Sight Reading

Sight Reading by Daphne Kalotay
4/5 stars
Harper, 2013
328 pages
Adult Historical Literary

Source: Received an ARC through Amazon Vine in exchange for an honest review.

Way back in 2010, I read this author's Russian Winter and enjoyed it enough to have my interest piqued when I saw this new novel especially because of the violin on the cover (except that as I play viola, I pretended it was a viola; it's never a viola.)

The book follows artistic mother Hazel and composer/conductor Nicholas whose marriage is broken up when he sleeps with young violinist Remy. The book follows them over twenty years of struggles incorporating insights into music, art, and life.

I found this book to be very heavy on character development so it was sometimes a struggle to balance the three perspectives especially because I liked Hazel the most by far. I viewed Remy as the callous jerk who broke up a marriage (also a child was involved) and I disdained Nicholas' self-absorbedness, a common theme throughout the novel. Yet I found them all compelling and kept the pages turning, unable to stop until done.

This is most probably due to its incorporation of music. Nicholas conducts at the conservatory where Remy is studying and both of their plots rely heavily on music. I especially adored Remy's summer taking an advanced master class-there was such passion in describing her musical education. I wonder if Kalotay plays an instrument because I thought she did an outstanding job with descriptions here all around.

Sample Quote (just because I loved it): "...But the middle voices were just as important. The seconds, the violas, the altos. The ones no one paid much attention to. They were the ones who added texture and depth, whose presence, if generally unnoticed, was absolutely necessary." (p. 130 in ARC)

For non-musicians, there is a glossary of musical terms at the very end. I always appreciate such resources and I found it interesting to have the translations of terms from say Italian or French to English as well as a bit of history if relevant.

Overall: I feel like this would be a good book for book clubs because though classical music plays a large component, it is at heart focused on relationships, love, and family, very universal topics and it would certainly provide a lot of fodder for discussion with its potentially polarizing characters.

Russian Winter

Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay

Harper, 2010
459 pages
Historical Fiction; Literary
4/5 stars

Source: Library

Summary: Nina Revskaya, a former ballerina in the Bolshoi and defector, is preparing to auction off some of her glorious jewelry and thus finally silence the past.  But two people, Drew Brooks from an auction house, and Grigori Solodin, a professor with a mysterious past of his own, won't let the secrets remain unspoken.

Thoughts:  I saw this advertised on goodreads and then saw it at my library so I grabbed it even though I was already reading some other stuff.

It shifts between about 1950s USSR and 2003 New England, USA (References are made to the president's preparing for war and the fact that there's an election the next year).  The historical sections were more gripping to me; I don't know much about the USSR and it was interesting to read about.  I want to know more.  It was disorienting to read a book published this year but set seven years ago although that doesn't matter so much. 

The relationships between the characters were okay; I preferred the other areas such as descriptions of the jewelry and the insights in to the working of Soviet Russia (Twice does Nina see Stalin up close) and how people dealt with that (hint: not well).  There are also musings on the importance of art, literature, and love.  Grigori is a professor and friendly with a Hungarian poet who speaks about the latter two at one point.  Nina was married to a poet and had two main friendships with fellow ballerinas and their lovers who do the majority of actions in the historical sections.  Present day is a bringing together of Drew and Grigori to excavate Nina's past, where she remembers betrayals, both real and imagined.

Overall: A slowish book that could be rewarding if you like those kind of stories.  I wanted to love it but I did not.

Cover: I'm not entirely sure why the pendant is on backwards nor why the woman's hair is that color but the colors work nicely together.