Rating: 
Summary: Crying forever
Review: When I started getting through the pages of "Violin", my first impression was that of being a dull and somewhat flat book. I first said to myself who was this woman complaining and whining all of the time?. Mourning and letting fly her thoughts and memories away. But then during my reading I began understanding Triana and her grief, and sorrow, and living death. She was supported only by her music, the music she so much loved. That same music that helped her to get through the day.And then Stefan came, the fiddler. No demon, no saint, but only a grievous soul as lonely as Triana was. Stefan, the ghost violinist, along with Triana shares a passion for music streaming out of the fiddle. Triana is not crazy, she's just someone who expresses her pain the way she knows best: grieving. Anne Rice tells Triana's story in such a very particular way. "Violin" is one of those books that has everything in it, romance, drama, horror,etc. Because of being such a different book regarding Rice's previous releases, this story is not recommended to those who are in love with Lestat or the witches Anne once created. Now, after reading it, I can deeply say that this is a great book, despite whatever lousy (and certainly mistaken) remarks have been made. To those who are fond of prose this is definitely your book. Look no further
Rating:
Summary: A sensuous book that replaces guilt with self forgiveness.
Review: How daring of Anne Rice to use a fiftyish
slightly plump person as the heroine of
Violin. The heroine (Trianna) feels guilt
regarding all of her losses - her daughter
like Annes own child dies of leukemia at the
age of six, her mother an alcoholic swallows
her tongue and dies (she didn't kiss her
goodbye), Trianna's father dies while she is
in CA and most recently her husband has just
died of aids.
Typical of Anne Rice, she weaves some history
into her story. Her husband was writing a
book about St. Sebastian. She shares his
story. She points out many tidbits about the
great composers - Beethoven, Tchaikowsky and
Bach. Her descriptions make you feel the
music as her ghost Stefan plays the violin
in her mourning. She takes you back in
time with vivid architectural descriptions.
For the new age reader, she connects the
spirituality of the rain forests to her
grand finale.
Love and forgiveness play a vital part in this
tale of sorrow and sadness.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't buy this book
Review: I LOVE Anne Rice and have read everything she has written. But this particular book is unreadable. Halfway through, I cried "Uncle" and put the book back on my shelf. This the FIRST time I have not read an entire book, and I'm extremely disappointed that it had to be a book by this particular author.
Rating: 
Summary: PLEASE TELL THE STORY OF THE TALMASCA!!!!!
Review: THOUGH THIS IS DIFFENTLY NOT ANNE RICE'S BEST WORK IT ISN'T THE WORST. I HATED "SERVENTS OF THE BONES". I SINCERLY HOPE THAT AFTER KEEPING US IN SUSPENSE FOR SO LONG SHE WILL GIVE US THE STORY OF THE "TALAMASCA", NOTHING WOULD SATISFY ME MORE!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Not one of her best.
Review: If you are an Anne Rice lover, you may want to skip this one. It is written in classic Anne Rice style but focuses too much on the imagery and not enough on the story. I finished it only to say I did but thoughout the entire book was very disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: A Window into Anne Rice's Soul
Review: Throw out every expectation you have about Anne Rice. This book is different. Although some people think "different" is a bad thing, in Violin, it isn't. Unlike her last couple of books, Anne Rice returns with the prose-poetic feeling of Interview of a Vampire and, as an added bonus, she reveals herself in an intriguing story about a brat-Virtuoso and a lost woman who finds herself in the New Orleans, in Vienna of the past, and in the jungles of Rio de Janiero. Weaving classical music within the threads of her tale, she shows no mercy for this ghostly violinist. Unlike her self-aware, supernatural beings of other tales, Stefan (the violinist) is lost and petty. Instead, it is the heroine, the earth-bound human, who is empowered.
Rating:
Summary: Anne Rice has forgotten how to tell a story.
Review: There was a time when I looked forward to reading the next Anne Rice book. That time has come and gone with the arrival of Violin. What exactly was this book about? I want to sit down and read a good story, not the bloated prose of an author who has forgotten the reason we originally purchased her books.
Rating:
Summary: Blown away!!!
Review: This was an awesome book. It took your mind to the most beconed point and let you wander in Triana's mind. While it, apparently, isn't as "suspenseful" as the other ones that she has written, I think that any non-Anne Rice fan will soon become one. The only thing that I didn't like is that after 10 chapters of telling Stefan Stefanovsky that she will never give it back, even after seeing her dead family members as a "gift" from him, she has the audacity to just hand it over to him. It does, however, deal with real human emotions and parts of life nobody cares to look at. Abusive mother, soultry music that takes you away, death from AIDS, death from Cancer, loving the person you hate/hating the person you love, finding forgiveness... There is just so many more. She makes it seem so outdated like it belongs back in Venice with Paganini, but if you actually cared to analyze it, it is so modern, so updated that at certain points you feel that you actually hear Stefan, our wandering ghost, standing beside you, telling you this. Another important aspect is the music. While I regretted not knowing my Bach, I didn't need to. You see, she doesn't focus in on the music itself as much as how it makes Triana feel. Anne Rice describes the music in such a way that it takes you to this place in your mind that nobody can reach except that one certain song that you listen to over, and over, and over. But yet she can. Without the slightest audible noise coming, she can go to that place in your mind as if it was built just for her. It's what made her love him. Not his long, greasy hair or his street-rat looking clothes or his far off accent. It was his music. So different from everything known but yet so known that you couldn't get it out of your head if you wanted to. All I can say to you is read this book. I was astounded! I was amazed! Anne Rice has taken me to a point that I have never been to before and can't wait to return to.
Rating:
Summary: What? Oh, you mean this book had a PLOT?!
Review: Yuck, how dissappointing.
I am a great fan of Ms. Rice's vampire chronicles, and am in no way biased against her work. I've indeed spent considerable amounts of time defending her writing against the insults of her critics. HOWEVER, I just cannot stomach this latest batch self-indulgent prattle! In my opinion, this book is no more than a soupy mess of grief over Rice's daughter, who died of lukemia several years ago. This daughter also provided the base for the character of Claudia in _Interview With the Vampire_. I loved IWTV. The difference here is that IWTV was a well constructed book, thick on plot and lucious prose, whereas Violin is a limp and pathetic novel with no direction, short on story and full of compeletly nonsenical paragraphs that ought to have been omitted in editing!
I don't want to give an entirely negative review, so I will say that I found several passages in here enjoyable. For example, the descriptions of Triana's drunken mother were well done, and Triana's feelings of grief over her daughter were well conveyed. There, I did it. I said something positive. Please please PLEASE do not buy this book. If you must, borrow it from some poor sap who didn't know any better.
Rating:
Summary: Pure self-indulgence taking advantage of her name
Review: Anne Rice's last 3 books have slowly left me wondering if her ability to tell a story, draw one into it, and make one forget dinner, forego sleep and neglect work, has disappeared. I was a little concerned reading Memnoch the Devil (too wordy, too much personal philosophical rambling), Servant of the Bones was a tad better, but now this. The things that make a writer good or sometimes even great are their life experiences as well as their ability to craft a great story. Anne Rice has been able to turn her personal demons into the stories we all came to enjoy and eagerly anticipate. However, in Violin, she turns the whole story into one autobiographical mess. Instead of creating a work of fiction, she has put together a string of sometimes incoherent ramblings thinly disguised as fiction. Something has happened to Anne. Perhaps success has not brought true happiness or inner peace. Perhaps Anne cries out to us, her readers, in this novel. But what she is asking for I do not know. I do know that if she doesn't get help and soon, and do some great PR for her next book, there will be no readers left, or at least very few!
|
