Loved this, would recommend it - what else is there to say about one of our greatest living writers?

This took a while for me to get into but it was as hypnotic and beautifully written as all of Levy's work. Her writing is always so mesmerising!

Thank you to the publisher for the eARC of this book, which I was sent a great many moons ago and can only apologise for not reading sooner.

I continue to struggle with books that try to deal with the unwieldiness of the pandemic, though this book doesn't spend so much time dwelling on the pandemic itself. I wonder if it will lose even more of its pertinence as time goes on. This one felt slippery - well written but I struggled to get a grip on what it was trying to say, with a few very beautifully realised passages unable to sustain the whole read for me.

Then there's the hat. The hat! It seems like a very shallow thing to get hung up on but it feels representative of the things I really couldn't get on with in this book. A black felt trilby - by all accounts, a very unchic hat - made Elsa feel very unchic, which I'm not sure is what Levy was going for. I read this in a very bitty way so I'm not sure exactly how old Elsa was, but I think she was supposed to be in her mid-thirties? She didn't feel like a realistic 30-something at all. I also couldn't believe the level of celebrity she had achieved as a classical musician. It was all just little niggles like this that kept the characters from feeling real. Perhaps the slightly surreal feeling that the whole book had should have counteracted this issue, but it made it feel more like the narrative wasn't really moored to anything in particular.

The third Levy I've tried and the best so far but I just can't get on with her, so this is it for me. Reasonably compelling characters but her prose always leaves me feeling hollow and hopeless.

Deborah Levy's writing is always going to be a little beguiling and very compelling, but the actual story in this one felt a little too slight and flimsy for me. I would've liked a little bit more plot, some more character development, something to make the book feel like more than a collection of vague feelings and impressions.

Love Deborah Levy’s writing and this is no exception. Rich and complex, her characters are as engaging as ever. Great work.

there was something about the cover and the idea of doubles that brought to mind 'persona' and i do find levy to be a confident writer.

holiday to Greece to recover. She becomes obsessed with a woman she sees as her doppelganger and stalks her. But is the woman real or a symptom of her breakdown?

'She frightened me. She was more knowing than I was. She made me feel less alone.'

The novel is far from a comfortable read but, as with all Levy's work, I found it intriguing. At the end, the reader is left with questions about how we bring up children, about our relationships with biological or surrogate parents and about the inevitability of loss, but potential recovery through creativity.

‘August Blue’ by Deborah Levy is a beautifully contracted pandemic-set novel, about a 30 something former child prodigy pianist who a few years prior, walked off stage at a concert and left the music world behind. She now travels through Europe, teaching children to play piano, having experiences with locals and seeing a mysterious woman, her “psychic double” everywhere she goes. All of this plays out as her adoptive father and teacher is becoming increasingly ill.

The novel, as all of Deborah Levy’s work, invites you to bring your own experiences and meaning to the narrative, making it universal and personal simultaneously. There are themes of loneliness, identity, processing great global change, understanding where we come from, and the importance of living in our own reality, suffering and joy as opposed to escaping into the experiences of others. There is a coming of age tone to it, that I appreciate in novels that center 30-40 year old women. Growing up, evolving is an ever present journey and Deborah Levy does a beautiful job with this type of storytelling.

I loved the tactile descriptions of the weather, the city and sea, food and even the undeniable discomfort of masking, hand sanitizer and the constant cleaning we were doing. It feels quite tender and quiet and I found myself tearing up a couple of times.

Wonderful read. Deborah Levy does it again by creating a succinct yet deeply introspective novel. A perfect time capsule of the pandemic and how it affected artists of all varieties.

August Blue offers a snapshot of the life of child prodigy Elsa as she comes to terms with professional disappointment and personal grief as her mentor's health begins to decline.

The book in many ways is a sad portrayal of a lost soul, devoid of links to a 'normal life' and the world around her. The mysterious doppelganger that eludes Elsa provides an enticing version of what she might have become given a different turn at life.

Levy is a consummate writer who has perfected the shorter novel. August Blue is captivating and recognisable as an exploration of reawakening.

I struggled with this book I think alot of it went over my head. I had to push through to finish it, I found It didn't flow very well and appeared disjointed.

This was a highly anticipated read for me for 2023 and when I was granted the arc to say I screamed! Deborah Levy has such a was with writing that it just captivates you this is a beautiful story about loss and identity and finding ourselves through others I highly recommend for all Levy fans it’s a top favourite of mine this year!

I like Deborah Levy's writing because although she's wordy and pretentious (meant in a loving way), she's not overly-obtuse. I still know what's going on, even if I'm missing some deeper meaning due to a lack of degree-level analysis/passion. This was short but sweet, with plenty to get me thinking, and sprinkled with pandemic PTSD that I found more interesting than depressing (as I normally do).

Elsa Anderson is a celebrated concert pianist whi in the middle of the Pandemic plays a concert where she is unable to play the Rachmaninoff on the programme.

This really is the sum total of my understanding about this book - the rest is a series of almost unconnected sentences gathered into disconnected chapters and published (i presume) because the author is herself noted. It seems to me that Deborah Levy has met her "elsa" moment in this book. Less "vivid portrait and more muddy waters to my thinking.

What it does have going for it is it 's merciful shortness

Like many readers of Deborah Levy, I like reading her books even if I don't understand a lot of what's going on. I really liked this one in the beginning – she's great on atmosphere and detail and hot European places and prose that feels both crisp and vague. To me, most of the book seemed redolent of the way we all questioned life in the aftermath of the worst part of the pandemic, and made sense especially in the context of the protagonist, famous pianist Elsa and semi-adopted daughter of an internationally renowned piano teacher. But it did get a little bit too abstract for me in the end, which I didn't particularly appreciate or enjoy. Not my favourite Deborah Levy but I still liked it overall

As much as I usually enjoy Levy’s work, I struggled to finish this one. The experimental writing shows her talent for writing but I found it an obstacle to and left a bit confused

This book feels like an odd fever dream in the heat of a summer, as our protagonist attempts to piece together her own personal story of who she is, and what that means for her future.

The whole book feels like a series of apparitions, the main character thinking she sees things, being convinced that they were what she thought she saw, and then drifting into another thought.

All of this individually could easily fall apart, and I think there is something about the skill of a writer like Levy in holding these fragments together so beautifully. Her observations and details are incredibly lucid, either capturing whole characters in a few words or the slightest movement, or focusing on the most minute details perfectly (her description of our main character getting off a train at Kings Cross Station in London, and moving to a piano was eerie for its specificity- I could trace every single step the character took and knew exactly where in the station she was at any given moment).

This is a book that I can imagine would hold up incredibly well on multiple readings- there are so many details and treasures hidden at just the right distance, and there is real mastery in eschewing easy answers and twists, in favour of a more complicated and satisfying ending.

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I had never read any Deborah Levy before and didn't know what to expect, but had heard rave reviews about her from some bloggers whom I tend to share tastes with, and so jumped at the opportunity to read this.

The writing is beautiful, almost poetic throughout. The descriptions are vivid and I could almost see / feel / smell / hear the surroundings she was describing. I can absolutely see why people adore her as a writer.

However, the book itself didn't really capture my attention. I usually enjoy character driven rather than plot driven novels, but I couldn't get onside with the FMC enough to really care what happened with her. I understood that the trauma in her background was causing her to behave as she did, but her drifting frustrated me and left me waiting for her to make a decision or take some action.

A strange novel. It is set during the pandemic and a very simple story but I feel I wanted to learn more about Elsa. I enjoyed reading the book but the other woman, does she really exist, is it her mum, another version of herself?. It reminded me of the movie Tár at points. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy.