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5.0 out of 5 stars
Mesmerising ode to music and passion, 29 Mar 2005
This is the first novel that I have read by acclaimed Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes - and it most certainly won't be the last! I was totally captivated by this work from the very beginning and my interest didn't wane throughout. Fuentes' prose is pure magic: a mix of short, punchy sentences and longer, graceful passages; convincing exchanges between the two protagonists, and language that conveys both the primal elemental nature of music and sex, and the lyrical beauty of high art and romantic love. It obviously follows that Margaret Sayers Peden's translation is absolutely first-rate: at no stage does this feel like a translated work.The main narrative delivers the reminiscences of Gabriel Atlan-Ferrara as the ninety-three-year-old internationally renowned conductor prepares to direct his last public performance, a production of Hector Berlioz's 'The Damnation of Faust'. Atlan-Ferrara's thoughts turn to his tempestuous relationship with strong-willed, electric-haired diva Inez at the junctures in his long life that their paths intersected. In the process, readers are treated to the maestro's insights regarding music, such as whether it is the highest of the arts, and the relationship of conductor with composer, with orchestra and chorus, and with the concert-going public. 'Inez' will be particularly enjoyed by those with an interest in classical music, though it is not necessary to be au fait with Berlioz's 'Faust' to appreciate the references to the opera throughout Fuentes' work.
A secondary narrative runs through 'Inez', comprising the usually shorter, odd-numbered chapters (other than the first). This narrative is open to a range of interpretations: the dust-jacket synopsis states that it concerns 'the first-known meeting between man and woman', though I interpreted it as an account of early men and women occupying a mythical, primitive society in which the roles of language, song and law are in their genesis. The potentially risky structure of two parallel narratives set in completely different time and place is skillfully handled by Fuentes as a number of convincing linkages are made between them towards the end of the novel. Given the number of acclaimed contemporary novels that are simply way too long, some of which still fail to convincingly tell a coherent story, arguably the greatest achievement of Fuentes is to create not one but two compelling, complementary and totally satisfying narratives in a novel of a mere hundred and fifty pages.
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by V S Naipaul
by Steve Toltz
