Violin

Rating:
Summary: Not one of her best
Review: I had to at least rate this book as a three, because she does do a good job in her poetic descriptions. This book is very richly written and it is done in a literary style that I have never been exposed to before. Too descriptive and very abstract. I had a very hard time trying to gain a footing in her novel. Just as soon as I thought I got what she was trying to convey in her book, I lost it. This is a very hard read and I did not enjoy the story at all. I am going to give her a rest for a while before I read another of her books! The whole Violin thing I just did not get it. Very well written though.

Rating:
Summary: relax and enjoy
Review: Okay, if you want to read a book by anne rice and expect it tobe just like every other book you have ever read by her, then no, youshould not read this book. If, however, you do not wish to be so close minded, then relax and remember, it's a book.

About reading violin....it was a great book. A nice way to seperate from the world and well RELAX. As always she is intelligent, suductive, a great mixture of fantasy and reality in one...what is beter than the unbelievable? END

Rating:
Summary: I'm still trying to read it!
Review: Oh my God! I never read a book more boring than this one, I'm a avid reader also a fast one... I could read a 600 pages novel in 2 days... but I have more than a month trying to read the Violin, but always I got slept.. I'm a very good fan of Anne's writtings, but this time I feel betrayed... This story seems endless, too many details, never read anything so boring...So sorry, but it's the really, unpleasant true...

Rating:
Summary: Self-indulgent emotional effusion.
Review: Few authors handle the English language as musically and rhythmically as Anne Rice; this book is a beautifully flowing wash of words. However, the book is also supremely and tiresomely self-indulgent.

In this book, Rice has committed an egregious offence popular to many amateur authors: she talks directly of raw emotions rather than showing them in the actions of the characters, or building them into the atmosphere of the scenes. Unlike most of Rice' other works, which are a more even (and effective) mix of plot and introspection, Violin is simply chock-full of endless internal ponderings on death and guilt.

We begin the book with the death of Triana's AIDS-ridden husband Karl. Triana falls into a trance of despair and denial, and spends a couple of days alone in the house with the corpse and memories of all those she has loved and lost. So far so good! But somewhere in this wallowing in thoughts of death, we lose Karl. He becomes nothing more than a vanished benefactor, who paved Triana's life with money.

And then comes her ghost. From the beginning, the ghost is ambiguous. Good or evil? Bringing pleasure or pain? And for what purpose? Eventually, Triana takes up the position that the ghost intended to drive her insane. But it seems more a rationalization than a truth.

The remainder of the tale has no internal logic. Triana and her ghost ramble about from century to century, palace to palace, luxury to luxury. Triana progresses from wealth to talent to renown, and on to an ultimate victory. Why? How has she earned this? Where is the conflict or sacrifice? Should Triana's obsessive and unjustified guilt for the deaths of her loved ones earn such rewards?

Sorry Anne, it doesn't work.

Rating:
Summary: Violin is not a flop!
Review: I disagree with a lot of people who said it was not one of her finer novels, I disagree... I found it very creative, poetic, vivid scenes... I loved it... I do admit that there were a few boring parts in it, but alot of books have that... I think alot of people should give this novel a chance...

Rating:
Summary: What a MESS!
Review: It's like Anne dropped acid and decided to write a book. The main character, Triana, must be a materialization of Anne herself, and the conflicts she's had with her past. She exhibits grief over her daughter, jealousy of her husband, and hatred/love of her parents and their abusive habits. This book is one long crying jag, and the characters NEVER stop whining. I kept falling asleep, and only finished the book, because I kept hoping it would improve. It doesn't. Pure senseless drivel- A total waste of time and money.

Rating:
Summary: The Violin Novel (3 thumbs up)
Review: This is my first Anne Rice novel that I have read and thought it was magnificent. In some parts, I felt that she got into too much detail, but once you bair with it... it gets good trust me... If you love poetry this is definetly the book, I have heard the novel is distasteful... I don't think so there is nothing erotic or distasteful about this novel... It's very simple story... I really like it... I'd read it again.

Rating:
Summary: Your mother on the toilet!
Review: What a stinker! She actually wrote about HER MOTHER on the toilet! Yuck! Yetch! Peyew! Shame on you Anne. Have you no shame? The book was so boring I was having trouble paying attention and then you put in this business about your mom! I hope your son writes a book.

Rating:
Summary: Skip it
Review: I don't know if you want to read my review or not, since I really haven't read the book all the way through. The truth is, I have problems even getting past the first few chapters. I have tried about 3 times now! This book rambles on like nothing I've ever read before. And I've read Stephen King! If you are the kind of person who likes a GOOD BOOK, not a book that gets good after 5 chapters or so, do NOT read this one. The few chapters I managed to choke down are nothing but meaningless drivel. It seems like Anne Rice is trying way to hard to make this book sound like some great classical novel. That's just the way it comes across. I've never read anything else by Ms. Rice, but I certainly hope her other books aren't as uninspired and boring as "Violin."

Rating:
Summary: Anne Rice's "Violin"
Review: Much has been said about Anne Rice's novel Violin. Many that claim it to be distasteful, and the worst of Rice's novels, apparently have not read it with the proper admiration. Any literature lover would be amazed with the novel. You must be either a true devoted Anne Rice fan, or a great lover of literature that will capture writing in its true artistic form. Those that are truly in love with cathartic literature will find this novel an even larger interest...Even though the novel is set at a more autobiographical sense, it possess a very high standard of raw and true emotion. Something found in all of her novels. Take it from me, pick the book up!