Rating: 
Summary: A look into the public facade
Review: For years Anne Rice's fans have known of the tragedy in her life and now, through "fiction" she opens herself up and lets us know what it was like. I walked away from Violin with a better sense of who Anne is and what demons she feverishly tries to dispel with her writing. Although not her best, it is one that I will reread. I recommend it for those Riceans who are so wrapped up in the vampires that they have lost sight of Anne's talents.
Rating: 
Summary: A disappointing waste of time
Review: I've been a fan of Ms. Rice and her writing style for some time now, but this book was a big disappointment. Character development and plot were strangely absent. The book seemed to be just an incoherent rambling. The characters were boring, the story way too autobiographical (already read "Prism of the Night", thank you very much). Wish I'd given this one a miss.
Rating: 
Summary: The Sad Disintegration of Talent
Review: Her early books were great...original, luminous page-turners. Then Anne Rice became a "famous author." Apparently, she's now so famous that editors are afraid to alter her undisciplined, self-indulgent prose. What a shame. Encouraged to hope by the memory of Interview with the Vampire, Cry to Heaven and other early works, I keep buying and reading Rice's stuff...but this repetitive stew of self-pity (the main character is billed as a vastly intelligent woman, yet ruminates on and on and on over the same handful of incidents in her so tragic life like a lobotomized Guernsey) may be the final straw! What we have here is interior monologue substituting for plot. When this novel finally drags to an end, Rice swiftly and inexplicably ties up a few loose ends in a most unsatisfying way, but at least we're rid of the incessant weepers and whiners who populate this time-waster.
Rating:
Summary: Run quickly from this self-indulgent mess. Don't bother
Review: I've read all of Anne Rice's books and enjoyed them all except the ending of the Witching Hour and the stupid sequels. This book, I couldn't finish because it was a waste of my time. Her self-indulgence is none of my business and should have remained locked in her diary instead of sold to her fans. This is one of the most insulting books and would never have been published if her name wasn't on it.
Rating:
Summary: An innovate and fascinating work of literary horror
Review: Triana feels guilty that she still lives as she mourns the deaths of
her loved ones. Her beloved Karl is recently dead, a victim of AIDs. Her
alcoholic mother has been dead for a while and even her daughter has died
from cancer. Only her love for music saves Triana from her own inner
demons.
Everything suddenly changes for Triana when a violin playing ghost,
Stefan Stefanovsky, appears out of nowhere. Stefan accuses Triana of
butchering the music with her lack of talent. He plays Svengali and
manipulates her with his own brilliant musical abilities. Eventually, he
manages to transport Triana to his time and place, nineteenth century
Vienna where she meets Beethoven and other musical greats. After
witnessing in person the genius of Beethoven, Paginnini, and others, Triana
returns to her home in contemporary New Orleans. She now believes that her
deceased daughter has been reincarnated and lives in Rio. Is Triana losing
her mind due to the deaths of her loved ones which brings home her own
mortality? Or is her music (and that of the past masters) showing Triana
that immortality lies in what she leaves behinf for future generations?
VIOLIN is a brilliant but strange novel that demonstrates just how
talented Anne Rice truly is as she blends a hauntingly poignant ghost story
with what seems like an autobiography. The novel may be the great Ms.
Rice's best book in years as she cleverly pulls off a coup with her
trifecta of lead protagonists linked by their love of music. Fans of Ms.
Rice and anyone who enjoys a top rate romantic-supernatural tale needs to
read VIOLIN as the master has provided a virtuoso performance with this
Stradivarius of novels.
Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: BEST SINCE THE WITCHING HOUR
Review: Just got my ARC of Violin and could not put it down. This book which has to be largely autobiographical was so full of emotion. Extremely wordy...though in this case, it is a good thing. By the end of the first 75 pages, Anne has you feeling the pain and terrible torment of her "heroine" Triana. Yet by the end of the book you also feel for the ghost/violinist Stefan who uses his violin to torment Triana. A book that takes you from New Orleans (Suprise!) to Vienna to Rio. A truly remarkable book! Words can't describe
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: Good Bargain
Review: I bought this book at a garage sale. It's a good book to read before bedtime during our winter season up here. I had a hard time following the details and found myself skimming past numerous pages just to get to any sort of plot. I love the character Stefan; I think because of his Russian aristocrat background; something different and more haunting. However, the character, Triana, because she was depicted as being an over weight, whoa is me Ugly Duckling, I had a hard time enjoying (or believing) the script with the tender & passionate kissing from Stefan during the part when he was trying to get his violin back. I would get a mental image of Triana and her character description. Just killed it. I felt more sorry for Stefan then I did for Triana.
Rating:
Summary: hard read
Review: I gobble up everything Anne Rice writes. This book was soooo hard to read. I was bored. I knew that I was not getting into a vampire blood fest, but I at least expected something interesting. This book fell short of even being something I wanted to pick up. I force feed myself this book hoping that it would get better somewhere but it never did.
Rating:
Summary: Definitely not her best work.
Review: I am a very big fan of Anne Rice, and I love most of her books. However, I found this to be one of the most boring books she has written. I especially did not like the first few chapters and it just left me cold at the end.
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