August Blue by Deborah Levy

August Blue by Deborah Levy
UK Publication: May 2023
Reviewed by: Book Worm
Rating: [★★★★]

This ARC was provided by Penguin General UK (via NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review.

Fully  expecting to see this on the Booker Longlist.

Synopsis from Goodreads: At the height of her career, the piano virtuoso Elsa M. Anderson―former child prodigy, now in her thirties―walks off the stage in Vienna, mid-performance.

Now she is in Athens, watching an uncannily familiar woman purchase a pair of mechanical dancing horses at a flea market. Elsa wants the horses too, but there are no more for sale. She drifts to the ferry port, on the run from her talent and her history.

So begins her journey across Europe, shadowed by the elusive woman who seems to be her double. A dazzling portrait of melancholy and metamorphosis, Deborah Levy’s August Blue uncovers the ways in which we attempt to revise our oldest stories and make ourselves anew.

My Thoughts: This is a Levy book so of course the writing is beautiful what did you expect? The story is meandering and slow paced, a quiet, contemplative kind of book one where not much happens but a lot is said and done. There is also a lot to puzzle over and Levy doesn’t present her readers with easy straight answers.

Set during Covid it was interesting to see how Levy incorporated mask wearing and separation into the narrative and how they also became symbolic of identity and loneliness.

Classical music is not my forte but Levy made that world accessible to this reader however I am sure there are hidden messages that I have missed out on in the choice of music and musicians.

An interesting exploration of identity and how family even if unknown has a role in that identity whether by finding similarities or by trying to escape them completely.

Who would like this? Deborah Levy fans will love this latest edition/addition however you want to classify it.

We want to hear from you! Have you read this book? What did you think?