Between Two Sounds by Joonas Sildre ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

Between Two Sounds follows the life of world-famous composer Arvo Pärt from his birth in Estonia in 1935 through 1980, when the Soviets forced him to emigrate because of the nonconformist and religious nature of his music.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

September 2024; Plough Publishing House; 978-1636081342
ebook, print (224 pages); graphic novel biography

I don't read graphic novels very often but I do like trying new translated fiction. Between Two Sounds is by an Estonian author and I've not read anything written by or about Estonia before.

I'm not really a musical person and I was not at all familiar with Arvo Pärt. If you are musically inclined, and a fan of classical music, then you will enjoy this graphic novel. There is a lot of talk about different musical styles or maybe they are techniques - I was not familiar with any of it. The subtitle for this book is Arvo Pärt’s Journey to His Musical Language so it is really focused on how he attempted new ways of interpreting music.

I didn't really find the graphics all that helpful in understanding the story and often found myself not even really looking at them. I didn't always recognize characters that had appeared earlier so I wasn't always sure who he was talking with. And one panel I misinterpreted. It showed Arvo with a woman on his moped and then a few panels later she is holding a baby (at least I think it is the same woman) so I thought he married her, but he didn't get married until years later. But as a piece of art, some of the panels are very interesting in their simplicity. 

There's also no real narrative story. Instead, it is laid out like a detailed timeline. The chapters with the year in a big dot. We are given moments in time which gives the story a disjointed feel as the scenes aren't connected and some even feel like non-sequiturs.

There are a few comments about the time period but if you don't know about the Cold War era and the Iron Curtain, then you might not get some of the references. At first, I didn't understand how a symphonic piece of music could be considered subversive - some of the music styles/techniques that Arvo explored were banned. Later I realized that his music had words associated with them as they were choral arrangements which made more sense why the government didn't like it. 

I also didn't understand why they exiled him from Estonia. They were upset when another artist/creative person defected but then they forced Arvo and his family to leave. Was he just too famous to imprison (or worse)?

There were several moments that I would have liked to have delved fuller into to understand the political climate and what was going on in Arvo's life.

I'm not sure if the sparse details are just the author's style or if it is indicative of the Estonian literary style. I would like to read other books by Estonian authors.

Buy Between Two Sounds at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

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