarah (sarahanneisreading) · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

Review to come.

[Cozy Reading Times · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quietly beautiful insight into a grand piano competition, from various points of view.
We follow several participants of the competition (as well as a jury member), as they struggle, dream, and perform. We learn about their personal histories, their motivations, and the friends they make along the way.
This is a world I know very little about, and it was quite an enlightening book to read. I enjoyed the characters and found myself rooting for them all. The music was also described very beautifully, which leads me to believe this might make a gorgeous anime adaptation (maybe a little like Yuri!! On Ice, sans the gayness, sadly).
In written word, the novel got a little repetitive at times (each round of the competition following the same basic structure, and the book seldom deviating from that structure. Also, the characters could have done with a little more depth - the author rather often stayed to the surface of their personalities.
Yet overall, it was a pretty and calming read. I want an adaptation asap.

[Marija S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book reads like a screenplay adaptation of a shonen manga, with its manga characters, manga narrative, manga flashbacks and manga reactions. It is too long, pretentious, badly written, overdone and I was the happiest when I was finally, finally done reading it.

Also, in the world where Mozart, Shubert, New York, Tokyo, France, Korea, etc. exist (i.e. this world), someone must have played Tekken. Why did no one find peculiar that one protagonist is called Jin Kazama? Even though it is '塵' and not '仁', it underlines the overall first-fanfic-feel of the whole book.

Not even the added value of getting a glimpse into the world of professional musicians and the backstage of a music competition, and scattered philosophical thoughts on music and life could make me forgive the author for putting me through this.

[Andrea Gagne · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW, what a book! I suppose I could see how this might not be for everyone, but it definitely did it for me -- I can't praise this highly enough!

In terms of plot, this is about four different competitors in a prestigious international piano competition in Japan: a child prodigy; a dad who works in a music store wants to know if he could make it in the world of professional musicians; a student being formally mentored at Julliard; and a former child genius who had left the performing world as a young girl and is trying her hand at competing again years later. As we move through the competition, the tension builds around who will make it through to each new round, as the judges whittle down the competitors.

But this book is about so much more than just its plot. I would categorize this a philosophy book, really -- an exploration of art and music from a variety of perspectives. Is music "created" by composers and performers, or does it already exist in the air around us and musicians are constantly seeking to translate it for the rest of us. Music as a fleeting moment, experienced live and then gone the instant it ends (maybe captured on recording, but that can never really contain the life of a piece). Once we've contained the music, is it possible to set it free once more?

We also get different perspectives on the performers themselves, comparing their inner fears of inadequacy, questioning one's own talent. Whether they need to focus on hard work and ambition or give into the emotion, creativity, or fun of music.

The performance scenes were so beautifully written, too -- I wasn't sure how a book about a music competition would handle the many scenes of performers actually playing piano, but the visualizations were stunning. The way the music was portrayed through pictures, scenes of nature and rain and thunder, or conversations with friends and loved ones, or interpretations of an expansive universe, or the swelling of emotion.

I will say, I could see some readers finding the pacing to be kind of stop-and-go, with a bit of repetitiveness in the structure (performances, judging, performances, judging, and so on). But for me, the minor issues I had were outweighed by the beauty and philosophy that I couldn't get enough of.

4.75 stars - though maybe I'll come back and edit to a full 5 stars if it keeps lingering in my mind.

[Filipa Ribeiro Ferreira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eu percebo zero de música e não sei julgar os termos técnicos usados. Mas senti-me tomada e levada ao céu por este livro, que descreve um concurso internacional de piano no Japão, a partir do ponto de vista de alguns membros do júri e também dos concorrentes (cada um com os seus bloqueios, medos ou inseguranças a ultrapassar) mas sobretudo a afinidade entre a música e a natureza e a forma como a música nos pode fazer sentir, em contacto connosco próprios, com os outros e com a nossa história.

[Katrina Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully written, intense and trippy experience of being within a music competition. The connection and inspiration that the musicians share is a unique form of communication. This would be the highlight of the book if it weren't for the visual dreamlike journeys that pianists and audience took, I didn't want them to end.

Not a book that I would recommend to most readers, but I will think about this book for a long time.