Customer Reviews

Good Things I Wish You: A Novel

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Award winning novelist Manette Ansay (Vinegar Hill, Midnight Champagne, Blue Water) doesn't seeem to shy away from challenges. She set quite a task for herself in crafting a work of fiction focusing on two complex relationships - one historical and the other contemporary. While the author assures readers in an Author's Note that this is purely a work of fiction, the inclusion of letters and diary excerpts penned by Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms tend to create a feeling of historical accuracy.

To my knowledge the question of whether or not Clara and Johannes were close friends or lovers is still the subject of discussion. One can draw his or her own conclusions when reading some of their correspondence included in this story.

From Johannes to Clara in 1856: " I wish I could write you as tenderly as I love you and tell you all the good things that I wish for you. You are so infinitely dear to me, dearer than I can say....."

From Clara to Johannes in 1858: "I wish I could find longing as sweet as you do. It only gives me pain and fills my heart with unspeakable woe."

The other relationship explored takes place over a century later and involves 42-year-old Jeanette Hochmann, a novelist who is working on a book about the bond between Clara and Johannes. Recently divorced she is wounded, alone save for her young daughter, Heidi. Through a dating service she meets Hart, a handsome German businessman . By coincidence his native home is Leipzig, which was also Clara's, and he offers to help Jeanette with her research by translating for her. Of course, more than translation develops.

For this reader the lives of the Schumanns and Brahms proved more intriguing than the connection between Jeanette and Hart. Nonetheless, the play of a historical pairing with a modern one does result in entertaining reading reminding us that the stories of love truly are timeless.
- Gail Cooke

Here is what some dum-dum at Publishers Weekly
(which has no literary value whatsoever and never has had)
said about this superb novel:
"...in the end, Ansay's novel feels piddling and ordinary."
I think PW should give credit to whomever writes their
reviews so that we can confront them directly. She (or he)
tells us that she (or he) knew how the book would end.
So what? Has this person ever read a book more than once?
Does his or her remark have any meaning whatsoever? Many
of the contributing readers have far more intelligence and
give Amazon readers far more insight into the books they review
than the dashed-off prattle of PW.

I've read a couple of books - SISTER, MIDNIGHT CHAMPAGNE - by A. Manette Ansay, and always enjoyed them. When her new book came up on my HarperCollins list, I was pretty excited and knew that I wanted to read and review it.

This book weaves in the love story of Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms with that of the narrator, Jeanette, and a German man, Hart, that she meets through a dating service. Jeannette is writing a book on the two, and over dinner learns that Hart also has an interest in the two composers. They become friends and he helps her translate letters and diary entries.

I found both love stories compelling, though I didn't necessarily understand them. I felt like I was trying to understand Jeannette and Hart's relationship, just as Jeannette was trying to understand Clara and Brahms'. In both relationships, the couple starts out intending only for a friendship over a shared passion - in Brahms and Clara's case, the piano; Jeannette and Hart both have an interest in Brahms and Clara's story and in their music. As time goes on, they become closer and deal the age-old question of whether or not men and women can ever be friends.

Ansay includes pictures of Schumann and Brahms and excerpts from those letters and diaries in her novel, which I liked. Aside from giving the reader a little of the history, it made Jeannette's research feel more real and more authentic.

There are a couple of sections where the conversation between Hart and Jeannette is put on the left and right side of the page, respectively, so that the reader can see where interruptions occur (and frequently are ignored). At first, I thought there was something wrong with my book and found it a little distracting. However, it was kind of interesting to read a conversation like that; it felt a bit more real.

One thing that I really liked is the title of the book. It's taken from a letter that Brahms wrote to Schumann, and it's so bittersweet - this longing and wishing for intimacy and closeness, while knowing that it's futile. Also, being an English nerd, I get a kick out of metafictional things; I enjoyed the fact that the narrator is writing the novel that the reader is reading.

Overall, I would recommend this. It's a quick, interesting and thought-provoking read.

