Review
“Surprising and satisfying... will keep readers turning the pages. ...Delightfully vivid.” (Boston Globe)
“Kalotay’s soulful second novel chronicles the collateral damage three classical musicians inflict on the people who love them. Merging two inherently incompatible modes of expression, writing and music, presents a formidable challenge-one Kalotay rises to admirably here.” (Kirkus Reviews)
“Clear and evocative…. Kalotay infuses each of the characters with total believability stemming from her understanding of classical music and her perceptions of human nature. She is a very wise writer…and her brilliant intuitions are augmented by her lyrical writing.”(Toronto Star)
"Certain to hit a deep chord among readers for its unflinching, often lyrical examination of the nuances of marriage, parenthood, and divorce, this is a novel about hard–won wisdom, forgiveness, and the rewards of self–awareness.” (Bostonia)
“[Kalotay] really shines when discussing musicians making music…[and] she effectively shows us how performing artists live. Much as we ourselves do, except they then get to create something gorgeous. (Library Journal)“
Set in the hothouse world of classical music, this wise, elegant novel maps the fallout from a passionate affair over the course of two decades. . . . Kalotay writes with grace and authority, paying equal attention to the artistic and emotional lives of her characters.” (Tom Perrotta, New York Times bestselling author of The Leftovers)
“Kalotay manages to capture the fleeting exultation that performers feel whenever they play. It is as if she has been on stage, bow in hand, ready to make or break her career with a single piece of music:.” (New York Journal of Books)
“This entertaining novel follows a group of musicians through twenty years of disappointments and betrayals; lusts, regrets, afflictions, and delusions; rehearsals, recombinations, and revelations.” (Edith Pearlman, award-winning author of Binocular Vision)
"Deep, resonant mysteries play underneath this musical novel. …Kalotay writes about music so you almost hear it.” (Improper Bostonian)
“The characters about which Kalotay writes are deeply flawed, but also talented and fascinating to read about. Whether or not readers have a background in and knowledge of classical music, they’ll enjoy spending a brief time in this near-fanatical world.” (Bookreporter.com)
"SIGHT READING is at once a compelling story about love, loss and music in four interwoven lives, and an insightful exploration of the sources and expression of creativity. The results are compulsively readable, memorable and wise.” (Nancy Richler, award-winning author of The Imposter Bride)
“Kalotay writes elegantly and ably about music and emotion, drafting a moving meditation on the sacrifices made for art and the mysteries of the heart.” (Publishers Weekly)
“Kalotay celebrates art . . . in prose that is brisk and concise as well as sensuous and sumptuous . . . A fictive musical and familial feast.” (Booklist, starred review)
From the Back Cover
The critically acclaimed author of Russian Winter turns her "sure and suspenseful artistry" (Boston Globe) to the lives of three colleagues and lovers in the world of classical music.
On a Boston street one warm spring day, Hazel and Remy spot each other for the first time in years. Although their brief meeting may seem insignificant, behind them lie two decades in which their life paths have crisscrossed, diverged, and ultimately interlaced. Remy, a gifted violinist, is married to the composer Nicholas Elko—once the love of Hazel's life.
It has been twenty years since Remy, an ambitious conservatory student; Nicholas, a wunderkind launching an international career; and his wife, the beautiful and fragile Hazel, first came together, tipping their collective world on its axis. As their story unfolds from 1987 to 2007, from Europe to America, from conservatory life to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, each discovers the surprising ways in which the quest to create something real and true—be it a work of art or one's own life—can lead to the most personal of revelations.
Lyrical and evocative, Sight Reading explores the role of art and beauty in everyday life, while unspooling a transporting story of marriage, family, and the secrets we keep, even from ourselves.
About the Author
Daphne Kalotay is the author of the award-winning novel Russian Winter, which has been published in twenty languages, and the fiction collection Calamity and Other Stories. She has received fellowships from the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, the MacDowell Colony, and Yaddo, and has taught at Boston University, Skidmore College, Grub Street, and Middlebury College. She lives in Somerville, Massachusetts.
