![]() In ‘Counterpoint,’ the narrator and his mother eat dinner, in ‘a kind of silence that really is a conversation.’ Referring to the blank spot on our retinas, he goes on to say that with our need to fill in, we ‘become co-authors of what we see.’ To this reviewer at least, this is the theme of the book. ![]() Starting at the beginning, tuning to the first chair’s ‘A,’ as every symphony does, on the downstroke the author positions us on a porch in Copenhagen looking through a fence ‘of parallel pine stems,’ a wonderful metaphor, the vision of a violinist staring through strings. Through a gift of ‘Perfect Pitch,’ our young violinist begins to make a name for himself. As Von Daler says, “If this book were music, it would be eight movements and a prelude.” He also indicates that this is fiction, but I might suggest it’s closer to ‘Faction,’ as it clearly reflects the narrator’s peripatetic life in music, and the characters he meets along the way. The narrator schleps his violin through life, moves from one gig to another, accompanied by ‘Olding,’ the musician’s inner conductor. ![]() Here we have a fictional bildungsroman crafted in a kind of symphonic fashion-with accompaniment. ![]()
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