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Liked It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “Kristal said: 4 stars |
Didn’t Like It1 of 2 members found this review helpful “My first Anne Rice book...and my last. I'm glad I picked it up used. Most of the book consisted of the protagonist and the ghost sitting in a room screaming at each other, and all of it was poorly written and contained very little internal consistency. Very unprofessional...presumably her...” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“Hauntingly beautiful.”
Linda M wrote this review Wednesday, November 11 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“It was mostly tedious on some parts. I found it too verbose and it only got better on the latter part of the book. It was fairly okay but no doubt I was dissapointed considering my expectations with Anne Rice. It could've been better.”
riza e wrote this review Wednesday, October 28 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Since I just took up the violin this was kind of amazing. She was in a very weird place when she wrote this and the idea of the haunted violin in interesting.”
Kate K wrote this review Thursday, September 10 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A delicious romp for avid music lovers! So much tragedy and redemption all in one. This book made me really delve into the darker side of classical composers.”
Janine C wrote this review Sunday, August 30 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Not my normal read”
Martin Hazel wrote this review Friday, July 10 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Boring in the beginning, but gets much better about halfway through.”
Leeds wrote this review Saturday, June 27 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“the only book of Ann Rice I didn't like”
liefie wrote this review Wednesday, May 13 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“The book is set in numerous places, including Vienna, New Orleans (which is typical of Rice's novels) and Rio de Janeiro. The novel tells the story of three people: a young woman yearning to become a musician, a ghostly violinist (hence the title), and the ghost of Beethoven.
Wendy B wrote this review Thursday, April 23 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
The story begins with Triana, who apparently becomes insane due to the death of her second husband, Karl, who had AIDS. Her first husband was Lev, with whom Triana had a daughter. Stefan, the ghost, appears the day Karl dies and plays his Stradivarius (s long Strad) (apparently also a ghost). Triana secludes herself in her house for several days without informing anyone of Karl's death.
Through the course of the book we learn the story of both Triana and Stefan. Stefan takes Triana in a travel through time, visiting scenes from his life and his afterlife in an attempt to reclaim his violin, which had been taken by Triana. Stefan had many mentors including Beethoven and Paganini, but it is Beethoven whom Stefan cherished the most. After Stefan's story is "told" Triana returns to her rightful time but not to New Orleans where the story began but to Vienna, and now seemingly possessing a talent to improvise in the violin.
We see the ghost of this great musician about two times in the novel, the first one in a scene where Stefan's house in Vienna is burning, and the second one almost at the end where Beethoven appears in modern Vienna in the hotel room where Triana was staying.
With Triana still in possession of the strad, Stefan continues his attempts to reclaim the violin but to no avail, until finally, after achieving success with her improvisations it is in Brazil that Triana returns the violin to his rightful owner and Stefan finally crosses over.
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