Review: An Amazing Book!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 5, 2013
I will admit this is the first book I've read about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, but it held me captivated from the start. Told from the perspective of Nanina Gottlieb, who first meets Mozart as a young girl, the story follows her childhood adoration of the musical genius to her passionate love for a man who will forever break her heart. Mozart is 18 years her senior, married, a womanizer and an alcoholic. But all these facts fall to the wayside to Gottlieb's worship of the man. Rich with historic detail of 18th century Vienna and intricate aspects of Mozart's famous compositions, it's easy to fall under the same spell as Gottlieb. She knows loving Mozart will ultimately ruin her but she can't stop her feelings. An accomplished singer, dancer and actress, she makes a living often reserved for unreputable women. Mozart dies when she is 17 and soon after she discovers she is pregnant. She comes to learn of at least two other illegimate children Mozart had left behind. That the famous maestro didn't love her exclusively causes deep pain, but until the end of her life she cannot hate him. It's a heartbreaking tale. While certain parts of the story are no doubt fiction, it's a testament to Waldron that there are no stumbling blocks in the presentation. An amazing book by a talented author.