It seems only fitting that Matthew Gallaway's The Metropolis Case, with at its heart Wagner's operatic masterpiece Tristan and Isolde, should be filled with characters whose lives reflect the dissonance of the musical performance. The legend of Tristan and Isolde is a courtly romance from the German Middle Ages much like the Arthurian tales. It actually came before and was an influence on Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, and Tristan would eventually become absorbed into the stories of the knights of the round table. Tristan and Isolde is a love triangle between the hero, his uncle and his uncle's wife, and is a story that has been told over and over in literature. It was the inspiration for Richard Wagner's famous opera that premiered in Germany in 1865 and is said to have influenced the direction of 20th century classical music. It's not so much the story the opera tells but the passion of the performance that inspires Gallaway's novel.
To set the scene, the novel opens with an email announcing plans to attend the opening night of Wagner's Tristan and Isolde at Lincoln Center. Once the stage is set characters will be entering left and right and each thread of the story will seem disparate and unconnected, but eventually they will be woven together to create one large picture. Part of the dissonance is that each character appears in their own place and time in history. Martin is a 40-ish lawyer, HIV positive, living in New York City in 2001 and trying to come to terms with his life and how he's ended up there. Maria, christened Morticia by her humorless classmates is an awkward, gawky teenager. Growing up in 1970s Pittsburgh she's painfully unhappy thanks to her tall stature and pale skin. Her ability to sing is both confusing and liberating. Lucien is the son of a botanist in 1860s paris. He's bored by school and wishes to study music with the great masters of the day who might be able to sculpt his voice as he dreams of nothing but performing. And Anna is a celebrated opera singer. Born in Vienna, through the 1960s she performs in all the major opera houses and will later nurture the talents of younger singers.
Music is the thread that runs through the novel and connects all the characters, though you don't need to be an opera buff to appreciate The Metropolis Case. Gallaway covers a lot of ground--from teenage angst and burgeoning sexualities to the simple wish to fit in and be happy. In many ways the characters in the story are quite ordinary, each grappling with ordinary feelings and desires. Their pursuit of happiness is so often darkened by tragedy, yet their lives will take an extraordinary turn when a few mysteries are revealed at the end. One character notes that life "was no less and no more than an attempt to create something transcendent and lasting out of the haphazard and random events that defined so much of it." And the events of the story play out against these random events such as the murderous Paris Commune of 1871 and the mind-numbing terrorist attacks of 9/11. And through it all, love and death are the overarching themes guiding the characters.
The Metropolis Case is an ambitious novel, and some elements definitely work better than others. I admit that initially I was skeptical that such an undertaking could be pulled off. This is a story that you'll get on better with if you're willing to suspend belief on occasion and simply enjoy the ride, but in the end Gallaway convinced me and I quite enjoyed the reading experience. There's something larger than life in his telling of the stories of the lives of these characters, and it's fitting that it occurs within the framework of an opera. The story itself isn't just inspired by Wagner's Tristan and Isolde, but it's operatic in the execution, too. For the characters the stage isn't only literal but metaphorical, their passions and disappointments are all part of the greater stage of life, and I found myself getting quite caught up in all of it.
Many thanks to TLC Book Tours for sending this one my way and inviting me to participate in The Metropolis Case blog tour. I'm not sure I would have come across this one otherwise. Check out the other blog stops here. And check out Matthew Gallaway's website here.