Cry to Heaven

by Anne Rice
Cry to Heaven  
published April 1st 1995 by Ballantine Books
binding Mass Market Paperback
isbn 0345396936   (isbn13: 9780345396938)
pages 576
description The acclaimed author of Servant of the Bones makes real for us the exquisite and otherworldly society of the eighteenth-century castrati, the delicat...more
date added
01-08-07



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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 2131)



Juushika
Juushika rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
03/26/08

bookshelves: owned
Read in October, 2006
Tonio Treschi is a growing boy, the heir a small but noble Venetian family, and he has the singing voice of an angel. Guido Maffeo is a grown castrato who lost his singing voice in adolescence and now teaches young castrati and composes music. When Tonio is castrated at the order of a jealous and vengeful relative, he is forced into Guido's care and banished from Venice. Guido takes him to the school for castrati where he himself was taught, and endeavors to train Tonio's voice and make him into...more
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Christy
Read in January, 2002
I happened to read this book while taking a course called "Physics of Music" to fulfill a science requirement in college. Since my term paper could be a topic of my own choosing, and since I am a piss-poor science student and was barely skating by in this most certainly easy course, I was inspired to take a gamble and turn my lovely, dark, brooding experience with this book into a paper about the development of vocal cords and how they are affected by castration. How I, with my as-yet ...more
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Marian
Marian rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
07/12/08

bookshelves: favorites, fiction
I absolutely adored this one. When Anne Rice is good, she is really good (of course when she's bad, she's pretty deplorable).

Cry to Heaven is first and foremost, an intensely romantic novel. And Anne Rice is really best at crafting deeply romantic, decadent, excessively beautiful, homosexuality-laden erotica, which is exactly what this is, along with pedophilic elements. Her prose is deliberate, ponderous and Gothic (as if taking after Mary Shelley's style), the plot is very dramat...more
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Michalyn
Michalyn rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
07/22/07

bookshelves: favorites, historical
Read in January, 1997
I don't even have words to begin to describe the sorrow and poignancy of "Cry to Heaven". The novel's protagonist is Tonio, who is unwillingly castrated in a series of events riddled with deceit and betrayal. Enraged and tormented, at first Tonio refuses his fate, but as the novel progresses he is slowly transformed into an ultimately triumphant figure. Lush, sensual prose and an ending that will hold you by the throat, this is a book that will stay with you long, long after it is read
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Kerste
Kerste rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
10/19/07

bookshelves: boxed-up-in-the-attic
This book was the first time I really understood what a brave writer Anne Rice is. I had read many of her books and appreciated her style, but this book took me to a dark place that I dreaded going and figured she couldn't possibly go...but she went there, just as she promised. When I met her, this is the book I had her sign (even though she was touring in support of a different book).
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Paul
Paul rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
08/09/07

Read in August, 2007
I enjoyed this book though at many points it read too much like a romance novel for my taste. If you can't stand "his throbbing member" lines then the plot will be lost on you, particularly if you're turned off by her sometimes S&M overtones. Also the plot was a bit predictable and at over 500 pages this novel could have been a much more worthwhile read had it been considerably shorter. That said, Rice's 18th Century Italy is a vivid world and it is an engaging work. I'd recommend ...more
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Emily
Emily rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
11/08/07

I've never been a great fan of her writing style, but this book just sucked me in. I started reading it when I was completely trapped without anything else around me to read, and ended up devouring this in less than a day. She just presents the world of the castrati in a way I never looked at them. Did they think their art was worth their sacrifice?
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Maria
Maria rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
11/12/07

Read in November, 2007
recommends it for: interested in queerness, Italy, opera, music, castrati, justice
Love her writing. Italy described so beautifully, I want to go there even more. Queerness everywhere, but of course Rice is only interested in male queerness (at least in the books I've read). Opera, royal life, Italy, gays, queers, eunuchs, love, family, injustice, justice, relationships, the arts, church, government, drinking, festivals, sex.
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Barry
Barry added it
07/02/08

One of my favorite books, not only from Anne Rice's collection of works, but of all time. A sprawling, romantic, erotic, vengeful tale of a young castrati opera singer who was castrated against his will as a child and sent to live the large life of an opera star, Cry to Heaven is a gorgeous, haunting story. One I will re-read throughout my life.
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Adam
Adam rated it: 1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars
06/19/07

recommends it for: angry lesbians
Oh my God!!! Castrati!!!

