Sight Reading by Daphne Kalotay

Sight Reading by Daphne Kalotay is draws you into the lives of three characters who are involved in the competitive world of the classical music. Spanning from 1987 to 2007, you’ll follow their lives and ambitions to places from America to Europe.

Book Description

“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.” – Sight Reading

My Thoughts

Sight Reading spans from 1987 to 2007. It covers the lives of Hazel, Remy, and Nicholas. Striving to be the first chair and as successful as possible, is fun and exciting, but it can’t last forever. This is a story that takes you inside the world of the highly competitive and ambitious Symphony Orchestra, and much, much more.

I really like how you learn all sides to the story with this novel. We are used to reading just one side of a story with most novels, so this is an ambitious change which worked out very well in that respect. However, even with this I don’t feel that the characters were all fully developed to their potential. They are a bit cliché and predictable with their given roles.

* Thank you to the publisher of Sight Reading, Harper, for providing me with a copy of this book for review. All opinions expressed are my own.