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Maestro
Against the backdrop of Darwin -- that small, tropical hothouse of a port, half-outback, half-oriental, lying at the tip of northern Australia -- a young and newly arrived southerner encounters the 'maestro', a Viennese refugee with a shadowed past. The occasion is a piano lesson, the first of many . . .
Paperback, 172 pages
Published
October 13th 2004
by HarperCollins Publishers Australia
(first published 1989)
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I just finnished this book recently, had to read it for school.
Now, I don't know about you, but my school has serious issues with chosing books. This is one of - close to the only - book my school has ever chosen that is decent.
I love this book, the whole book is about music, and that is a huge part of my life, this book hits close to home. (even if the main character is a complete stuck up selfish self centred ass).
If you have music as a big part of your life, than this is definatley a book for...more
Now, I don't know about you, but my school has serious issues with chosing books. This is one of - close to the only - book my school has ever chosen that is decent.
I love this book, the whole book is about music, and that is a huge part of my life, this book hits close to home. (even if the main character is a complete stuck up selfish self centred ass).
If you have music as a big part of your life, than this is definatley a book for...more
Couldn't stop reading this one. I like Peter Goldsworthy's writing having come across his short stories. The development of a relationship around the central theme of music whilst not necessarily a new theme is dealt with in a most refreshingly insightful way in this novel. Then there's the element of 'coming-of-age' that almost tattered reference to a story that documents youthful passage into the next phase of the transition from child through youth to almost adult.
Paul Crabbe the young pianis...more
Paul Crabbe the young pianis...more
The far-north Australian town of Darwin used to be, more or less literally, at the end of the world. Cut off from normal communication by road for the three or four months of the annual wet season, Darwin used to go into a winter hibernation unlike anything known to North Americans or Europeans. This is the tropical setting of a fine novel by the writer Peter Goldsworthy.
I used to think that Darwin was the sort of place in which anything might happen. With its transient population of seasonal wo...more
I used to think that Darwin was the sort of place in which anything might happen. With its transient population of seasonal wo...more
I am currently reading this novel because a student I tutor has to read it for Year 12. And I am wondering if I would be able to enjoy this novel if I were just reading it on its own, for enjoyment. As is, I can't stop thinking about how inadequate and simplistic it is (as a Year 12 text to be studied.) I have had similar thoughts the other two times I read it (first as a Year 11 student for class, then as a Year 12 teacher considering adding it to the text list.)
I do have to say that, having ac...more
I do have to say that, having ac...more
The Maestro is a book which deals with the themes of beauty and perfection - about how absurd and silly it is, but how it is so vital to us living our lives with passion. It is also about the love between the characters... the nostalic wishfulness of going back to the past, going back to those relationships... Piano lessons are paralleled with Paul's growing up - its a story of growth and being self-aware about how you live. The busyness of city life and forward momentum in contrast to the daily...more
An early novel by this interesting Australian author (who is also a medico). "3 Dog Night" was excellent. Maestro is another Australian exploration of adolescence with the bonus of the 1960s Darwin setting and the well told story of the relationship between the boy and his elderly Austrian piano teacher. I am not sure why it didn't quite work for me - no obvious flaws but it wasn't memorable.
This book was awful. Maybe it was just me not identifying with any of the characters (most of whom are just disgusting), but the story didn't seem to have much method in my opinion.
But I had to read it for school, and it had good themes that were really easy to write lots about in text responses. :P
But I had to read it for school, and it had good themes that were really easy to write lots about in text responses. :P
What a depressing, pointless book. If there was a plot I missed it. VCE needs to take a good look at the "classics" that they're choosing. And every single character in this book needed a huge slap in the face. The main character was some sort of Holden Caulfield rip-off who didn't have any of the witty, endearing charm of the The Catcher in the Rye character. And, unlike Holden, he had no epiphany moment--he ended up being a middle aged man who hated his life. Brilliant stuff right there. Real...more
I preferred 'Wish' by the same author, even though this is the one considered a classic.
