Book Review: Ghost Music by An Yu, narrated by Vera Chok
on Sheila Ash (India), Unknown, 34 days ago
Ghost MusicbyAn YuMy rating:4 of 5 starsI really had no idea what to expect when I started this book as I knew
nothing about it or its author, and only had a passing recommendation
from someone I only recently met. But it was unputdownable.It
is a first person narrative by a young married childless woman piano
teacher, Song Yan, living in Beijing. Her mother in law comes to live
with them. She had trained as a concert pianist but had chosen married
life. But that is not going well and she realises she doesn't really
know her husband at all when she discovers first that he had a sister.
Other revelations follow. The strains of her marriage and the strains of
living with one's mother in law take their toll. She receives a series
of mysterious and unexpected deliveries of Yunaan mushrooms, her husband
and mother in law's province. Although addressed to someone else, these
cannot be returned as there is no return address. Her mother in law and
her set about cooking the mushrooms that continue to arrive each week.
Then she receives a letter from Bai Yu, her father's favourite concert
pianist who walked away from his career and disappeared years ago. That
letter ignites her and she goes to its address, one of the old courtyard
hutongs in the back alleys of old Beijing.These are the events
around which this beautifully written and told story is crafted. How
that is done is nothing short of extraordinary. With all the
hallucinogenic effect of mushrooms they percolate into her dreams, she
sees then in cupboards, growing from floorboards, in her walls and there
is news that her husband's home town is covered in an orange dust. The
effect is magical, making this anything but a domestic drama novel. But
this is NOT magical realism. For me it is far more reminiscent of the
best ghost stories (The Turn of the Screw, The Othershttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt0230600/, The Orphanagehttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464141) but with shades of Nostalgiahttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086022as if they had been blended by Tarkovsky in his own special way he had with colour, music and movement.Throughout
the book music plays a central role - her relations with it, with the
piano, with the children she teaches, and at perhaps the most intimate
of ways the untouching shadow-playing with Bai Yu. I'm no musician but I
am sure someone will write about the choice of the pieces that are in
this book. Debussey's Reverie is the main one and I did look it up -
"Reverie is not full of excitement and explosions of colour...but..is
calm, peaceful and priorities atmosphere and reaching a dream like
state. Often used for mindfulness and meditation" quote fromhttps://classicalexburns.com/2022/08/.... That choice can be no accident. It totally fits. This
book HAS to be made into a movie and scored appropriately. But making a
movie of this will take a deft hand, as so much is in what is not said,
in the gaps between the notes, those moments which are 'more resonant
than the mere absence of sound' . And it is here that this novel
indicates to me a great writing talent. It handles these equivalent to
off camera moments well, it handles silences well, by using the ghostly
hallucinations to explore the understanding, coming to terms with and
resolution of the ordinary everyday strains and constraints of life and
marriage. Audio version is beautifully narrated by Vera Chok who has also narrated An Yu's only other novelBraised PorkI really urge you to read this book.ashramblings