Description
Book SynopsisA wrenching and deceptively spare debut novel about an electric friendship between two boys that slowly reveals itself as a deep and lifelong love.Jan de Vries is a virtuoso pianist who would be in the prime of his career but for the crippling auditory hallucinations that have plundered his performances and his mind. As the disorder reaches its devastating peak the walls Jan has built around him crumble, rendering him unable to repress the overwhelming flood of memories and the troves of unspoken words that linger between him and his childhood best friend, Dirk Noosen, with whom he lost touch long ago. He is faced with only one recourse: to head home and confront him. With a singular voice and a masterful balance of emotional resonance and restraint, Eric Beck Rubin tells the tender story of Jan''s obsessive friendship with the charismatic, irreverent raconteur Dirk as the reader breathlessly awaits their reunion.
This luminous novel is
Trade ReviewA hugely impressive first novel about music, friendship and obsession. Gripping and emotional -- David Nicholls Rubin writes with grace and exactitude, giving a tangible, animated quality to the sensual world of his story ... this is a luminous, quiet storm of a novel that resounds long after its heartbreaking coda. Guardian An elegant, synaesthetic tale ... Gatsby-like FT Overtones of Patricia Highsmith... the world of talented youth is a captivating backdrop... a very pleasant interlude Irish Times I adored this debut. It's a fascinating dissection of the power of friendship Irish Examiner The writing is poised and lyrical, with all the rhythm and some of the ache of the Faures and Debussys it dwells upon. Echoes of Gatsby are subtly embedded ... a writer to watch. Big Issue A beautifully written debut novel about obsession and repression Attitude Sophisticated European quality and intelligent writing style Nudge It's about huge and basic emotions: insecurity, friendship, need, sex. It delivers all of this in elegantly readable prose, efficient yet deeply moving. I loved it Elle Thinks (blog)