Open a door to beautiful music, but listen with your eyes, not your ears.

In Good Things I Wish for You, A. Manette Ansay teases you with the magic of Schumann and Brahms as she offers a fictional solution to their complicated relationship. You might want to play a little of Brahm's lullaby ("Cradle Song") or Schumann's "Arabesque" while you read.

Although Robert is the Schumann most thought of - his beautiful compositions, his madness, his friendship with famous contemporaries, including Brahms, Mendelssohn, Chopin - Clara Wieck Schumann, his wife and famous in her own right as a concert pianist, is the romantic heroine of this novel.

Ansay uses Clara as the historic counterpart to her contemporary character, Jeanette, who is writing about Clara's life as the wife of a romantic composer, mother of seven children, and working concert pianist on tour.

Ansay cautions that her story is fiction, but it helps to know the historic context of the Schumanns' background. Ansay refers you to her website - [...] - for her inspiration to the book and for a brief synopsis of Clara Schumann's life; it is enough to help you make sense of the references. But if you'd like more, try these sites:

[...].

[...].

As Jeannette's life as a recently divorced mother comes into focus, her relationship with a German surgeon/glider pilot becomes entangled with the flashbacks to Clara, her husband Robert, and her illusive relationship with Johannes Brahms. Although a magnificent composer in his early years, Robert becomes mentally ill and spends his last two years in a mental institution. The love that brought them to sue her father for the right to marry, keeps Clara true to the man and his music.

Under the Schumanns' mentorship, Brahms develops his own genius, but also becomes a fixture at their home - later taking care of the children while Clara goes off on tour. Speculation over the relationship of Clara and Brahms has been the topic of biographies, and Ansay uses it as a springboard for the story. Were they just friends? Both Robert and Clara mentored Brahms in his early years - Clara was 15 years older than Brahms. Or were they lovers?

In present day, Jeannette's new German friend, Hart, becomes an antagonist, and eventually her lover, as he helps research the musicians' lives. He champions Brahms as Clara's lover, believing that "men and women can never be friends."

In the flashbacks Ansay sympathizes with Clara's dilemma - her husband committed to an insane asylum,leaving her with all those children - and offers the explanation that Clara must go on tour to support the family. But the character, Jeanette, is both critical of Clara Schumann leaving her children as well a little jealous wishing for Clara's courage to leave - " she was able to do it...if I were...true...I could," she bemoans.

In the middle of reading this book, I attended a discussion of Nancy Horan's Loving Frank, and listened to the criticism of Mamah, who left her two children to be with Frank Lloyd Wright. Not exactly the same circumstances, but here again was a woman being true to herself - despite the seeming obligation to stay with her children. For Mamah, her sister stepped in, and for Clara, it was Brahms, boarding schools, and later her eldest daughter.

Pictures of the Schumanns and Brahms at various ages, excerpts of their letters, as well as drawings related to Jeanette give the book an aura of credibility. You can imagine the conversations - both past and present - actually happening. And it's easy to fall into the notion that the present-day Jeannette's life is a reflection of Clara's.

Often, we are in awe of those "geniuses" who leave a magnificent legacy, but Ansay humanizes these composers and artists, and tries to show their vulnerabilities as well as their passion. In the end, Jeannette's story dovetails Clara's, as both look to the work they love to "medicate loneliness."

Despite Ansay's caution, it's easy to imagine her characterization as real, and a possible solution to one of musical history's mysteries. No matter what you believe, you will come away appreciating their stories.
[...].

In Good Things I Wish You, author A. Manette Ansay delivers a rather unique writing style, with her plotting of interweaving historical fact/fiction, with present day. Starting out with Jeanette, a woman and single mother of a young daughter, who is recovering from a divorce, we learn of her struggles to find her way, as she writes her first book. The book that she is crafting, is all-encompassing, in a way that the characters wrap themselves around Jeanette and ache for their story to be released. This story? The tale of Clara Schumann, a world renowned female pianist, her husband well-known composer Robert Schumann and the young protege Johannes Brahms. As a surprise twist of fate, Jeanette meets a rather mysterious man who grew up in Leipzig, East Germany, birthplace of Clara Schumann. There is a strange sort of connection between Jeanette and this man, Hart, who claims that men and women can never be friends and quite frankly, he does not feel any sort of chemistry between himself and Jeanette.