Unless the idea of men who have had their balls cut off having sex will sustain you for however many hundred pages this book was, you will find it deadly boring. And the writing was painful, too. It made me wish for a good castration to take my mind off the pain of her stilted dialog.
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Chantel
Chantel rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
06/21/07

bookshelves: fiction
recommends it for: Anne Rice fans
I read this book during my Anne Rice kick. I think my mom gave me this one and bunch of others by Anne one year for Christmas. Anyway, this one is about a castrato, "a male singer castrated in boyhood so as to retain a soprano or alto voice." I spent the whole book trying to figure out if he still had a penis.
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Laura
Laura rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
04/17/08

This book follows the story of a boy who is essentially sold by a jealous family member to a musical conservatory. It has the beautiful, detailed descriptions that you would expect from one of Anne Rice's older novels. Also a very touching and realistic view of the castrati living in 18th century Italy.
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Susan Mangigian
Susan rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
03/29/08

I read this book a few times. This was wonderful. It may be hard to read for some as it involved the castration of young boys and homosexuality. The castrati were true sopranos and contraltos and Anne Rice writes so vividly that you can almost hear them sing. This is ultimately a love story.
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Marcelle
Marcelle rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
05/15/08

A book for music lovers. Truly IMHO the best book Ann Rice has ever written. She gives the reader intimate details of the life of a castrati. A life most of us could never grasp of living. She makes you feel the joys and pains of this life. Deeply moving and thoughtful read.
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Katielin317
Katielin317 rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
05/05/08

Read in March, 2005
It was absultely fascinating to read about the "castrati" in Old Venice and how they lived (being castrated at a very young age to preserve the high voice and trained thereon for a life as a singer). However, the whole book was just so sad and dark, but that's Anna Rice right?
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Elizabeth
Elizabeth rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
04/18/07

bookshelves: fiction, historicalnovels, italybooks
Anne Rice tends to have too much blood, gore, religion, etc. for me, but Cry to Heaven is the one book by her that I love.
This is a crazy novel about a male castrato opera singer in the 1700s. It's kind of fabulous. I definitely recommend it; quick compelling reading.
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Katie
03/19/08

bookshelves: 2005winter
Read in January, 2006
This book had nothing supernatural about it. It was a straight historical fiction. Yet it still had the same Anne Rice touch and I loved it. It's a little harder to get myself geared up to read something not Vampire Chronicles-related, but once I was in it I loved it.
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Fredericks
Fredericks rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
03/03/08

Written before Rice went from "overwrought" to "extremely overwrought and a zealous nutcase", Cry to Heaven is a fascinating look at the vocal music scene in Venice during the height of the Baroque period. Truly sensual, and the revenge plot had me clapping my hands.
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amy
amy rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
03/20/07

bookshelves: goodreads
Can I add more stars to this book? It's a wonderful historical fiction novel about the castrati. Makes you want to go back in time to hear them sing. I imagine their voices created in pain and raised to glorify god would bring you to tears.
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Catherine
Catherine rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
11/07/07

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in November, 2007
recommends it for: Anyone
The extensive research of the castrati and culture/environment of the Italians in the 16th century was saliently interwoven in majestic detail, far more powerful than the actual story, yet righteous in its exotic theme and meticulous flow.
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book data (includes all editions)

avg rating (all editions): 3.62 (1808 ratings)
avg rating (this edition): 3.62 (1757 ratings)
number of reviews: 76






other editions

Cry to Heaven (Hardcover)
Cry to Heaven (Paperback)
Cry To Heaven (Paperback)