.coming of age romance / portrait of the muse by the artist as a young man
.a short novel for the incurably romantic and the persistently wistful.
.things people have said about the book.
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Blurb:
It starts with an establishing shot of a boulevard. Trams, buses, traffic, all the way down we see green and church, and river, and the southern bank. The sidewalks are full. Isaac hurries. We know he’s the protagonist because the camera gets close and follows him as he turns the corner. A double decker bus is parked outside a hotel with an art deco façade, elderly east asian tourists come out as one giant mass blocking his path. He crosses to the other side. Now there’s a plaza, also full of people. And then he sees Alice.
At this point everyone is stuck in place, except for Isaac, or his stand in in the movie. He comes to meet the camera and says, That’s miss Finisterre, she was my favorite teacher, you can probably guess why…, camera whip pans away and zooms in on her, lingering only for a second, and then he’d say, calling the camera back, She’s a knockout, isn’t she… smart too… and you know, we kissed once…
Cut to them caught in a rainstorm. All the other students and teachers scatter out of frame. The camera follows as Alice and Isaac rush to find shelter in a narrow tunnel. We get close and just before they kiss, we’re back in the present.
The people in the street who were frozen when he first saw Alice are getting restless, looking at their watches, starting to complain, Hey, is this going to take long, Yeah, I have a doctor’s appointment, Vee are on a valking tour…, completes the german tourist. Alright, alright, Isaac says, or his stand in in the movie does, and time resumes. Alice notices him and waves hello.
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about romantic love, and romantic friendship. about youth, and growing up. about creativity and art. about places, and the importance of places, especially those of our formative years. about memory, and history, and movies, and jazz. lots and lots of jazz.
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