ghosts

I have been a fan of Anne Rice since the eighties. Most of her work has exotic desriptions of the surroundings which only warrants a read. The reader also has the feel that she has done her research and nows her topic (not just the setting, but the character, and the mythology).

Not here.

Although I loved the places the narrator, Triana, describes for us (her home and Vienna especially), I really didn't feel the plot move at all. The majority of the book is almost an argument between Stefan and Triana over who gets the violin. I understand the need for conflict, but this was a bit too long for an enjoyable read.

When I read of Rice's witches, vampires, or mummies, I am intrigued to hear about them. Stefan is a miserable ghost. What is the point of his remaining locked to Earth? I agree with Triana that I am puzzled. I now how, but no idea why. The insertion of Beethoven into the mix seemed like a quick device to keep the book moving. I really don't know the significance of it though.

If you want to follow Anne Rice in her exquisite settings, by all means read the book. If this is your choice for an introduction to Anne Rice, please don't read this one. She has some great stuff out there, and this is not it.

In this pain-packed volume of beautifully expressed emotion, many demons are conquered -- the most infuriating of which is Stefan, a frustrated Stradivarius-obsessed ghost from long ago Austria, who haunts Triana, a newly widowed lover of classical music. Stefan uses Triana's painful past (a drunken mother, a negligent father, a broken marriage) and various losses (a daughter killed by cancer, a husband killed by AIDS, and a sister whose whereabouts are unknown) in an effort to justify his own sin of killing his father rather than relinquish his beloved Stradivarius.

Stefan tells Triana up front that he intends to drive her to madness. Using the misfortune in her life, he gives it a good effort; however, Triana proves herself stronger than he. Rather than harming her, Stefan helps Triana to heal, achieve and overcome.

Rice's beautiful writing is disruptive and confusing, and it should be. She is writing about hallucinations, conversations with a ghost, void of physical reality, but filled with the tone and fiber and emotion of dreams everyone experiences.

This is a unique book, the first by Anne Rice that I have read, and I believe a very under-appreciated book.

This is the first Anne Rice book I've ever read, and I was so disappointed. I couldn't even manage to finish the whole book, but I skimmed and scanned some pages in the middle and in the end of the book. The beginning was good in the first few chapters, then out of the blue a million characters popped out, and as a reader I got so confused. There were more exclaimations than needed, which made the story/ persona sounded unrealistic and airy. Perhaps it was too abstract for me, or I didn't get to see the beauty of it, but honestly I won't recommend it.