Reviewed by Ian Lipke
Indyana Schneider wrote much more than a story when she decided to direct her energies into producing Since the World is Ending. The book covers such topics as music, consequence, desire, and the importance of love and art in a world that meets passion with passion. The characters lead a life of a single focus. There is no alternative to the narrow exploration of the sacrifices Schneider’s people are prepared to make in the exploration of their art and of the risks they take when they pour everything of their lives into their art.
One might envy the life that Maya is living. First violinist in a major orchestra is a very prestigious position for any twenty-eight-year-old. That she is enjoying sex with the star cellist Lucia Rizzo is a bonus, but it is an add-on to her love for her art. Yet the Maya-Lucia relationship should not be sold short. It comes under challenge with the return to Vienna of Josh but survives only to strengthen the original coupling.
No attempt is ever made to hide the fact that the Maya-Lucia relationship is an intense, lesbian one.
Her dark eyes are open now – sleepy, velvety brown…Lust hushes my mind, focuses my thoughts, melts any lingering drowsiness. I usually try to avoid sleeping with other musicians, though they’re sordidly good in bed…Oh, well. This is casual. I lean into her. Soothing lust, playful lust, slows everything down so I can feel things (3).
The reader is faced throughout the book with feelings and actions that are honest. The feelings the young women have for each other have been tested and found to be trustworthy. Descriptions are true to life; they are interesting and not unknown to the reader. A good example is the kettle in Lisa’s flat. “While the kettle boils, I stare at a painting in a thick silver frame beside the fridge – bright colours, wobbly circles arranged concentrically. It looks like an out-of-focus peacock feather. Hypnotic. It’s the kind of art you can fall into…This one is called A Raindrop Which Falls into the City (6 – 7).”
But perhaps the best example of honest writing occurs with the descriptions of the works of the famous composers. Schneider writes of her knowledge of people “who bristle at the idea that music has a consoling or healing power’” (25). She then introduces a beautiful snatch of Brahms’s First Symphony, “the relentless, throbbing drum, the orchestration that fights gravity, soaring slowly. I miss being lost in his moody worlds. Wistful, blurry, blissful melancholy, with notes that rub together and produce not sparks, but deep indents” (28).
The fierce nature of an opera recital forces itself upon us. It appears in Maya’s fine description “I only realise the audience is applauding because Lucia’s fingers leave mine. The Soprano bows her head, touches her hand to her heart. She looks almost giddy; she’s grinning at her guests, and I feel anger rumble in my chest…I’m angry at the Soprano for leaving her character behind so swiftly. She seems completely unchanged by her performance” (165 – 166). Irritation that follows a magnificent performance is not at all unusual as a listener moves from a fantasy world into another.
Such clever, mature writing that quickens the reader’s heart, that binds a powerful narrative with a love of music that is refreshing and inspirational. I loved every minute of this fine tale.
Since the World is Ending
(2025)
by Indyana Schneider
Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 9781398501140
$34.90; 304 pp