Featured Reviews
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
“Immense, intense and imaginative….The Weight of a Piano is about memory and identity….Cander is a smart, deft storyteller [and] understands how something as beloved as a piano can actually be a burden.”…read more
THE GUARDIAN
“Like Annie Proulx’s Accordion Crimes, The Weight of a Piano imagines what might happen if something designed for the nonverbal expression of thoughts and feelings were pressed into the service of speaking for a range of characters.” …read more
KIRKUS REVIEWS (STARRED REVIEW)
“Deftly plotted and well written, a gentle meditation on the healing power of art — and its limitations….Cander grabs the reader in her bravura, thickly detailed opening pages [and] expertly parcels out her revelations [as] she builds parallel narratives [toward] an odd but beautiful finale.”…read more
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (STARRED, BOXED REVIEW)
“Cander brilliantly and convincingly expresses music and visual art in her writing, capturing both within a near-alien but surprisingly stunning landscape.”…read more
LIBRARY JOURNAL (STARRED REVIEW)
“VERDICT: From award-winning author Cander (Whisper Hollow), this beautiful tale of the intersecting stories of Katya and Clara, two strong women working hard to rebuild their shattered lives, is impossible to put down and impossible to forget.” …read more
BOOKPAGE (STARRED REVIEW)
“Cander’s unadorned prose composes some truly beautiful descriptions of the joy of music.” …read more
AUDIOFILE MAGAZINE (EARPHONES AWARD)
“Campbell fluidly advances their separate stories, moving deftly between the accents and attitudes of Soviet Russia and current-day California. Campbell’s performance lifts up this story, even–or especially–when the truths Clara begins to discover about her piano (a gift from her father before his death) and about herself seem set to bury her under their weight.”
THE HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY
“Deeply resonant, The Weight of a Piano will resonate with anyone who has been shattered by loss, anyone who is frozen in time or place, unwilling to open themselves to others or unable to overcome the anger that accompanies the absence of love. The life of the piano – and its presence in the lives of [these characters] – lingers in the music of the mind and heart.”…read more
MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE
“The reader is left to contemplate loss and legacy, the novel’s notion of ‘poetry and color and imagination’ lingering like the notes of a distant song….Cander proves herself masterful.”…read more
BOOKLIST
“Strong characterization and attention to detail, whether in the manufacture of a piano or in the desolate beauty of Death Valley, elevate Cander’s tale about learning to let go of the past.” …read more
THE WASHINGTON POST
“Cander, who has written two other, well-received novels, has a gift for offering readers access to unique experiences.”…read more
MORE
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
REAL SIMPLE MAGAZINE
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GARDEN & GUN
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