Customer Reviews

Canone Inverso: A Novel

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I picked up this book with extremely high hopes. Maybe impossibly so. The story begins with the auction of a very special violin. The fact that we don't know who the buyer is or why he is so anxious to own the violin only adds to the mystery. Further complicating matters is the arrival of an unknown writer who wishes to buy the violin--for almost any price. From this writer we learn the story of Jenö Varga, a young Hungarian musician and former owner of the strange violin. At this point, Maurensig seems about to launch a fascinating story woven around an equally fascinating theme--the power of music to dominate our life and thus direct its course. When Jenö meets Kuno Blau, however, the story and its theme seem to shift gears slowly. Sadly, the musical theme, and even Jenö, seem left behind as Maurensig focuses his attention on Kuno Blau and his obsession with immortality. I wouldn't have minded this mid-story shift had the author somehow tied it more closely to the wonderful theme and story with which he began. The ending, although predictable to me, at least, still left many unaswered questions. What caused Kuno's agonizing deterioration? And what of Jenö? Did he find the secrect of immortality? And did he find it through his music or through his connections to the mysterious Gustav Blau? And what about the enigmatic Sophie Hirschbaum and her equally enigmatic father? Jenö's ties to her are never explored deeply enough to warrant the belief that he truly followed her into death. Maurensig is definitely a first-rate writer as far as his prose and ideas are concerned but his characters and their complex relationships are far too under-developed to give us the insight we need and deserve. This book tends to gloss over a fascinating theme and what could have been an equally fascinating story had it only been treated with a little more depth. I came away from Canone Inverso feeling as though I'd been offered a tantalizing appetizer and then been denied the rest of the meal.

Before I read the book I read all the reviews, many of which expressed frustration at what wasn't clear, or perhaps how ambiguous the ending appeared. So I decided to try to read more closely, with the result that I too failed and was frustrated as well. Since this work like the Author's first novel, "The Luneberg Variation", is brief I opened to page one and started again. I cannot say that every detail became clear, every issue resolved, but the story is not as open ended as it appears on the first read.

As in his first novel the primary emotion at work is obsession, there are other strong issues, but I believe this to be the strongest. Where other readers feel the Author went off the track of his story, I believe it was meant as a bit of misdirection. The Author mixed the discussion of immortality and music, but I believe he did it primarily to confuse the reader. I was confused enough without that, for the Author plays games with everything from ready made graves that do/did and may yet have an occupant, to Patrimony, and then a mental condition that throws many presumptions to that point out of order. As this last point is revealed on the penultimate page, the Author tests how well you followed the characters, and how high your frustration level is.

I have been reading a number of books by the Author Michael Dibdin, and like Mr. Dibdin Mr. Maurensig enjoys telling his stories in a pattern akin to a labyrinth as opposed to an orderly sequence of events. But a good Mystery needs to move in a manner that at times may appear random, but if done well will become clear at the end. This Author leaves more to be interpreted by the reader than other writers. His tales however are intricate and would make for great debate if all the reviewers were to gather and put forth their "answers".

From the start I was captivated by this modern classic. The book started out with questions and concluded with questions. Those who have written reviews who questioned the book's ending do so legitimately, but sometimes a complete ending is not necessary and would ruin the book. Leaving us guessing at certain details in the ending was the authors attempt to touch our souls, and he did so mine. We can all imagine what happened to Sophie's father, he probably died in a war camp, or disappeared to America. We can also determine that Jeno probably died soon after loosing the instrument. I think that one who dislikes the way the author ends this book lacks imagination. The book gives enough answers, but we should also analyze it ourselves. This book kept me guessing through most of it. I could not possibly set it down because of my desire to know what was going to happen. The author did wander in the middle, but the end made up for it. A tragic and surprising end should give every creative reader a thrill! It touches the soul, a must read!

Paolo Maurensig's second novel, CANONE INVERSO, is told in the form of an oral history of an oral history -- it is a dark story, but a compelling and human one.

