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O Canto Do Anjo (2010)

by Richard Harvell(Favorite Author)

3.99 of 5 Votes: 1

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Editorial Presença

review 1: Although the foundational premise of this book (that being raised around deafeningly loud bells would not only not damage your hearing early and permanently, but would in fact give you some kind of immunity to loud noises or something, and even improve your hearing to the point where you could actually hear sound vibrating through other people) is flawed, as I'm not a hearing expert, but I'm fairly certain it doesn't work that way, the book itself was quite good. The characters were compelling, the setting lush, and the subject matter fascinating.Because here's a confession: I wish I could hear a castrato sing. The practice is barbaric, and I would never in a million years advocate bringing it back, but I kind of wish that, just once, I could hear what they actually sounde... mored like. In fact, it's on my list of things I'd want to experience if I could time travel (Along with seeing the original Rite of Spring ballet and hearing Paganini play, my time-travel desires pretty much revolve entirely around music). Because I know what a boy soprano sounds like, I know what a female soprano sounds like (I ought to, being one myself), and I know what a countertenor sounds like (If you don't, you should look into it. It's pretty cool.), but by all accounts, castrati sounded like all of these but none of them. They had the purity of sound that boy sopranos have, but the power of adult singers, lending their sound a certain supernatural quality. Countertenors do have a bit of that, especially if you find one with a true soprano range (a lot of them are more mezzo), but according to reports from the times, it's still not quite the same. You know the fascination with pre-pubescent boy bands, who almost resemble teen girls more than guys? Yeah, apparently our interest in feminine dudes goes way back, because women went nuts for castrati back in the day, their voices were that enthralling. So yeah. I wish that we'd invented recording technology a little sooner, so that we could at least have a recording of these guys.Anyway. Enough music geekery. The upshot is that this book was fascinating, beautiful and tragic, and really highlighted the power of music. As a musician, I don't think I could help but love it.
review 2: The beginning seemed ok, but the more that I read the less I liked this book. To me it was a not-very-well-written historical romance. It was very dark, with rape (by a priest), child-molestation and castration, pompous monks, set to a backdrop of opera.Nickolai is the son, named after the "father's" protector, of Moses. Moses is orphaned in horrific circumstances and suffers more when he goes with Nickolai to live at St. Gall. Moses, despite living in a bell tower with his mother, has super power of hearing. It serves him well and not so well throughout his troubled life. Though this story takes place in the 1700's, there are some parallels with today and some of the terrible stories we hear about. However, there was not enough here (and way too much terror) to let me like this book. less

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