Quietly experimental, appropriate considering the fact that this novel portrays as its main character a ghost with a penchant for the unconventional. The ghost of jazz cornetist Buddy Bolden lingers, somehow coexisting with the actual Buddy Bolden, the same way someone can be present and absent right in front of you, the same way pain and beauty are never too far apart, the same way we listen to a jazz record from side one to side two.

 

(Geo)