A Ghost in the Music

by John Nichols

Nichols, John, Ghost In The Music, A Novel

230 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

John Nichols is the author of the New Mexico trilogy, a series about the complex relationship between history, race and ethnicity, and land and water rights in the fictional Chamisaville County, New Mexico. The trilogy consists of The Milagro Beanfield War (which was adapted into the film The Milagro Beanfield War directed by Robert Redford), The Magic Journey, and The Nirvana Blues.

Two of his other novels have been made into films. The Wizard of Loneliness was published in 1966 and the film version with Lukas Haas was made in 1988. Another successful movie adaptation was of The Sterile Cuckoo, which was published in 1965 and was filmed by Alan J. Pakula in 1969.

Nichols has also written non-fiction, including the trilogy If Mountains Die, The Last Beautiful Days of Autumn and On the Mesa. John Nichols has lived in Taos, New Mexico for many years.

Reviews

[Alexandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book about a fifty-something man-child is so immersed in the the 70s Hollywood mythology of masculinity that it sometimes felt like a spect script for a Tarantino movie. Bart, the main character, is a Northeastern blue blood and Ivy leaguer and a stunt man and a writer and someone all women fall in love with, so a fantasy character basically. His son, an NYC academic, goes to see him amid the turbulence of the movie he is filming and of his current relationship. I always enjoy Nichols’ writing and this was no different. He kept me interested far longer than these unrelatable characters would have in another author’s hands. Parts of it were really moving but on the whole unless you buy into who Bart it is hard to feel to invested.

[David Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another bombastic, larger than life (or perhaps larger than earth) character, Bart, and his son, Marcel, who interact for only a few days in New Mexico. Marcel processes his panoply of filial feelings, from aversion to love (with quite a range in between!) All this in the midst of a send up of the LA movie industry...

Told from Marcel's perspective, we see his father from the moment of his conception to, well, I guess you have to read the book. In the end, the book is about the trade-offs we all make between the people we are destined to be and the people we feel brave enough to be; not always the same. Funny and poignant, Ghost gives us the opportunity to reflect on the choices we have each already made, and perhaps may illuminate our future, better choices. Or not.

Reading this book was part of my project to read the rest of Nichols novels, and, as usual, this one is vintage.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

My three-star rating is a compromise between two stars for presentation (technique for character development overdone) and four stars for overall story and soul. In my frustration I took a break and read something else, but it was worth coming back to finish it. Read it fast.