The Metropolis Case: A Novel
(Libby/OverDrive eBook, Kindle)

In his ambitious debut, Gallaway jumps backward and forward in time between two cities, spiraling in on four characters connected by music: Lucien, an opera singer coming-of-age in mid-19th-century Paris; Anna, an opera singer reaching the height of her career in 1960s New York; Maria, an extraordinarily promising young singer but a difficult student; and Martin, an aging lawyer whose love of music might save his life. The ties between them are at first so tenuous that readers may wonder when, how, or if their narratives will converge. But Wagner's Tristan and Isolde touches each in some way, as does, eventually, eternal life, a device that allows Gallaway to chronicle 1860s Paris and 1960s New York through the eyes of one character. Gallaway, a former musician, gives music a literary presence, intertwining opera and punk by illuminating their shared passion and chaos. But ambition sometimes gives way to pretension (particularly with chapter titles such as "Fashion Is a Canon for this Dialect Also") and purple prose, but the story remains grounded by characters grappling with love, in some cases for eternity. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

This debut offers an operatic confluence of multiple stories concerning Martin, a 40-year-old, HIV-positive lawyer in 2001 New York, who's going through a midlife crisis; the musically gifted Maria, an orphan adopted in Pittsburgh in 1960; and Lucien, also musically gifted and the son of a well-known scientist in mid-19th-century Paris. Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde is important to them all: Lucien eventually sings the role of Tristan at the opera's premiere in Germany in 1864, Maria enrolls at Juilliard and sings as Isolde at a Metropolitan Opera performance, and Martin, who's had an emotionally difficult time coming to terms with his gay identity, decides after his 40th birthday to retire from his lucrative law practice and devote himself to his own interests, one of which has become opera. It all comes together in New York City in the years after 9/11, as fate, destiny, and the transformative power of love are unleashed from the Wagner opera and exert a strong influence on the lives of the characters. -Verdict This charming and inventive novel works as a romantic mystery story of sorts and is recommended for all fiction readers.-Jim Coan, SUNY Coll. at Oneonta Lib. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

This debut offers an operatic confluence of multiple stories concerning Martin, a 40-year-old, HIV-positive lawyer in 2001 New York, who's going through a midlife crisis; the musically gifted Maria, an orphan adopted in Pittsburgh in 1960; and Lucien, also musically gifted and the son of a well-known scientist in mid-19th-century Paris. Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde is important to them all: Lucien eventually sings the role of Tristan at the opera's premiere in Germany in 1864, Maria enrolls at Juilliard and sings as Isolde at a Metropolitan Opera performance, and Martin, who's had an emotionally difficult time coming to terms with his gay identity, decides after his 40th birthday to retire from his lucrative law practice and devote himself to his own interests, one of which has become opera. It all comes together in New York City in the years after 9/11, as fate, destiny, and the transformative power of love are unleashed from the Wagner opera and exert a strong influence on the lives of the characters. VERDICT This charming and inventive novel works as a romantic mystery story of sorts and is recommended for all fiction readers.—Jim Coan, SUNY Coll. at Oneonta Lib.

In his ambitious debut, Gallaway jumps backward and forward in time between two cities, spiraling in on four characters connected by music: Lucien, an opera singer coming-of-age in mid-19th-century Paris; Anna, an opera singer reaching the height of her career in 1960s New York; Maria, an extraordinarily promising young singer but a difficult student; and Martin, an aging lawyer whose love of music might save his life. The ties between them are at first so tenuous that readers may wonder when, how, or if their narratives will converge. But Wagner's Tristan and Isolde touches each in some way, as does, eventually, eternal life, a device that allows Gallaway to chronicle 1860s Paris and 1960s New York through the eyes of one character. Gallaway, a former musician, gives music a literary presence, intertwining opera and punk by illuminating their shared passion and chaos. But ambition sometimes gives way to pretension (particularly with chapter titles such as "Fashion Is a Canon for this Dialect Also") and purple prose, but the story remains grounded by characters grappling with love, in some cases for eternity. (Jan.)