I thought I didn't really care about this story, let alone get into it, but on the very last page I found myself affected.
There's no doubt about it: Peter Goldsworthy writes beautiful endings.
I thought I didn't really care about this story, let alone get into it, but on the very last page I found myself affected.
There's no doubt about it: Peter Goldsworthy writes beautiful endings.
Thought this was all round spectacular book, I engaged with it very well as it appeals to my interests as it is highly concerned with music. The book conveys a very solid easy to follow story which is very exciting from start to finish. The book as a whole helps convey many emotions as the book explores different entails. I gave this book a 5 out of 5 stars because it was very entertaining and impressive book.
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I enjoyed this book and can see how the author drew from the experience of his daughter Anna (I recently read Anna Goldsworthy's PIANO LESSONS). Maestro is not a big book and not really in the classic category but I quite enjoyed it.
this book is crap have write essay about it for hsc in a few days will be so glad when its over so I never have to see that book again =(
I read this book for my HSC in 1996 and fell in love with Darwin and classical music - thank you Peter Goldsworthy.
This was one of the few books (perhaps the only)that were compulsory high school reading that I enjoyed.
I loved this beautifully written little book. The relationship which deveops between Paul and Keller I found quite poignant. Paul like so many young people is brash at times and awkward at others, he finds he has things to learn. The mystery of Eduard Keller makes this a compelling unputdownable read, but it is the gradually changing relationship between Paul and Keller that makes this such a joy. Toward the end of the novel, an older Paul reflects on memory, and how we view our childhoods from...more
A slip of a book with so much to say and make you feel
The ending was sad. That's all I really remember.
it was okay but kind of a downer...
Enjoyable.
A book of great beauty and sensitivity that has stayed with me for years. Reread recently, it speaks of the growing of a youth into the reality of adulthood, and of the ageing of our dreams, and the realisation of our own enduring ordinariness, with clarity and wit and love.
1 0f 23 books all for $10
No better illustration of the small but almost impossible to bridge gap between the journeyman and the genius
I know nothing of music or pianos. But for the brief 149 pages of this novel, I felt for a moment, as if I was part of that secret society that only musicians get to join.
Goldsworthy does a really stunning job of painting the intersection of two very different lives. It's all about exile and adolescence. Coming of age and the crucible of experience. It's a mystery and a study in character.
Well worth the read.
Goldsworthy does a really stunning job of painting the intersection of two very different lives. It's all about exile and adolescence. Coming of age and the crucible of experience. It's a mystery and a study in character.
Well worth the read.
A novel about music, particularly about piano, set around the 60s and 70s in Australia about a teenager learning from an Austrian alcoholic maestro with a mysterious background written by an Australian doctor. The prose was alright and there were some funny bits as well as some sad and emotional stuff.
Another re-read from high school. Once again I could only remember the basics and enjoyed the story as it evolved. It was a nice short, uncomplicated read based in Darwin in the late 19602 to 1970s. Involving the evolution of a number of relationships of a 16 year old boy and the changes they undergo as he ages.
I now know why I flick from modern reads to classics such as this...it makes me appreciate them so much more. I loved the way the author conveyed emotion and images of war torn Austria through The Maestro. The book just flowed; Thoroughly enjoyable!
Gritty. Really gritty. The narrator is awkward and socially inept and quite often petulant as well as being stunningly naive. Life in Darwin has never seemed so irritating. The plot centres on a budding pianist who never really makes anything of himself.
Didn't overly interest me. I only had to read it for Year 12 English, but I enjoyed writing essays on the various flaws of the characters.
I hated this book. It was probably because i had to read it for school and it was a different genre to what i would normally read
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| 10EN2: Maestro - did you like it? | 10 | 13 | Mar 20, 2013 09:12pm |
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“We must know when to move on. To search too long for perfection can also paralyse.”
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1 person liked it
“I never hear you practice."
He smiled: "Only those who are dirty need to wash.”
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1 person liked it
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He smiled: "Only those who are dirty need to wash.”
