Short & Satisfying Book Club: "The Last Movement" by Robert Seethaler
About this Event
The Short and Satisfying Book Club led by Georgia Court is for those looking for a shorter read that is ripe for discussion. December's selection is The Last Movement by Robert Seethaler. Set aboard a transatlantic ship in 1911, this slim, meditative novel imagines the final journey of composer Gustav Mahler as he looks back on a life shaped by music, ambition, love, loss, and regret. At just 144 pages, it's a tender exploration of mortality, legacy, and what remains when a life (and a work of art) reaches its final movement.
We will meet in person at our store location at The Mark, 117 S. Pineapple Ave. The book club is $22 which includes a copy of The Last Movement to be picked up at Bookstore1 any time before our meeting.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
In the spring of 1911, Gustav Mahler—wrapped in a wool blanket—sits on the deck of the Amerika, sailing back to Europe. The ocean around him is gray and endless, the air sharp with wind and steel. Not yet fifty, Mahler is already a legend: in Vienna and New York, audiences fight for tickets to see the restless, small man who commands the most stubborn orchestra in the world.
Yet his fame is shadowed by illness. His body is failing, his wife Alma has fallen in love with another man: the young architect Walter Gropius. Mahler has begged, humiliated himself, tried everything to keep her. Nothing worked, except the certainty of his approaching death. Alma has stayed, tending to him with care, perhaps to ease his final passage.
On board, Mahler reflects on life, art, and above all, love. Finalist for the Deutscher Buchpreis and one of the most acclaimed German novels of recent years, Robert Seethaler’s The Last Movement is a haunting, tender portrait of a great artist confronting his farewell to life.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Robert Seethaler was born in Vienna in 1966 and is the author of eight novels. In 2017 he was a finalist for the Man Booker International Prize with A Whole Life (FSG, 2016). He also works as an actor, most recently in Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth. He lives in Berlin.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 25.78
