Violin : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: slow, repetitive and boring
Review: This was the first Anne Rice book I've read and I had to force myself to finish it. I kept waiting to get to the part where the story starts to move and it never happened.

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Summary: Where's the good stuff?
Review: I am a huge Anne Rice fan, I love the Vampire Chronicles, and The Witching Hour is my all-time favorite book. I was excited to read Rice's newest novel, Violin. The story began all right, and I could see where it was trying to go, it just never got there. I went through the book going, when's it going to get to the good stuff? Unfortunately, I had to finish the entire book to realize there wasn't any good stuff. It was alternately boring and confusing. There's real potential in both characters, but no real resolution between the two. Even for die-hard Rice fans like me, this book was terrible. It was so bad that I haven't read any of her new books after Violin and have gone back to reading her old novels, such as Belinda and The Mummy.

Rating:
Summary: I couldn't wait to put it down...
Review: I have been a huge Anne Rice fan for years. Most often I really enjoy her use of history in her books, but this was just some type of lame attempt to - I don't know what. I had to force myself to finish the book and couldn't believe that I was saying to myself "This book is just the worst." While I enjoyed Cry to Heaven and Servant of the Bones, Rice is at her best when writing of Vampires, Witches, and The Talamasca.

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Summary: Her move from concrete to abstract is a disaster.
Review: I have read all of her books and loved every one until Violin. Perhaps because I am a violinist, I sense that she is right out of her depth here and really did not have anything to say to me. I was extremely disappointed and I wish she would write more of her fabulous earlier style of novel. I think that a violinist cannot be duplicated by a novelist however talented. Too many years of solitary practice can make a non-musician really easy to spot as a trespasser. The central core of the book is fog.

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Summary: I think this is my new favorite book
Review: Shortly after reading this I picked it up and read it again. I never felt such extremes of joy and sorrow from a book before. I cried through most of this book.This is a book about exploring the darkness and pain in yourself and trying to bring in the light. I know I'll read it again and again.

Rating:
Summary: Too superficial Romanticism, Anne...
Review: What happened to Anne Rice? This "Violin" doesn't explore the deepest meaning of Romanticism. It's too superficial and all the ideas drown in a slow, definetely boring writing. Either Anne didn't understand all the ideal implications of Romanticism or she perverted them. As for the music...Beethoven will curse her from his grave! She wasted a goldmine of possibilities using Beethoven, Paganini and Tchaikovski only to create atmosphere. Stefan? A weak character from every point of view. The best part was the beginning, Triana's mourning, but even that was too slow! "Pandora" was a little better than this book, "Servant" was useless and "Memnoch" partially ruined Lestat and her universe. Anne what's happening? I don't want Armand, my favourite character, to be destroyed!!!

Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: This was one of Anne's best ever works

Rating:
Summary: A real snooze
Review: As a huge fan of the first batch of the Vampire Chronicles and of the Mayfair Witches, well I guess I just expected too much. I did not sympathize with the main character or with her dark companion. I didn't see nearly the development I had seen in Rice's other works. The book had a dark cloud over it that depressed and repelled me. None of the steamy decay of the other novels. Just gross. Play a violin, a little one, and sad music. The creator of Lestat can do better.

Rating:
Summary: Not as bad as everyone says
Review: I'm not a big fan of Anne Rice's anymore...due to the fact that she "wows" Tom Cruise's performance in "Interview"! He was horrible, awful...any others you can think of that mean BAD he was. And she want's to do The Vampire Lestat with him! GROAN!!! Anyway, someone gave this to me for a gift. I picked it up, and I do have to say the first part is not great...a little odd, but once you get past that, and get to the part where the ghost arrives in her room, then the discriptions and the story seems to move along at a good pace. I must say I liked the dark almost gloomy tone to the writing, it was almost peaceful. In her vampire books, they seem to go too fast and you read as fast as you can to see what happens, and you don't really pick it up. In this you move along slowly, picking up what's going on. Sometimes she goes on and on, and I find it's then that you start getting bored, we don't need a two page discription of a building, just give us a few lines of detail and move on. That was her biggest flaw in this, too much of...everything. The story does have a good ending, but hopefully this one will stand on it's own, and she won't try to give it a continuation. Also I can't understand all the negative reviews about Memnoch. I thought that was great!! The whole story was one of the best, other than Lestat-of course. Anyway give it a try. Now if Anne stops praising and stroking Tom Cruise's ego, I might just become a fan again. I wonder if she reads these? We may never know!!!

Rating:
Summary: I'm sooooo bored - Wake me when it's over!!!
Review: I enjoy AR very much and have all of her books. I always look forward to her next one. But Violin was a bust. I cant imagine what happened but I have to agree with the reader from Germany. This book was annoying and irritating. It was almost stupid! The characters were dream like and never took on real forms. I think I know what Anne was trying to do but she missed it. I have to say I think CRY TO HEAVEN was one of her best. I have just started THE VAMPIRE ARMAND and will probably continue buying all of her books. She is unique.