Dancing to the Flute: A Novel
Structured around the melodic progression of a raag, a form of Indian classical music, this novel is one of shifting mood and tone more than anything else.Like the raag, it begins slowly, establishing characters and plot points before moving with increasing swiftness through the years and, eventually, a hasty series of tragedies and triumphs heavy with personal, societal, and religious import. Kalu is left as a boy at a temple near Hastinapore, India, with no memory of his past. His happy wit and thoughtful manner earn him friends, though, and his talent eventually takes him away from Hastinapore to learn music from a reclusive master. It’s a testament to its gentle charm and tantalizing evocation of culture that it takes so long for Amin’s wandering portrayal of these events to become wearying, which it eventually does. By the time it progresses, though, the abrupt switch to action seems not a relief but a kind of betrayal of awkward retreat, ringing false in a novel whose joys are to be found in a slow, sensory build-up. --Meg Kinney