After purchasing an unusually beautiful antique violin at an auction, the buyer is visited in his hotel room by a mysterious stranger. The man tells him that he was planning to bid on the instrument himself, but was unable to arrive at the auction in time. Noticing a strangeness about the man, along with a seemingly emotional attachment to the instrument, the buyer inquires further, and the man begins to tell the story of the violin -- which involves his retelling of an older story, told to him by the instrument's former owner, sitting at a sidewalk cafe table in Vienna, long ago.

The story is an unusual and gripping one -- I found this novel especially hard to set aside, and finished it the day after I started it (I had to force myself to go to bed). The story told by the man in Vienna involves himself and another boy -- both musical prodigies -- who met while attending a prestigious musucal institute in Austria just before the outbreak of World War II. The talent that the two boys shared draws them together into a long and difficult friendship -- and the novel has much to say, cloaked within its gripping story, of the nature of friendship, its blessings as well as its pitfalls.

Maurensig's prose is liquid and beautiful, reproducing perfectly the sense of an oral history. As the story unfolds before the reader's eyes -- and into the listener's ears -- aspects of the boys' lives are revealed like new days dawning over time. This is some very effective storytelling. At the heart of their lives is their love of music -- and they each love it in different ways, for different reasons.

The conclusion of the story is not altogether unexpected, but neither is it telegraphed in an obvious way -- Maurensig's talents are obvious and formidable, making this book a great joy to experience. I look forward to reading his first novel, THE LUNEBERG VARIATIONS.

I was just looking through the other reviews, and found the one with all the questions in it by nikita128. Again, don't read this if you don't want the story to be given away...
Jeno *did* die in '47; it was Kuno as his alter ego Jeno who was telling the story - remember the reference he makes to "returning where i came from"? It's Kuno who's escaped from the funny farm. This all happens in 1986, when the visitor comes and explains his reasons for wanting to get the violin, saying that this happened to him the previous year - in 1985.
I absolutely loved this book, and although i am not a musician, i know a number, and absolutely love how Paolo Maurensig was able to convey the deep emotion and passion that a musician like Jeno puts into their work...

In this dazzling tour de force, Maurensig plays a clever intellectual game, setting traps for the reader, his prey. Fiendish in his deceptions, he actively engages our emotions from the outset, evoking curiosity about his mysterious characters and their circumstances, inspiring sympathy for teenage musicians surviving psychological torment in music school, and creating enormous empathy for an orphaned boy, homeless, unloved, and passionate about his music. We feel rather than think, we get caught, and we love it.

What makes the book even more remarkable to me is that while the author is playing tricks with the reader's emotions and views of reality, he is also creating a passionate tribute to the power of music and artfully structuring his book in the pattern of a musical canon--a round, in which a "melody" is introduced and then chased indefinitely by its imitation, until, as in this novel, it rises "to its supreme fulfillment in an original burst of mutual genius...and [then begins] its descent, its countdown,...its canone inverso."

The symbolic melody of a valuable 16th century Stainer violin sets the voices of the canon's narrative aswirl. The first voice, an unnamed old man, buys the violin at auction. The second voice, a writer and passionate lover of music, comes to his hotel the next day to see, and attempt to buy, the violin from its new owner. He tells the old man the story of Jeno Varga, a Hungarian itinerant musician who once owned the violin and who stupefied a tavern audience, playing rapturously the previous year. "One of music's fighters" whose career had, for some reason, been interrupted, Jeno becomes the third and dominant voice as he tells his story to the writer.

Many readers have talked about reading the book a second time to answer questions about Jeno and his life and to understand the ending. While I rarely reread a book, I did with this one, marveling at the author's cleverness, amazed at how clearly the characters and events fall into place and the questions are answered, once one has the benefit of hindsight. Dozens of clues and peculiar statements, which I ignored in the first reading, stand out clearly on the second, especially those pertaining to time. The irony of the title is stunning. Like music, this story improves and begins to reveal itself more completely the second time around. Encore. Mary Whipple

Here, as in his first book "The Luneburg Variation," Maurensig aims to intrigue, entertain, misdirect, and ultimately give insight to the bright and dark sides of genius. In the first book, chess was the vehicle for exploring genius; in "Canone Inverso," music is the mode.

