It wasn’t helped by a somewhat melodramatic feel and in the end I was quite glad to finish the book, whose emotional climax didn’t affect me in the slightest, I’m afraid, because it felt contrived and overdone. Whilst in Paris, Brodie becomes involved with a famous, virtuoso pianist, John Kilbarron, his lovely young partner Lika Blum (a Russian opera singer) and his malevolent brother Malachi . I wasn’t quite sure about his weird and dysfunctional family (especially his repulsive father) other than as a device to get him to leave Scotland and stay away. I can't believe Boyd wasn't even nominated for the 2018 bad sex in fiction award (which gives me some idea of how REALLY bad the others were). To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average.

This was followed by LONGING, in 2013, on the main stage at Hampstead Theatre, an adaptation of two short stories by Anton Chekhov. Regulars turned the pages of their Bibles looking for the verses that Malky had chosen as his text for his sermon.I liked how Boyd used the piano tuning business as platform to enable Brodie to launch his career, assist key musicians, find love and travel the world. So we shouldn’t perhaps be too surprised that the Lika here in his new novel – also a blonde, buxom, would-be opera singer – is very like the Lika there.

When we first meet principal character Brodie Moncur in Scotland, we glean more about the difficult upbringing of this ambitious young man.Der Tranensee, The Lake of Tears : That song had been the catalyst of all the happiness in his life, he thought. Set at the turn of the 19th century, it is a period piece drawing the life of a Scot, Brodie Moncur. Boyd spent eight years in academia, during which time his first film, Good and Bad at Games, was made.

That entirely fictitious set-up – along with Moncur’s love for Kilbarron’s mistress, Lika Blum, and an ingenious musical subplot – forms the core of the new book. Love Is Blind is by no means terrible, but it certainly isn’t one of Boyd’s best and I can only give it a ve But a chance meeting with a talented musician sends Brodie in a downward spiral, defining his life for years to come.Type “Lika” and “Chekhov” into Google and you come up with the fact that Lika Mizinova was a blonde, buxom would-be opera singer, probably the great love of his life: 19 years old when Chekhov started a ten-year affair with her that was still continuing when he was in Nice in 1897. I didn't know how was all going to play out but I really wanted some closure, some happiness for Brodie. I suppose there must have been a constant demand for such experts in the days prior to radio and television. The last sentence highlights why - you don't just need a 'substantial float', you need an infinite one (and a casino prepared to extend you infinite credit lines). I wish to thank Penguin Books Australia for providing me with a free copy of this book for review purposes.