Author: Anne Rice
Series: No
Genres: Historical Fiction
Brief Summary: Set in 18th-centrury Italy, the book gives a peek into the lives of two castrati (young boys castrated to preserve their soprano voices), as told through the stories of both peasant-born Guido Maffeo and Tonio Treschi, the last son of a noble family from the Republic of Venice. In vivid detail, it weaves the intricacies and inter-workings of that exclusive group, and outlines both the physical and emotional consequences endured by these young men.
As important as the overall theme, however, is the underlying story of revenge revolving around Tonio and his older brother, Carlos. Carlos has disgraced the family, and his actions resulted in Tonio's own castration at the age of 15, thus altering his life course forever. Through Guido's guidance, Tonio finds his place in the opera world, but even the growing success does nothing to quell the bitterness in his heart. Revenge must be gotten at any cost, by whatever means necessary.
Here is what Goodreads has to say about it:
My take: I thoroughly enjoyed this book; though it is a bit different than most other Anne Rice novels I have read. There is no supernatural element at all to the story, but yet it is probably one of the most haunting stories I have read in a long time. Though probably not recommended for young teens as it deals with mature themes, the detail she puts into that time period and world is a history lesson in itself.Anne Rice brings to life the exquisite and otherworldly society of the eighteenth-century castrati, the delicate and alluring male sopranos whose graceful bodies and glorious voices brought them the adulation of the royal courts and grand opera houses of Europe, men who lived as idols, concealing their pain as they were adored as angels, yet shunned as half-men.
As we are drawn into their dark and luminous story, as the crowds of Venetians, Neopolitans, and Romans, noblemen and peasants, musicians, prelates, princes, saints, and intriguers swirl around them, Anne Rice brings us into the sweep of eighteenth-century Italian life, into the decadence beneath the shimmering surface of Venice, the wild frivolity of Naples, and the magnetic terror of its shadow, Vesuvius
It is a beautifully crafted story with complex, interesting characters who this reader alternately hated and loved as the story unfolded. And though I am an admitted history buff, so it didn't really take much prodding, it did inspire me into doing some more research on both 18th century Italy and the tragic but beautiful practice of castrati. It doesn't get any better than that
