“The River” by the Norwegian Ketil Bjørnstad is the long-awaited continuation of “The Pianists” (CompassGuide, 2011), the story of Aksel Vinding, a promising musician whose persistence and will to win are rightly worthy of admiration.
He is already eighteen, and he is still grieving the loss of his beloved Anya; at the same time, he has finally determined his purpose in life and now moves along the chosen path, immersing himself headlong in preparations for his debut concert. But there are two things in life with which one should never hurry: cognac and love — and now Aksel has learned to feel this. He has tasted life: astringent, sometimes sweetish, sometimes bitter. He is no longer an impatient boy; he is a strong personality, strong women are drawn to him, he gives himself to feelings and is ready to take responsibility.
In “The River,” Brahms sounds together with Joni Mitchell, the characters discuss the Vietnam War, women’s independence and their right to abortion, while Beethoven, Bach, and Chopin mingle with Aksel’s own sincere and тревожное work as he tries to stay afloat in the whirlpool of life.