Love Is Blind by William Boyd [6/10]

William Boyd is one of those skilled practitioners with ardent fans who straddles popularity and acclaim. My own reading splits about halfway between bedazzlement and a sense of stasis, and his latest, “Love Is Blind,” is more of the latter. His previous outing, “Sweet Caress,” swept up the life of a female photographer, in his latest we follow Brodie Moncur, a piano tuner at the tail end of the 19th century, and his adventures of the heart and profession across England and Europe. Boyd adroitly spurs the action from chapter to chapter, our hero and his love and his enemies are vividly drawn, and the period-piece locales are excellent. But when all is said and done, it’s the story of a life well depicted but ultimately bearing a flat lack of purpose. An enjoyable read.