Title: Unremarkable
Product review: As the ideal Chopin biography has yet to appear, I had high hopes for this book. But it looks as if Chopin fans are going to have to wait a while longer, because this one is unremarkable in every way. What appears to be a good idea in principle - a concise biography of Chopin's 18 years in Paris - breaks down due to Tad Szulc's complete inability to focus on any concept or topic.Szulc is an inept writer. His sentence structures are terrible. He seems to have nothing to say, and all day to say it. When the well really runs dry, he has a way of breaking off into obtuse generalities: "He must have been guided by destiny." I was unable to decipher so many of his ideas, sentences, and phrases that I wound up skimming the last 200 pages of the book. I read stacks of books -mostly about music- and this is the first book in years I've been unable to finish.Approach at your own risk. Me, I'll keep hoping for that elusive, comprehensive Chopin biography.
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