Richard

Richard Evans is a forty-five-year-old concert pianist who is diagnosed with ALS at the beginning of the novel; his primary character arc is the urgent need to decide what is most important in his life and make peace with his past before he dies. Richard has generally seen his life in either-or terms: either he excels at the piano and pushes aside everything else in his life, or he invests time and effort in his friends and family. Richard chose the piano, and as a result he has no important relationships with friends and never fully commits himself to a romantic relationship, even with his wife. After ALS takes his piano away from him, Richard faces the immediacy of his mortality and the emptiness of his life without music. His journey through the novel is the struggle to make peace with himself and reconnect with his estranged wife...