‘August Blue’ by Deborah Levy is a beautifully contracted pandemic-set novel, about a 30 something former child prodigy pianist who a few years prior, walked off stage at a concert and left the music world behind. She now travels through Europe, teaching children to play piano, having experiences with locals and seeing a mysterious woman, her “psychic double” everywhere she goes. All of this plays out as her adoptive father and teacher is becoming increasingly ill.

The novel, as all of Deborah Levy’s work, invites you to bring your own experiences and meaning to the narrative, making it universal and personal simultaneously. There are themes of loneliness, identity, processing great global change, understanding where we come from, and the importance of living in our own reality, suffering and joy as opposed to escaping into the experiences of others. There is a coming of age tone to it, that I appreciate in novels that center 30-40 year old women. Growing up, evolving is an ever present journey and Deborah Levy does a beautiful job with this type of storytelling.

I loved the tactile descriptions of the weather, the city and sea, food and even the undeniable discomfort of masking, hand sanitizer and the constant cleaning we were doing. It feels quite tender and quiet and I found myself tearing up a couple of times.

I was given early access to this novel thanks to NetGalley and the audiobook publisher, Macmillan Audio (who is so kind and nearly always accepts my requests). I highly recommend the audio. Alix Dunmore does a terrific job narrating the story and carries a depth in her voice that compliments the melancholy that is present throughout. Just wonderful.

I definitely want a copy of my own to revisit down the line, but what a treat! ( )

No plot just vibes.
This was very dreamlike and I enjoyed the writing
But nothing really happens, it’s confusing, and turns out I don’t like reading about the pandemic in fiction ( )

I really have very little say about this. I found it curiously flat and lacking any real substance. Ephemera. In spite of all the allusions, the musical references, the images reflecting, ricocheting, and refracting, I didn’t think there was much to it in the end. At least it was short. That was good. ( )

Whatever Deborah Levy writes, I'm there for it. There's something so atmospheric about her writing. It makes you think, while not being hard to absorb or a struggle to read. She knows how to build suspense to keep the pages turning.

This is the story of a prodigy, Elsa, who was raised by a man who was also her piano teacher after she was given up for adoption. Slowly, the reader gets to know Elsa better, her struggles with her piano career, and her relationships, both sexual and parental. Throughout the book, Elsa has a doppelganger, and she wonders who this woman is exactly. The storyline that focuses on Elsa's doppleganger is the symbolic heart of the book, which I found challenging to discern.

Like other Levy works, there's a hazy mysterious overlay that leaves the reader guessing a bit as to what is exactly going on. This strategy is so up my alley, but in prior books, I had a strong hypothesis at least of what the author meant to convey. In this book, I didn't feel quite as wowed by the ending because I didn't have this same feeling of conclusion. And when I re-read the initial chapter to see if I had missed any loose threads, I felt even less clear.

Fortunately, I didn't care all that much! It was still a very worthwhile READ, and I'd happily pick it up all over again. I appreciate works that make room for reader interpretation and speculation . . .to me, this is literature at its best. It's the type of work I want to discuss and dissect and speculate about . . .and from that perspective, Levy completely delivers. ( )