In a nameless City that — as usual in Enquist — looks, sounds and smells very like Amsterdam, the friends Hugo (1st violin; director of a doomed performing-arts centre), Jochem (viola; violin-builder), Carolien (cello; GP and Jochem's wife) and Heleen (2nd violin; nurse in Carolien's practice), meet most Fridays on Hugo's houseboat to play string quartets together. Carolien also still goes regularly for lessons with her old cello teacher, Reinier, now in his eighties and very frail.

They all have major problems in their personal lives, which they don't quite like to ask for help with. And they all find the work they are doing less and less valued in the new order of things around them. Healthcare isn't what it used to be, no-one even dares ask what the situation is like with care for the elderly, the City and the government have made it clear that funding classical music is very low on their list of priorities, and there's a major corruption scandal coming to trial in the City, always provided the glittering new court building doesn't fall down first.

The only thing that keeps them moderately sane and functioning is to spend a couple of hours immersing themselves in Dvořák, Mozart or Schubert, and occasionally sharing that pleasure with a few friends who are prepared to listen to them. Needless to say, Fate isn't too happy about this cultural escapism, and has a nasty surprise in store for them.

This should be a very depressing book: on the surface, Enquist clearly means us to see that the only reasonable response to the modern world is thoroughgoing pessimism. But it rather oddly isn't. Admittedly, the power of music can't solve the world's problems, nor can it provide us with a proper answer for our own private sorrows and fears, but somehow the assertion of its power to alleviate these things at least temporarily leaves us with a little glimmer of hope. ( )

Een boek waar ik erg van heb genoten en wat ik in vier dagen heb gelezen. Wat me aansprak was het gemopper over de huidige (in het boek toekomstige) maatschappij, alle regels waaraan moet worden voldaan, zinloosheid van managen enz. Verder de beschrijving van wat muziek doet met emoties, hoe je je even over verdriet kunt heenzetten door samen te spelen. Natuurlijk speelt rouw een rol, schuldgevoelens, elkaar niet kunnen bereiken, eenzaamheid in het rouwen. En dan nog het verhaal over Amsterdam, Muziekgebouw aan het IJ, Holleeder. Het boek is goed geschreven en inhoudelijk goed, dus ik ben tevreden. ( )