However, as Hart aides Jeanette in translations and researching the various places from which Clara's, Robert's and Brahms' stories take place, the connection between the two become even greater. This brings forth, again, the question: Can women and men ever be just friends? More importantly, doesn't the basis of a friendship and companionship make for the most stable of relationship foundations? Perhaps, perhaps not. Though not the typical romance, I found the relationship between Jeanette and Hart an interesting one.


A combination of historical fiction and contemporary fiction, Good Things I Wish You is a story that will reach an array of audiences. Two completely different woman, living many decades apart, yet sharing so many similarities and common traits. I found the similarities between Clara's love and desire to compose and Jeanette's love and desire to write, an interesting likeness. Both with children they love (though Clara did consider the children that she birthed, her husband's children, rather than her own), torn between love and duty to them and their deep seeded need to express themselves through their creative talent. In both past and present, this is often the case for women, I think, putting aside their own desires and goals until those around have been reached and taken care of first. I know, woman's lib and all of that aside, I still see this as a common trend.

I have to admit that when I first received Good Things I Wish You, I wasn't completely aware of what I was in for. The story sounded incredibly appealing and the twist of past and present blended in one story intrigued me. When the book first reached my hands, I randomly flipped through pages, as I so often do when I receive a lovely new adventure to lose myself within. I have to say that I was beyond thrilled when I saw the photographs enclosed throughout the book. They are amazing and lend a completely new dimension to the story, itself. Amid the photos are excerpts of letters and diary entries sent between Clara, Robert and Brahms, as well as footnotes from the destinations these were obtained. What a wondrous way to follow up the intrigue and curiosities that this story conjures up for these historical figures.

Though the story interweaves past and present, the transitionings of these times and chapters are seamless and incredibly smooth. The writing style of A. Manette Ansay is largely enjoyable and her characterizations realistic. Good Things I Wish You is a story that reads quickly and pulls the reader into the characters and what they are experiencing and going through. This is a story that will leave you satisfied and yearning for more works by this wonderful author.

Recently divorced, forty-two years old Floridian Jeanette Hochmann is struggling with balance. She works at the university, is raising her four years old child virtually alone, and is writing her novelization of the four decade relationship between nineteenth century German pianist Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms, her spouse Robert's protégé as composers. Jeannette, a child prodigy classical pianist, hopes to bring freshness to the legendary triangle, but instead feels lethargic and despondent following her acrimonious divorce war.

Through an agency Jeanette meets slightly older entrepreneur Hart, the first man she dates in nineteent years. He coincidently comes from Clara's hometown Leipzig, Germany. Hart kindly helps her with translations of her research from German to English though they seem to have nothing in common except they are attracted to one another. In fact she realizes his ten year old daughter, a musical prodigy, is much more like her than Hart is. As they travel Germany and Switzerland together, their relationship heats up yet increasingly seems to emulate that of Clara and Johannes.

This is a fascinating look at the legendary triangle between the Schumann duo and Brahms in which the nineteenth century subplot with original photos and letters is extremely gripping; but in turn makes the modern day entry seem intrusive. The cast in both centuries are fully developed, however once again the historical persona steal the show. Although GOOD THINGS I WISH FOR YOU might have been better as an exclusive look at the historical relationship, fans will enjoy A. Manette Ansay's fine tale of how convoluted life is then and now.

Harriet Klausner

The story begins when writer Jeanette has a blind date. It has been nineteen years since she has had a date. Her twelve year marriage has just ended. She has a kindergarten age daughter who must be split between mother and father. And Jeanette is busy. She lives in West Palm Beach but teaches three days a week at a Miami university. She would like to stay overnight in Miami for a couple of days while teaching,but that is not to be since the divorce. Cal, her ex, suffers from depression and gets teaching jobs that don't last. This is one reason for the divorce. Enough of Jeanette's problem and back to history times.

