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DAYS AND NIGHTS OF A FRENCH HORN PLAYER
For the past eight weeks, Eddie Davis, forty-five years old, has been locked in a luxurious suite in New York's swank Geneva Hotel. Eddie Davis is practicing the French horn. In a letter slipped under the door, Mr. Raymond, the Geneva's manager, demands to know why Mr. Davis 1) will not let the chambermaid in to clean the suite; 2) leaves the phone off the hook; and 3) disturbs the regular routine of the hotel with his horn playing, dancing, and shouting.
Eddie Davis is rich. Once he had a thriving agency, a lovely wife, devoted friends, and countless admiring associates. But all this has changed. Now he is totally alone. Evenings he goes out for a walk, picking up his dinner in a brown paper bag. He deliberately avoids meeting anyone he has known and refuses to involve himself in new relationships.
How this change came about is the story of this comic and touching novel. Days and Nights of a French Horn Player tells of Eddie's introduction to the "coils of gold" by a hunchbacked school friend, Gerald Hinkey; his increasing obsession with the horn throughout his young adulthood; his attempt to put aside his obsession and make his mark in the business world, and the disastrous results of that decision.
These are the bare bones of a plot on which Schisgal has hung a dazzling array of hilarious characters and scenes. His novel is enormously energetic and entertaining and bears the unmistakable stamp of comic genius.
Eddie Davis is rich. Once he had a thriving agency, a lovely wife, devoted friends, and countless admiring associates. But all this has changed. Now he is totally alone. Evenings he goes out for a walk, picking up his dinner in a brown paper bag. He deliberately avoids meeting anyone he has known and refuses to involve himself in new relationships.
How this change came about is the story of this comic and touching novel. Days and Nights of a French Horn Player tells of Eddie's introduction to the "coils of gold" by a hunchbacked school friend, Gerald Hinkey; his increasing obsession with the horn throughout his young adulthood; his attempt to put aside his obsession and make his mark in the business world, and the disastrous results of that decision.
These are the bare bones of a plot on which Schisgal has hung a dazzling array of hilarious characters and scenes. His novel is enormously energetic and entertaining and bears the unmistakable stamp of comic genius.
- GenresMusic
269 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1980
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November 4, 2017
This book’s Goodreads entry is very incorrect. This book is a novel, only incidentally related to music.
The book was ok but pretty weirdly sexual, with a very unlikeable main character. There were some instances of offensive vocabulary, including the N word. As a professional musician, it was extremely clear to me that the author did not consult any musician, and especially no horn player, in writing the book.
The book was ok but pretty weirdly sexual, with a very unlikeable main character. There were some instances of offensive vocabulary, including the N word. As a professional musician, it was extremely clear to me that the author did not consult any musician, and especially no horn player, in writing the book.
Displaying 1 of 1 review