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Cry to Heaven Anne Rice 9780701135782 Books

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Cry to Heaven Anne Rice 9780701135782 Books

I first read this in 1982 when it had just been released in the Hardbound Edition and I remembered it vividly. Now that I have a kindle, I decided to read it again after 32 years. This is Anne Rice before Vampires, Zombies, Jesus and the Computer --- when she was a wonderful writer with a truly addictive narrative force that propels a brilliant historical story into the literary stratosphere. I did not want to eat, work, sleep ---I was addicted to this tale of the world of The Great Castrati and the Machiavellian machinations of the world of the 17th Century Opera. Like any great Detective Story, I did not want to put it down. Gripping! Stunning! Unforgettably Erotic! Truly touches the heart AND the libido. WOW~!


Tags : Cry to Heaven [Anne Rice] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. First UK Edition, 1990. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. Toning to the page margins.,Anne Rice,Cry to Heaven,Chatto & Windus,0701135786,12389097,Fiction,Historical,Modern fiction

Cry to Heaven Anne Rice 9780701135782 Books Reviews

Wow! This was a surprise. Never knew Anne Rice existed until she joined a chat group and bought my book. I figured the least I could do was return the favor and buy a book of this author I had never heard of. Needless to say, she didn't need my favors. However, I am glad I did. My choice was "Cry to Heaven" as it fell into my realm of understanding; weaving its intricate web around the world of Italian opera in the 18th century. I was well aware of the castrati--castrated young males whose families, mostly impoverished, sacrificed their young boys with beautiful voices in the hopes of preserving the voice and securing a financially advantageous future. What I didn't know, and am still dubious of, is that a castrated male can still have an erection. Tonio, the aristocratic Venetian victim, is castrated by his jealous "brother" (really his banished father who returns to Venice after the death of HIS father) so he will be unable to procreate and therefore not be next in the royal lineage. Anne Rice makes no apologies and spares no details as she describes the services provided by Tonio to just about every male in the book that he encounters classmate Domenico, teacher Guido, a young man on the street who he lures into his carriage, Vatican Cardinal, fencing partner...

She paints entrancing atmospheres in words the byways and canals of Venice, the sounds of singing in the night air, the light of the water reflecting off the ceilings of the palaces. The kidnapping and forced castration of the young adolescent, with opium dulling the pain, are chillingly described. (One wonders how many of these unfortunate victims died of secondary infections.) One also wonders how she can make stuff like this up? It's a most twisted and unexpected plot at the beginning and never wastes a moment in mindless meandering. There is always a direction...a purpose to every phrase.

And it is almost as though Ms Rice knows what it is like to sing. She describes the training of the voice, the exercises, the excitement of the performance as though she was a singer in a past lifetime. Exemplary.

The end is for the reader to anticipate. Will Tonio accomplish his objective of sworn revenge upon his TRUE father who was banished from Venice for impregnating a "common" girl--Tonio's mother, or is it enough for him to have the world at his feet as its "Primo Uomo?"
A novel like "Cry to Heaven" is a treasure. Anne Rice brings a rather uncomfortable but integral aspect of 18th century Italy to life, in such a way that you feel that you were actually "there".

About Scarlatti His music is still in print. If you have a harpsichord or piano forte on hand, you may wish to experience playing his Baroque style of music for yourself.
Marc Antonio "Tonio" Treschi, a son of a Councillor of Venice in the 18th century, leads a life of comfort while minding his tutors and taking care of his mother who seemes to suffer from depression. However, as he grows up he uncovers family secrets that veer his destiny from following his father's footsteps into a world both amazing and terrifying, and resembling nothing of the future he had imagined; a world that could build him up or destroy him, a world where his path merges with Guido Maffeo, a castrato who lost his voice years ago and places his hopes and dreams into the hands of others.

This is a hard book to review. I have read many of Rice's vampire books about 10 to 15 years ago and loved them. Here her writing isn't as refined (or maybe I just have years more experience reading and writing and it never was as refined as it seemed back in high school/college). Honestly, the first 100 pages bored (even annoyed) me; many were long winded descriptions that felt uninspired. What kept me going were the flashes of great potential brewing within her characters. And on that account she doesn't disappoint. The more that was revealed about Tonio and Guido, the more I fell in love with them. Their fears and dreams, defeats and successes are brilliantly interwoven into their developing personalities. The drama of their lives evolves in bits and pieces and we don't see the entire picture until the very end. And what an ending! In contrast to the shaky and bland start, the ending was so wonderfully brilliant it made reading the novel (and struggling through the rough parts) completely worth it. Overall, an amazing story with memorable leading characters (and some memorable secondary characters) and a great plot although it could have been 100 pages shorter and the novel wouldn't have suffered for it. Just have patience at the beginning (skip some pages if you must) for a heart wrenching, bittersweet payoff.
This is an excellent, well written novel. I've never read anything about this subject previously so found myself constantly googling things and learning a lot - and Anne Rice did her homework. It hits all my requirements for 5 stars long enough to immerse yourself in completely, well written without grammatical or other errors, and interesting subject matter and characters. This is my first non-supernatural Anne Rice novel and it might be one of my favorite books I've ever read.

That said, the audiobook was a huge disappointment. The book itself was so good that I couldn't knock off a star for this, but readers should be aware that when they say the audible version is "abridged", they mean it. It is 3 hours long and skipped over nearly the entire book. For reference, Outlander is a novel of similar length and the audiobook is over 32 hours long.
I first read this in 1982 when it had just been released in the Hardbound Edition and I remembered it vividly. Now that I have a kindle, I decided to read it again after 32 years. This is Anne Rice before Vampires, Zombies, Jesus and the Computer --- when she was a wonderful writer with a truly addictive narrative force that propels a brilliant historical story into the literary stratosphere. I did not want to eat, work, sleep ---I was addicted to this tale of the world of The Great Castrati and the Machiavellian machinations of the world of the 17th Century Opera. Like any great Detective Story, I did not want to put it down. Gripping! Stunning! Unforgettably Erotic! Truly touches the heart AND the libido. WOW~!