The Spanish Bow [Englisch] [Gebundene Ausgabe]

I've gained a certain appreciation for novels from Spain recently, though they have to be translated into English for me to read them I'm afraid. I enjoyed the Shadow of the Wind, and I'm a big fan of Arturo Perez-Reverte. So when someone handed me this advance copy of this book, I approached it with high expectations. Those expectations were fulfilled: this is a wonderful, intelligent, unusual first novel, with a fascinating cast of characters, a strange plot, and interesting settings.

The main character starts out being misnamed. His mother wanted to call him Feliz, but the notary wound up writing Feliu instead. He grows, and at an early age, when his father dies in Cuba (then a Spanish colony, soon to be liberated by the U.S.) the mother receives a box of gifts from the dead father, and distributes them among the children. Feliu winds up with a bow, the thing you draw across the strings of a violin or a cello to make music. When an adolescent, his Catalonian village is visited by a pianist who performs. Justo Al-Cerraz is a child prodigy who's grown up, and still performs around the country. When Justo visits the village, Feliu is playing the violin, trying to learn it, but one of Justo's trio-mates is a cellist, and that puts Feliu into sort of a trance where he feels he must play only that instrument. He winds up going to Barcelona to learn.

From there the novel takes many turns, with Justo and Feliu eventually becoming partners, then meeting up with a third player, a violinist who's an Italian Jew. By now, the plot has worked its way forward to the thirties, and the inevitable confrontation between the Nazis and the main characters comes very much at the end of the book. While the plot's important to the book, and the ending is fascinating, it's the journey that's the most enthralling thing about this book. The author enfolds you in the world of music in the 20s and 30s, and does a wonderful job of recreating what it's like to be a musician, at least from the point of view of the traveling, performing, and working.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters especially are very well-drawn and interesting, and the story is fascinating. I would recommend it to almost anyone interested in the period, in music, or interested in novels about life.

Feliu Anibal Delargo's mother's first words after he was born were, "Let him cry...It's the most beautiful music in the world." His father dies when this boy is quite young but leaves his son a out-sized cello bow, a source of pride for Feliu. But oh, how his world is transformed when he hears two famous musicians play at a local concert. One he admires and one he wants to literally become because the vibrational beauty of that music has touched something essential in this boy's musical sensitivity.
In 1907 Feliu travels to Barcelona, Spain for the beginning of his music lessons. From that point on the book seems to fly as Delargo learns at the hands of two formidable music masters. So talented is he that he for a short time becomes the favorite musician and friend of Spain's Queen, is befriended by a famous Spanish pianist and adores a young Jewish-Italian violinist woman searching for her lost daughter.

The plot thickens with history and its consequent chaos, ranging from Spain's war in Morocco all the way through to Hitler and Goebbel's desire for fine music. Feliu throughout it all rejects the use of art through music for political or romantic purposes, and the surprise ending of this novel makes the reader realize just how potent and poignant such a choice was in reality.

The Spanish Bow is a beautifully written, sensual, sensitive, passionate, poetic, epic story that will make the reader want to listen to beautiful classical music and canvas the world of music to learn more about its classical musicians.

Just lovely, Andromeda Romano-Lax!

Reviewed by Viviane Crystal on September 12, 2007

Sometimes, fiction is so well researched and so well written that you have to remind yourself it's fiction. That's the case with The Spanish Bow. I started reading the book, and then when I hit the end of the fifth chapter realized more time had gone by than I had planned on. I had to get back to work!

Reluctantly, I put it down. But then a thought struck me. Why was someone named Andromeda writing an autobiography of a person named Feliu DeLargo? Puzzled, I turned to the inside jacket cover only to remind myself of what I had already known. It was, indeed, fiction.

The story begins with the birth of Feliu, who entered the world backwards and was initially mistaken for stillborn. That troubled birth foreshadows other events that would unfold in his native Spain and beyond.

One reason this story seemed so real is the characters are well developed. For example, each character has a unique way of speaking. When an author does dialogue well, you can tell who is talking just by reading what was said. It wasn't long before I was able to follow the dialogue that way.

The characters also have their individual quirks, their personal demons, their own agendas, and their own world views. As befitting good fiction, these had areas of overlap and of conflict. If Romano-Lax didn't develop a detailed profile or back story on each of the characters, I would be surprised.

Watching these characters interact in a messy, true to life way made the story real and engaging. That realness, and the complete departure from the formulaic writing that characterizes most of today's fiction releases, made it easy for me to ignore this book's size. The story takes up 541 pages, and every one of them just whizzes by. In fact, I started this book Monday at lunch and finished it on Thursday at lunch. With the typical book half that size, I normally take longer.

Why so many pages? It's an epic tale, which means it takes place across a stretch of time. In this case, about 50 years. The story takes us from the Spanish-American War through the Great War and on through the political, economic, and social upheaval that eventually broke out into WWII.

During the time leading up to WWII, Feliu and his longtime friend (and antagonist) Justo Al-Cerra form a trio with Aviva, who is a young woman searching for the baby she was forced to give up for adoption. Her search is the basis for a double-twist ending, which was surprising but entirely plausible. The relationship between Feliu and Justo is complex, and it matures as the story progresses. For much of the story, Feliu resists being manipulated by Justo. The chess game between them is intriguing.

Feliu, who struggled with his self perception of being weak, decided to take a political stand as he was approaching middle age. The result was disastrous, and it created a lengthy rift between him and Justo. That rift would not heal until many years later. After it does, the chess game of manipulation and resistance picks up again, but with more intensity and complexity than ever because Aviva is a third player and Feliu has grown in the interim.

The story, like its characters, has its moments of humor and its moments of sorrow. And sometimes, as in life, the moments mix together. This sophisticated "scene painting" is rare in first novels, because it's hard to do well. Andromeda-Lax seems to have a knack for it.

One way to sink a book is to fill it with factual errors. This is one reason you read about authors who visit the settings they write about, interview subject matter experts such as doctors or police,

Romano-Lax gets the details right when bringing the reader into contact with one historical figure or occurrence after another. The historical accuracy adds greatly to the value of the book and the enjoyment a discerning reader can derive from it.

So, where does the Spanish Bow come in? The main characters, Feliu and Justo, were born in Spain. Feliu's father bequeathed gifts to his children, and one of those was a cello bow. Feliu's mother allowed the children, beginning with Feliu, to choose which one item they wanted. Feliu chose the bow, and that choice formed the basis for all that would follow. What follows is a page-turning epic you'll find hard to put down until you've finished reading it.