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A review by saareman
Adrianne Geffel: A Fiction by David Hajdu
5.0
Take a Walk on the Geffel Side
Review of the W.W. Norton Company hardcover edition (September 2020)
All the stars for this one. David Hajdu’s fictional non-fiction account of the life of musician Adrianne Geffel is set in the experimental avant-garde loft music world of New York City in the 1970’s and 1980’s and includes cameo appearances by real-life composers and musicians such as Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed. The fictional pianist Geffel explodes onto this scene playing her emotionally charged music which she hears in her head constantly and which compels her to enact it on the keyboard. When she had been investigated in her early years for this condition the neurologists had described it a psychosynesthesia, a version of synesthesia that transfers thought into sound.
That all may sound flighty and esoteric, but the main point of this book is that it is hugely funny and revealing about people and with its playful satire about the postmodern art world whether it is plastic or sound art. The anonymous biographer is reconstructing Geffel’s life by interviewing her family, friends and associates. Many of these interviewees reveal more about themselves than anything about Geffel in their self-serving answers to the writer’s questions.
And in the end it is really a love story against all the odds. What can be better than that?
While writing this review I discovered that an audiobook version has also been produced, which is narrated by veteran reader Hillary Huber (Elena Ferrante’s The Neapolitan Novels etc.). I’m already eager to “re-read” for that alone.
To the best of my knowledge, this is Hajdu’s first novel, but I thoroughly enjoyed his non-fiction music biographies [b:Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn|112503|Lush Life A Biography of Billy Strayhorn|David Hajdu|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1382758783l/112503._SX50_.jpg|1579139] (1996) and [b:Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Fariña, and Richard Fariña|253698|Positively 4th Street The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Fariña, and Richard Fariña|David Hajdu|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388263678l/253698._SY75_.jpg|946942] (2001) in my pre-Goodreads reading days.
Trivia and Links
While reading Adrianne Geffel, I imagined her more experimental atonal music would sound like something by avant-garde jazz pianist Cecil Taylor. A time appropriate (1970s) recording of Cecil Taylor is Indent (1973).
After I finished reading, I searched for more information on Adrianne Geffel and discovered that author Hajdu had curated an Adrianne Geffel playlist for the Large Hearted Boy blog, which actually included a piece by Cecil Taylor.
Adrianne Geffel’s minimalist cover design got it into LitHub’s Top 10 Best Book Covers of September 2020 list.
Review of the W.W. Norton Company hardcover edition (September 2020)
All the stars for this one. David Hajdu’s fictional non-fiction account of the life of musician Adrianne Geffel is set in the experimental avant-garde loft music world of New York City in the 1970’s and 1980’s and includes cameo appearances by real-life composers and musicians such as Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed. The fictional pianist Geffel explodes onto this scene playing her emotionally charged music which she hears in her head constantly and which compels her to enact it on the keyboard. When she had been investigated in her early years for this condition the neurologists had described it a psychosynesthesia, a version of synesthesia that transfers thought into sound.
That all may sound flighty and esoteric, but the main point of this book is that it is hugely funny and revealing about people and with its playful satire about the postmodern art world whether it is plastic or sound art. The anonymous biographer is reconstructing Geffel’s life by interviewing her family, friends and associates. Many of these interviewees reveal more about themselves than anything about Geffel in their self-serving answers to the writer’s questions.
And in the end it is really a love story against all the odds. What can be better than that?
While writing this review I discovered that an audiobook version has also been produced, which is narrated by veteran reader Hillary Huber (Elena Ferrante’s The Neapolitan Novels etc.). I’m already eager to “re-read” for that alone.
To the best of my knowledge, this is Hajdu’s first novel, but I thoroughly enjoyed his non-fiction music biographies [b:Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn|112503|Lush Life A Biography of Billy Strayhorn|David Hajdu|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1382758783l/112503._SX50_.jpg|1579139] (1996) and [b:Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Fariña, and Richard Fariña|253698|Positively 4th Street The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Fariña, and Richard Fariña|David Hajdu|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388263678l/253698._SY75_.jpg|946942] (2001) in my pre-Goodreads reading days.
Trivia and Links
While reading Adrianne Geffel, I imagined her more experimental atonal music would sound like something by avant-garde jazz pianist Cecil Taylor. A time appropriate (1970s) recording of Cecil Taylor is Indent (1973).
After I finished reading, I searched for more information on Adrianne Geffel and discovered that author Hajdu had curated an Adrianne Geffel playlist for the Large Hearted Boy blog, which actually included a piece by Cecil Taylor.
Adrianne Geffel’s minimalist cover design got it into LitHub’s Top 10 Best Book Covers of September 2020 list.