Orpheus Lost

Orpheus Lost -- Janette Turner Hospital
(2007) p.358
Cut to the Chase: 3.5 out of 5

Summary: Leela is a post-doctoral math student and professor at MIT, studying the math of music. She meets and falls in love with Mishka, an Australian graduate student who plays the violin and the oud (a Middle-Eastern version of the lute). Their lives take a turn into the bizarre with the re-appearance of Leela's childhood friend (and secret admirer) Cobb (it's not what you think!) and Mishka's decent into the dark world of terrorism and his past.

I first stumbled upon Orpheus Lost when a friend at my "real job" was reading it for class. I was instantly drawn by the title and cover art (I'm a sucker for good cover art) but I didn't have a chance to pick up the book until I heard Hospital was coming to the university for a reading. After the reading, I bought a copy and I was lucky enough to get it signed by the author. For the first few weeks, I couldn't put it down; I was totally sucked in by Hospital's amazing use of imagery and the lyrical quality of the prose. However, things came up-- Exam week, moving back home, and all the things that come with the end of the semester-- and I had to set the book aside for a week or two. When I came back to it, it just didn't hold the same captivation for me. It was still a great read, but I no longer had the enthusiasm for it that I had when I started reading. I was mildly disappointed in the ending, and Hospital didn't go into detail where I wanted her to.

Janette Turner Hospital described her own work well when she said: "it's a story set in an America if suicide bombers had come to America and were a common occurrence." Orpheus Lost is not only a flip of the old myth, but an interesting take on what might have happened. Overall, Hospital's language use and imagery is great, but towards the end it gets heavy in events and not enough of the scenery that made the beginning great.