Maestro Commentary:    The Beginning
(Pages three to five)

Overview:

Maestro is a novella written by Peter Goldsworthy in 1989.  The novella is about an adolescent teenager named Paul Crabbe.  

Paul is an experienced pianist and throughout the text, develops strong relationships with Eduard Keller, Megan and Rosie.  All three of these people had a strong influence on Paul’s life.  

Eduard was Paul’s piano teacher.  He also taught Paul valuable life lessons.  These life lessons hinge on another part of the book on page # where Keller asks what the difference is between a great pianist and a good one.  “Not much” is Keller’s response, highlighting the fine point of how small the difference between being good and being great.

Megan and Rosie were both girlfriends of Paul.  Rosie ended up being the long-term girlfriend of Paul and in the end, they get married.  As Paul grew up, his sexual awareness was triggered by both of these girls in some way.  For example, on page #, where Paul is sitting next to Rosie, he thinks that she is just some girl, and then all of this changes when her thigh is pressed against his own from all the late comers making it crowded where they are sitting.  A complete change occurs in their relationship and new beginnings are made.  

Near the end of the book, on page #, Megan becomes the other girl, they both have sex and then Paul goes over to Rosie’s house and has sex again and Rosie picks up on Paul’s stickiness but Paul makes up the excuse that >>>>> and so it is passed aside.

Commentary:

For my speech, I have done a commentary on the first three pages of Maestro by Peter Goldsworthy.  I have started from the very first line to the last.  I hope you enjoy it …

The first page of the “Darwin, 1967”, shows us information on how the characters are portrayed (how they look and what they are like).

The first line on page three is the beginning of the novella.  ‘First Impressions?’ is a rhetorical question.  We have a sense of Paul being our narrator for this part of the book and he is looking back at his first meeting with Herr Keller.

Join now!

‘Misleading, of course.  As always.’  This shows his rejection of his first impressions; his thoughts. Goldsworthy uses syntax in his use of shorter sentences to emphasise the effect of what we are reading.  Also, the ‘As always’ sentence uses alliteration.  This adds to the effect of the short sentence, making it more interesting to read.

In Maestro, Keller is portrayed as a drunk, having a ‘boozer’s incandescent glow.  His pitted, sun-coarsened skin – a cheap, ruined leather.  And the eyes: an old man’s moist, wobbling jellies.’  When Keller is described as having a boozer’s incandescent glow, we can ...

This is a preview of the whole essay