Fingers

[valor]

Has anyone ready the book Fingers? This is the summary on the back of the book.


Eighteen-year old Sam has always been jealous of his younger brother. Humphrey, the famous "wonder child" pianist. But now that Humphrey is fifteen, the one-time child prodigy isn't able to get any more bookings. Sam's mother refuses to accept that Humprhey's career is over and devises a scheme to recapture his fame: Sam will compose "new works" by a long dead gypsy composer, and they will tell the world that the composer is dictating the music to Humphrey from the grave. The scheme is a wild success- until some ghostly occurrences convince Sam that the spirit of the ead composer has actually taken over Humphreys fingers. Have Same and his faily unleashed a force from beyond the grave?


I've ready up to chapter 4 so far and the book is pretty messed up. Humphreys brother really hates him for having the ability to play the piano (Sam has small hands and poor coordination so he can't play), and his parents uses him for fame. The family drugs Humphrey so they can get him to think that hes actually dictating music from a dead composer.

[valor]

I forgot to add the author, his name is William Sleator. I've read to chapter 8. The younger brother, Humphrey, is starting to act differently (probably being possesed by the dead gypsie composer hes "dictacting" his work for) and their parents are in denile and wont listen to the older brother Sam, the books turning out to be really good.

[valor]

I just finished the book, its a really good read. I dont want to spoil the ending but since no one is familiar or even interested in the book i'll just say it.

The person who Sam thought was the dead gypsy composer Magyar (thats his name, forgot to mention it) wasn't him, but his son. Magyar junior took Sam to his home where his younger brother Humphrey was sleeping safely (after he had run away when Sam told the truth about the compositions). Magyar junior took him to a room where he had a satchet that contained something very important, something that he had to show to Sam. To his surprise it was the very same compositions that Sam had been writing. So there had been a supernatural occurance going on, except it had been Sam who was dictating the music, not Humphrey.

After he discovered this his Parents came knocking on the door, but they couldn't be discovered or Bridget (the mother) would take Humphrey back and continue to force him to play concerts, and send Sam away for being "insane". However, Magyar junior forgot to the lock the door, and they came impatiently in searching for them. They came to the second floor and Magyar told them of the 7 Magyar compositions he had in the satchet. Bridget ordered Luc (the father) and Humphrey to hold down Sam and with a mighty fist Humphrey knocked his brother out. When Sam regained conscious he smelled something burning and new Bridge and Luc were burning what they thought was the original compositions of Magyar. Magyar junior ordered them out of the house and took them to a secret island that no one knew about, where Magyar had gone once for some reason.

The book skips 4 months then and explains how Magyar junior sold the compositions and exposed Bridgets scheme to the world. Bridget didn't make an effort to find Humphrey and attempt to restore his already shattered career, so Sam, Humphrey, and Magyar junior stayed on the island happily. The book ends with Sam claiming that since Magyar was decapitated and his hands choped off by a car thing (you know those cars things that were lead by a horse, forgot what thoes are called) that they had reincarnated, Sam as Magyars head and Humphrey as Magyars hands, and a night before they spoke in a different tongue they didn't know, Hungarian, Magyars tongue.

I'd recommend this book to anyone on this forum because it deals with music (and everyone on here is a pianist). Its really really nice, you can almost hear the music described in the book, very sweet.