I finally finished "The Quiet Girl" by Peter Høeg. This book was both
very frustrating and somehow rewarding at the same time. Often, I
slog through a poorly written book because I find the plot so
compelling that I need to finish it. I had never before encountered
the opposite, where a book used language and ideas so beautifully, yet
the plot made almost no sense to me at all. I made it to the end,
hoping for some resolution, but unfortunately, none came. I'll never
know how much, if any, of my frustration came from the fact that this
book was originally written in Dutch and translated to English (I
don't really see me learning to read Dutch anytime soon).

What was interesting about this book was that the main character,
Kasper, is a clown who hears music in everything. Every building,
person, thing is resonating with a tonality and usually a particular
song by a great composer. He could pinpoint another character's
position through the phone by listening to the surrounding tonalities
and triangulating. Very cool.

As I said before, I really don't understand what exactly was going on
with the plot. I suppose I could reread it for more insight, but I
really don't have the time or energy. This book took great
concentration and patience to read. You may understand how I don't
have a lot of that to spend when I have a little down time. 8-)

I wanted to share with you because this book was highly recommended by
the paper and currently at TC Public Library. Unless you have a lot
of time, patience, and a pretty good understanding of music, I
probably wouldn't recommend this book, even though I am ultimately
glad that I did read it.

If any of you have read a book recently that you would like to share
with group, please do so! I love new ideas. I put them on my list
and then I wait until I can get to them. 8-)

--Margaret