The Passion of Tasha Darsky [Paperback]

Yael Goldstein Love (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 5, 2008

Natasha Darsky, “the most famous violinist since Paganini,” lights an erotic fire under every piece of music she plays, telling each composer’s story in a singularly sensuous way. The daughter of a renowned art dealer in New York City, Tasha grew up in a world where artistic achievement was the highest value and her father’s opinion determined the rise and fall of many an artist. Her prodigious musical talent, discovered when she is a girl, blossoms at Harvard, where she begins to compose music. She is soon swept up in a passionate love affair with Jean Paul, a young composer whose innovative music is hailed as revolutionary. Under Jean Paul’s shadow, Tasha abandons her dream of writing music and turns toward performance. Channeling the frustration and muted fury of this choice into her playing, she creates a sexually charged sound that packs concert halls around the world year after year. Her young daughter, Alex, follows in her celebrated footsteps, but it is Alex’s talent as a composer that brings mother and daughter together—and tears them apart in ways Tasha could hardly have anticipated.

THE PASSION OF TASHA DARKSY draws readers into the glamorous and competitive world of classical music, capturing its harsh demands and its magical power to move performers and audiences alike. With rare mastery, Yael Goldstein Love offers a sweeping tale of female ambition, unflinchingly rendered in all its danger, confusion, and passion.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“[A work of] fiction deeply involved with intellect and ideas, warmed by sensitively delineated emotions and propelled by strong storytelling. The Passion of Tasha Darsky establishes Yael Goldstein [Love] as a writer with a distinctive voice of her own.” —Los Angeles Times

“The Passion of Tasha Darksy is nothing short of magnificent.” _—Charleston Post and Courier

About the Author

Yael Goldstein Love graduated from Harvard College in 2000. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This is her first novel.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Broadway; Reprint edition (August 5, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767929799
• ISBN-13: 978-0767929790
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,424,975 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "the Big One....", August 5, 2008

By 

K. M. "literary devotee" (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Passion of Tasha Darsky (Paperback)

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....

THE PASSION OF TASHA DARSKY (entitled OVERTURE in its hardcover edition) 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...."

THE PASSION OF TASHA DARSKY 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.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What fiction should be, August 21, 2008

By 

ethilred - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Passion of Tasha Darsky (Paperback)

If you haven't read Goldstein-Love's debut novel yet (hardcover entitled Overture)--well, you must. It is so rare these days to find fiction with such wisdom, such generosity of spirit, such empathy; in short a novel that so skillfully accomplishes what a novel is meant to do: enable readers to get inside a mind apart from their own. A novel like The Passion of Tasha Darsky is more illuminating than most nonfiction books you can read; in the hands of so adept and warmhearted an interpreter of human nature as Goldstein-Love, you'll come away with a new lucidity to bring to all your day-to-day interactions.

5.0 out of 5 stars More than just a novel., January 26, 2012

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Booklover - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Passion of Tasha Darsky (Paperback)

When I came across this novel, I was excited and intrigued to learn that this author is the daughter of Rebecca Goldstein - one of my favorite novelists, because she also offers insights that go beyond literary reading pleasure. How wonderful that Yael Goldstein Love has the same talent for fiction! Not only is Tasha Darsky a pure pleasure to read for the story; but she raises fascinating points about the creative process of musicians (which her mother did in describing the mind of a mathematician). She also analyzes family relationships- especially between mothers and daughters.
This is both entertaining and stimulating at the same time; and I am especially interested in the concept of talented women who "help" men with "our work" which then becomes HIS work. While reading about how Tasha "lent" her mind to Jean Paul as an "inspiration" I couldn't help thinking of a documentary I saw on Albert and Mileva Einstein, and how they spent years discussing and analyzing- according to him- "our work." The same for Wm Wordsworth, who daily mined his sister Dorothy's journal for "inspiration." The phrase "a crowd, a host of golden daffodils" is taken directly from Dorothy's journal. The subject of women being the muse that is more than a muse is extremely important and under-examined, so this was a heady blast of something much needed in literature.
Gosh,I hope this woman writes a whole lot more books.