Book Musings: The Prague Sonata

The Prague Sonata by Bradford Morrow

The last time I read a 500-page book was that of Elizabeth Gilbert’s The Signature of All Things. It took me forever to finish that book. But with Bradford Morrow’s The Prague Sonata, whilst another long book it took me just several nights to finally slide-off to its last page. 

Whilst the book bore me in the beginning, I didn’t put it down thinking it would interest me eventually and just continue reading until the story picked up, drive my adrenalin up and eventually get the momentum and skip dinners just to get few pages done. Book readers would know what this feeling is all about – the feeling of exhilaration that you want to get it over with yet you don’t want to miss details of their quest; hence, you get through every word of it.

The story follows a musicologist named, Meta and her journey to finding herself and bringing back together a three-part century old music manuscript. It turned out that the music manuscripts were significant pieces that not only did it hold high-value in terms of its monetary merit but also in terms of its cultural significance. 

What’s become interesting in her journey was that she made it a personal mission to find the pieces not because of the high-valued reasons but because of her pledge to Irena, an immigrant who fled to America from the war-stricken Praha in the heyday.

She travelled to Prague to London and into the heartland of America to find the pieces. 

I’ve read it somewhere that it took Bradford Morrow years to finally finish this book. But look how polished this masterpiece has become. A book exquisitely researched is one book you shouldn’t miss reading in your life.

I’m not really into music, had my share of learning terms during my high school classes and didn’t really settle on me well. With this book, it will bring you back into that moment but deeper, more complex, yet satisfying and pleasing.

Glad I took time reading this masterpiece! 

Posted in Book Reviews, Books