She is writing about the marriage of Clara and Robert Schumann plus Clara's friendship with Johannes Brahms. Were these two just or friends or were they lovers? Much has been written about this but noone knows the real truth. The Schumanns had eight children, one died in early childhood. Clara was not a good mother according to history. She was a concert pianist and obsessed with her music. Her father never wanted her to marry especially not Robert Schumann. He felt her music would always come first. But against his wishes the two did marry. Robert Schumann died in a mental hospital. Johannes Brahms was close to Clara's children and was a friend, an older brother and a parent to these young people and stayed with them when Clara was on tour and their father was in a mental institution.

Jeanette met her blind date; he was from Germany. Hart became interested in Jeanette's biography. Jeanette had been a music major and had been taking piano lessons when she was a teen ager.This is one reason she was so interested in these musicians. So both Jeanette and Hart went to Germany to look into the lives of the Schumanns and Brahms. The two travelled to Germany and Switzerland to visit museums, homes, churches and the area of these countries where the three had lived and worked in order to help Jeanette with her biography.

I was interested in Ms Ansay's description of Florida where I used to live plus the Alps Mountains of southern Germany and Austria where I once vacationed.

Jeanette was horrified about the indifferent way Clara treated her children. When the writer was in Europe she missed her daughter badly.

I enjoyed seeing the old photographs of the Schumanns and Brahms in different ages and stages plus reading parts of their letters to each other, Robert, Clara, Johannes.

The book goes in part between Jeanette's story and the lives of the three musicians.

Can a man and a woman be just friends?

This is the question approached in this book - and even though the answer, at first glance, is a simple one - the actions that lead to that answer are not quite so clear.

In Good Things I Wish You the story switches between that of Jeanette and Hart, a man and woman living in today's world, and the story between Johannes Brahms and Clara Schumann. Jeanette is researching for a book written on these two famous composers/pianists and, in learning about her own relationships, stumbles across her own interpretation of what must have occurred between Brahms and Clara years ago.

This was not a cheerful read, but the musician and artist in me loved the story. Through times of grief and sorrow some of the best works can be done - whether it's writing that perfect book, or composing that perfect piece of music .. or, in my own experience, performing a piece with every ounce of your heart put into it.

Have you listened to Brahms' music? What about Schumann's, Clara or Roberts? So much passion is contained, so much heartbreak and this story does a beautiful job with quotes and pictures and a fictionalized story that inspires my imagination to soar when I listen again to my favorites.

Part of me thinks that I appreciated this book more because of my background in music, but I think any lover of history or of the arts would enjoy the story put down here and the inspiration it causes to seek out more on the lives of these extraordinary people.

This is an exceptionally interesting, well written novel. Ansay's writing makes Clara Schumann's story more compelling than the bare facts might suggest, and Ansay does this while concentrating on the personal, rather than the social or musical significance of Schumann's life. The parallel modern story is more than serviceable, as Jeanette is a very sympathetic, believable character. The device of having the novel be in one aspect about the writing of the novel does not seem at all contrived.

My only qualm is that "Good Things I Wish For You" strikes me as one of those novels where the author sketches out the plot in some detail, then fills it in, rather than following her creative imagination.

When I got this book in my hands and read the cover, I could not put it down and kept reading until I was done by the end of the second day. I never thought that I would be interested in a book examining two romances - one of Clara Shumann and her husband's protégé, Johannes Brahms and the other of the novelist (and our narrator) Jeanette and his encounter, Hart, whom she met through a dating service. The book is enriched by original photos and letters exchanged between the characters in 19th century, and the resemblance of the relationship to Jeanette and Hart's is exciting and entraining. Were they just friends? or Lovers? I recommend this book whether you are interested in love stories or you just want to know more about Schumanns and Brahms' relationship.