This short, yet complex book, follows the story of a violin and its series of owners. Through the eyes of a modern day music enthusiast, we meet young musicians of Austria who were subjected to prison-like training regimes, and old men who bear the scars of their abilities.

Maurensig, himself, displays the two sides of genius in his work. At times, I find myself enthralled with his characters and descriptions; at other times, I'm perplexed and disturbed by the places they take us. This author seems intimately familiar with the seduction of art and its ability to eventually take us captive. Rather than enjoy the art (music, chess, or what have you) for its own sake, we are susceptible to the desire for perfection, for greatness, for immortality. And this struggle is precisely what Maurensig explores in the convoluted tale of Kuno Blau and Jeno Varga. The twisted thinking of genius is in full display here and only in the final pages do we get a clear picture of the truth.

But don't expect the author to put all the puzzle pieces together for you. He's too smart for that, and he expects you to be as well. To read his stories is to be taken captive by the same artistic allure of his characters. To reach the end is to resist the temptation and master the beast. "Canone Inverso" refers to a countdown or descent in music. This book, indeed, is a descent into the tortured mind of one who strives for acclaim, fame, family, and self-discovery.

What Arturo Perez-Reverte attempts to do in his literary mysteries, such as "The Flanders Panel," Maurensig manages to do in half the space. Although the interaction between his characters is limited and the depiction of mental decay tedious, you will find the themes explored to be strangely unique, yet universal.

My preference in novels is for books that are realistic and mirror the society in which they take place; I like to enter the universes created by writers, with the single proviso that such places must be believable enough to totally absorb me. So I was surprised by having to give (in all fairness) this novel its five stars despite its violation of my verisimilitude requirements.

But in truth, this is not a novel, but a carefully crafted mechanical device composed entirely of words, intricate and at times unfathomably complex, but one that moves and has rhythms, its gears engaged, every "tick" followed by its inevitable "tock;" a machine that works and is probably extremely accurate in what it does, even though, in the end, one is not sure what it is that it does.

I appreciated the warnings from other reviewers that the book may need to be read twice before it is fully grasped; a violation of general principles: the writer should have one chance to engage our attention, not two. Yet Canone Inverso was surely better in its re-reading.

It is a short book, consumable in one sitting. Its prose is exquisite, its translation so good that one does not notice it, and its effect on the reader's mind is galvanizing. Exotic, intricate, playing with dangerous themes of good and evil, of trust and hatred, of life and death, this confection is not a toy, but a serious intrument of reflection. A joy for seekers of word pleasures.

On the advice of a friend I bought this book. As I began reading, I was pleasantly surprised by the book's excellence. I am sorry that the author didn't maintain it to the very end.

The mysterious circumstances of the story immediately caught my attention, demanding me to continue reading. In the middle of the book I feel that story begins to stray a bit from Jenö, the main character, and his passions and ambition. I found the end to be rather abrupt and one that answers far too little. The bits of information that the author offers do not add up, leaving the ending and the true fate of the characters open to much debate. I would have preferred a clearer ending.

However, it is an excellent story and one that you will not be able to forget for a long time.

I've written very few reviews on Amazon only because I haven't felt that strongly about a book or CD. This one is different. It is a wonderful novel about two men and their passion for music. It reminded me of a music version of Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray," in its descriptions of the passion for music (as "Dorian" has passion for art.) The descriptions of music, immortality, friendship and the underlying theme of the coming of the Nazis are all very powerful. (I think kudos to the translator are appropriate.) I love books about music or art and the violin is my favorite instrument. I read it in two days, not able to put it down until I finished it in the wee hours of the morning. Maybe I should have figured it out, but the surprise ending was a surprise to me. If you are at all interested in classical music you must read this book. One of the best books I've read in a long time (and I've read some really good ones lately!)