Gone
A Girl, a Violin, a Life Unstrung
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4.5 • 8 Ratings
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- £9.99
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- £9.99
Publisher Description
'All my life my Stradivarius had been waiting for me, as I had been waiting for her . . .'
At 7 years old Min Kym was a prodigy, the youngest ever pupil at the Purcell School of Music. At 11 she won her first international prize. She worked with many violins, waiting for the day she would play 'the one'. At 21 she found it: a rare 1696 Stradivarius, perfectly suited to her build and temperament. Her career soared. She recorded the Brahms concerto and a world tour was planned.
Then, in a train station café, her violin was stolen. In an instant her world collapsed. She descended into a terrifying limbo land, unable to play another note.
This is Min's extraordinary story - of a young woman staring into the void, wondering who she was, who she had been. It is a story of isolation and dependence, of love, loss and betrayal, and the intense, almost human bond that a musician has with their instrument. Above all it's a story of hope through a journey back to music.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Dinner shouldn’t cost as much as the meatball sandwich that violinist Min Kym bought at Euston station in 2010. While eating her meal, Kym's £1.2million Stradivarius was stolen, plunging her into stasis and depression. Her remarkable memoir counts the psychological price of losing “a part of me… as personal and intimate as any other”, while revealing the heavy burdens of prodigious talent. Kym is a tremendously likeable narrator, slowly turning grief into optimism as she makes sense of relationships—both positive and damaging—that have shaped her. If her infectious passion for music leaves you wanting to hear more, there’s also an album to accompany the book.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Kym, who discovered the violin at just seven years old, quickly began outperforming her peers and teachers and soon became a featured soloist at orchestral concerts. In this beautiful memoir, she shares the juxtaposition of what it means to be unique and special while also learning to be a good Korean daughter: seen but not heard, subservient to her elders, and never able to forget that simply being a girl makes her lesser. At 21, she found a rare 1696 Stradivarius that would musically complete her. Then, in 2010, her violin was stolen, and Kym sank into a depression that forced her to come to terms with the love and loss of her childhood, the control that stifled her, and the opposite lives she was forced to live. Kym's story sings with the music of Bach, Brahms, Mendelssohn, and the many other composers who wrote the score of her life. Kym's descriptions of playing music will bring readers as close to the experience as they can get without picking up an instrument. This work of love, loss and redemption is sure to connect with many.
