Summary

The section called “The First Movement” starts on page 5 and pages 5-53 are the first half of this movement. The perspective begins from a man called the Old Musician, as he fumbles in the dark and in his bad vision to find his instruments. He thinks about a daughter he once had and how he misses her. He reaches for a plectrum, made out of “recycled bullet casing” that his doctor gave him calling it “art from war” (9). He starts to think about another little girl who’s father used to own the lute he plays. He wonders about his motives for writing her.

The perspective changes to Teera as she looks out a plane window. Her aunt has recently died, she quit her job, and she received a letter from an old musician in Cambodia. She thinks about going back...