The Page Turner

by David Leavitt

Paperback, 1999

Status

Available

Call number

PS3562.E2618 P34

Genres

Collections

Your library, University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

Publication

Mariner Books (1999), Edition: 1, Paperback, 256 pages

Description

At eighteen, Paul Porterfield's dream is to play the piano at the world's great concert halls, yet so far the closest he has come has been turning pages for his idol, Richard Kennington, a former piano prodigy on the cusp of middle age. Then, on vacation in Rome with his mother, Pamela, Paul encounters Kennington a second time. A love affair begins between the two - one that is complicated when Pamela misconstrues Kennington's attention toward her son as a sign of interest in her. Alarmed by the situation, Kennington flees Rome for New York, where Joseph Mansourian, his manager (and lover) of twenty-five years, awaits him; Paul, too, goes to New York to study at Juilliard. They do not see each other. Yet the brief affair will affect their lives in ways that neither could have predicted. "Why can't people have what they want?" It is around this question that David Leavitt's new novel so movingly pivots. By turns comic and heartbreaking, shrewd and intimate, The Page Turner testifies not only to the tenacity of the human spirit but to the resiliency of the human heart.… (more)

Media reviews

New York Times

The page turner in question is not exactly the book itself, which is a perfectly enjoyable read. ''The Page Turner'' is a portrait of the aspiring artist as a young man, but one of the book's major failings is that Paul remains more symbol than character. This novel, on the other hand, is somewhat

less melodious, the result of disillusioned, and disillusioning, experience.

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The Independent

The Page Turner's detailed examination of the world of professional music rings true. Its routine closetry underlies a series of key misunderstandings in the plot. If there is a problem, it is related to the novel's authentic capture of this milieu. The Page Turner is pleasurable, orderly,

sophisticated - and as readable as its punning title signifies. But I longed for the neatness to unravel, and for the untoward, abrupt, dysfunctional here-and-now to take hold of Paul, of Kennington and, yes, the author himself.

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User reviews

LibraryThing member meggyweg

In spite of the title, I didn't find this book to be very page-turning. I couldn't bring myself to care about the characters, because they were pretty flat. The story didn't have much of a plot either, and it ends right in the middle of things -- the kind of ending that can be wonderful at the pen

of a great writer, but is often only just frustrating.

Most of the characters are gay and the novel centers around an affair the protagonist had with a famous pianist. I thought it was unrealistic that Paul, an 18-year-old with no sexual experience whatsoever, would simply accept his homosexuality without any kind of soul-searching or teeth-gnashing. I did think the part about his mother's discovery of this fact, and her reaction to it, was well done though.

I suppose I might recommend this to someone especially interested in gay literature. But otherwise, give it a pass.

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LibraryThing member JimandMary69

Interesting regarding gay life and relationships

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