Customer Reviews

Overture: A Novel

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this book after hearing it compared to Bel Canto, which I personally think is one of the best books of the past ten years. How did Overture compare? Well, put it this way: I took it home from the bookstore at roughly 11 am Monday, and here I am writing a review on Thursday. The story of Tasha and Alex is so moving (the ending makes you cry, but in a good way -- this is the most satisfying ending of a book I've read in a while) and so wise that it's almost impossible to believe it's a first novel. The writing is also gorgeous -- some truly brilliant descriptions that make you stop and sigh with pleasure. If you have a mother, a daughter, a love for music, or just a taste for great literature run out buy this book!!!

I loved this book. It's very smart and well-written, AND never boring. What I think makes it so special is that intellectual, artistic/aesthetic and "everday" emotional themes are so tightly interwoven that it affects you as the reader on all levels simultaneously. Most people will relate to the love stories and the parent-child relationships, and even if you're not that interested in music or artistic creation, the characters in the book are very compelling and make the topics interesting. I agree with the comparison to Bel Canto; the book also reminded me at times of A Widow for One Year (John Irving) and The Time Traveler's Wife. I'm very much looking forward to the author's next book!

After reading the great reviews of this book, I checked it out of the library. I read a *lot* of books, both fiction and non-fiction, and I would have to say I was very disappointed in this novel. The story is about bonds between men and women, and mothers and daughters, but it is very clear that Yael Goldstein only knows about being a daughter, and has very little insight into what it means to be a mother, and has yet to experience real love for another person -- lust yes, infatuation -- clearly, but love, not so much. OK, she's young -- but why write a book where both of the major themes are something you have no experience with? This was painfully obvious when she describes the character Natasha giving birth to Alexandrea and refusing to breastfeed her. "I had tried in the hospital to breastfeed her, but she'd gagged on my milk (the nurses blamed "hyperlactation") . . . my breasts disgusted me in particular, painfully filled with milk, and leaking, as if I were a barnyard animal." (p. 203). It isn't possible to have hyperlactation while still in the hospital after giving birth, unless you stay for several weeks, and the overproduction of milk is easily fixed by appropriate management. To take the most meaningful and beautiful relationship between a mother and child and denigrate it in this way is appalling. Breastfeeding mothers are not barnyard animals, they are mammals. Our breasts are there to make milk for our children, and breastfeeding is wonderful. I was also distressed by Natasha's willingness to hop into bed with her professor -- each time she "fell in love" it was described in exactly the same terms. And poor Jean Paul, who is never given a chance to explain what he meant in his letter to his mother -- the comment that caused Tasha to reject him and broke his heart, supposedly leading to exquisite music composition? Corny and trite. You don't have to suffer to be a great composer or a great violinist. There are so many books to read, and so little time -- don't waste your time on this one.

This is an amazing book! I've never written a review before, but I felt compelled to after reading this book, because I loved it so much. It is beautifully written, and also a great story. It has everything -- compelling characters, juicy plots, good storytelling, and true to life drama, between a mother and a daughter, and the other loves of their lives. It's definitely a must-read. I read it cover to cover in only a few days (I couldn't put it down!) and was so sad when it was over. I can't wait for her next book.

This novel is a remarkable achievement. It invites the reader into the inner life of a formidable musical talent, offering up a treatment of big themes (artistic genius and love) and big personalities (the narrator, her ex-boyfriend, her daughter) that's as believable as it is engrossing. If you're anything like me, you'll find yourself so swept up in this book that you'll have finished it before you realize just how ravenously you've been absorbing it. And, once you've finished, you'll find yourself missing Tasha and the other characters. And you'll envy Goldstein her knack for elegant but sure-footed prose. I can't say enough good things about this book.

I enjoyed this book and was intrigued even though I know very little about classical music. it is a very impressive effort for a first time novelist, although you can tell this is a work of a young writer. she is very promising, and I'm sure to follow her and see how she grows. good book.

In this beautiful novel, world-famous concert violinist Tasha Darsky thinks she is nothing because she doesn't write music like her lover or her daughter. She views the playing of other people's compositions as a utility, not an act of creation. Yet, she imbues the notes she plays with such unkempt effusion and vibrant passion that the pieces become new under her dazzling bowing. Being a sensation is, however, actually the acidic fruit of Tasha's renunciation of the love of her life and her promise as a composer, so a reckoning and an adjustment are inevitable....

OVERTURE succeeds on so many levels: As a study of the artistic temperament. As a love story fraught with human frailty. As an exploration of modern musical theory. As transporting translation of musical emotions into words. And as a generational spiral in which Tasha, her mother (to a lesser degree), and her daughter each grapple with their talents, their loved ones, and their insecurities. Tasha and Alexandra struggle with typical mother/daughter stresses but also with their fishbowl performing life and the men they encounter. Alex calls Tasha "the Big One" -- the one who has already accomplished everything -- but Tasha knows her daughter's talents and tells her, "...I couldn't do what you do; write music like that...."

OVERTURE is a penetrating, mature reflection on one fragile musical life at its center and the family, friends, mentors, and lovers who help tune it. At one point, an unforgettable character blithely and a bit pompously declares, "I believe beauty is the only thing that has a right to be anywhere it cares to be." Well, that sentiment ought to apply to this novel. It deserves to be...everywhere. Very highly recommended, especially to music lovers.

Natasha Darsky the daughteer of two idiosyncratic and very successful New York art dealers, is a violin virtuoso who arrives at Harvard to study composition with a famous and intimidating professor. There she meets the enigmatic and volatile Jean Paul, the professor's other star pupil. Natasha and Jean Paul enter into a passionate love affair. But feeling overshadowed by Jean Paul's compositional brilliance she must decide whether to continue composing or enter the dazzling life of the concert stage. Her decision will have ramifications for herself, her daughter Alex and for Jean Paul. Natasha's story alternates between engrossing and cliched (her very brief love affair with a famous iconoclastic Polish film director/would be statesman strains credulity a bit). However this novel which examines the choices a woman must make in love and in career, as well as asking what are the sources of creativity is a riveting read.The identity of Alex's father is kept a mystery through much of the book. Kudos must go to author Yael Goldstein for this her first novel. I look forward to reading many more in the future.

Overture is a beautiful novel. It's a story of mother-daughter relationships. It's a story of music. It's a story of just what it is we mean by art and the duties of those who practice it. I found myself emotionally involved in this book. I was angry at characters. I was cheering for others. Yael paints the life of Tasha Darsky, a world-renowned violinist around whom the story is wrapped, with amazing maturity. I can't wait to read more of her work.