Tenderwire

I love books that can draw you into them and then you disappear into another world until you come out again. They are rare reads. The novel Tenderwire is one of those. The author makes you care about the characters in it, and takes you for a ride on a thinkers thriller. Not until you hit the last few pages does she slow it down so you can pull out and land on your feet. All through it you are asking yourself, 'would I do the things the main character does in the story?' I highly recommend this one to those of us who might just follow in her foot steps. joe patrissi, moretown, vt

"Tenderwire," the second novel from the new, highly-literate young Irish writer Claire Kilroy, recently released, comes bearing rave reviews from prestigious publications, and comparisons to such superb mystery novelists as Ruth Rendell and Patricia Highsmith. (Her debut novel "All Summer" was awarded the 2004 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature.) Kilroy, who was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and now resides in that city, has chosen to set this novel in New York. The writer has, for sure, created a woman's book. Her protagonist, Eva Tyne, is a young Irish violinist who's living and working in a musical New York. Soon after her solo debut, her life takes various odd and raucous turns; among other happenings she meets a man in a bar, Alexander, who claims to be Chechen, and to have available for sale a Stradivarius, a rare, historic violin, cheap. The book's not really a mystery, nor a thriller, but it has elements of both that aid its already quick-moving action to unspool even faster. Kilroy has a unique, sharp-tongued voice. Her story is highly entertaining, also highly engaging. Her descriptions of New York, and particularly of the Lower East Side days and nights lived there by ambitious young women come from far places to establish themselves, are closely observed. Early on she tells us:" The neon thermometer across the street read 22F. That city was always issuing its inhabitants with status reports. It liked to keep you informed of how it was getting on, to make you feel part of the whole thing, make you feel like a New Yorker. The success of the endeavour depended on participation. If you didn't feel part of it, you couldn't tolerate it anymore." The author's no slouch at setting her Irish scenes, either: the constantly changing cloud formations and threatening sea. Furthermore, she appears to have done a great deal of research about music, particularly Shostakovich's and Vivaldi's, and the playing of it. The instruments it's played on; the sorts of people who play them. Her supporting characters are vivid and sharply drawn. Eva, her mouthpiece, is grippingly unstable, a compellingly temperamental sort, as moody as the Irish weather, going from crippling stage fright to tears, to rage, to throwing-up drunk within the space of a day. All of it handled with psychological astuteness by the author, who yet, still, leaves a bit of mystery enveloping her story until its end.

Tenderwire by Claire Kilroy is an enchanting and mesmerizing book about a young, Irish violinist in an orchestra in New York. To make a long story short, she mets a Russian guy in a bar and he convinces her to come to his apartment to see a great violin. There he shows her the magnificent "Magdelena Stradivarius" which in the long run actually turns out to be a Del Gesu, which is also a very old and exspensive violin. Eva tells of the hardships of her breakup and her fight for the "Magdelena," which a family believes was stolen from them by the Nazis. This novel was unbelievably great. I couldn't put it down and when I did I came back to it shortly. Claire Kilroy is definitely one of the best writers of our time. This story will not only be interesting to music lovers, but to anybody who reads it. This probably one of the best books I've read lately! Enjoy!

This book was almost impossible to put down, very fast paced and exciting. It is about a twenty something violinist who is on the brink of disaster, and mostly self inflicted disaster, when she comes across an extremely rare and most likely illegally obtained violin. She is overwhelmed with the desire to have it, to the point of giving up everything. Sinking every ounce of money she has inherited from her missing father, as well as making more then one dubious deal to scrape up the cash. Once she has it, it is a struggle to hang onto which never stops. One painful disaster after another keeps the pages flipping, as the author uses great techniques to conceal and reveal information at the right moments. A highly reccommended read.

I loved this book -- it is so tightly written, so well-paced, so interesting and exciting. I could barely put it down. I passed it along to friends to share but now I wish I had it again to re-read certain passages. It really stayed with me. GREAT book!