Kali J Desautels

Love Is Blind by William Boyd review – a rapturous return to form | Books | The Guardian

I n his latest novel, Love Is Blind – his 15th – William Boyd has pulled off an audaciously cunning trick, a literary bait and switch that both delights and surprises. At first glance, this historical travelogue-cum-romance follows in the vein of Boyd’s earlier successes such as Any Human Heart and Waiting for Sunrise , being a beautifully written and deeply humane account of its protagonist’s journey through a specific historical period: in this case, fin-de-siècle Scotland, France and Russia. Yet there is also a sense of mischief and playfulness imbued into its narrative that takes the form of several elaborate homages to other books and stories. If one never noticed, this would still be a thoroughly enjoyable read. Yet much of the pleasure here is in the gleeful way that Boyd dares the reader to draw parallels with other works (including his own), before throwing in a surprising or audacious reversal.

Its subtitle, The Rapture of Brodie Moncur, hints at some of the complexities therein. “Rapture” might mean simply the ecstasy of passion that its protagonist, the young Scottish piano tuner Moncur, finds himself in when he falls madly in love with the Russian opera singer Lika Blum, but it also has the eschatological association of the end of days, a time when true believers in Christ will rise up to heaven and join him once more. It is thus a particular pleasure to discover, early on, that Moncur has a tyrannical clergyman father, Malky; the reader can then look forward to a sermon of hellfire and damnation, specifically directed towards his son that rivals Amos Starkadder’s great diatribe in Cold Comfort Farm .

Moncur’s escape from the manse, to take on a position at his employer’s Parisian showroom, leads to a keenly observed saga revolving around both his infatuation with Lika and his troubled relationship with her tempestuous pianist lover, “the Irish Liszt”, John Kilbarron, and his malevolent brother, Malachi.

The novel is hugely readable, entirely engaging and frequently funny

Boyd has https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/sep/03/love-is-blind-william-boyd-review