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Product Description
The Times
'Dramatic and lyrical by turns.'
Review
"'This highly strung escapade is kept aloft by Kilroy's pitch-perfect prose.' Independent"
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
What a relief to read a book by a young female Irish author that cannot be classified under the dreaded CHICK-LIT heading! No shopping, chardonnay or missives from beyond the grave. Instead Claire Kilroy, who has been justifiably compared with Patricia Highsmith, has written a compelling and edgy book with a quirky antihero in the form of violinist Eva Tyne. Eva is quite ruthless and thoroughly disreputable in her pursuit of perfection. She is as highly strung as her violin, can be vain and foolish and exhibits a persistent inability to behave appropriately. Her decisions are freewheeling and driven by instinct and emotion and her life is caught up in constant confusion and paranoia. Yet this is behaviour that is perhaps forgivable in a violin virtuoso and undoubted genius, and her flashes of vulnerability are endearing. This is a compelling and extremely accessible story that twists and turns until the last page. Lyrically written and backed up by evidence of thorough research there is nothing lazy or hackneyed about Kilroy's style and I look forward to reading more from this talented author.
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you like a well written literary thriller that keeps you turning the pages but also fulfills your need for some excellent writing, this is the perfect book. A young Dublin violinist performing in New York, whilst drowning her sorrows, is presented with a violin (a stolen Stradavarius?) by a very shady character, and she is determind to raise the funds to get her hands on it. Her beautiful cat Ming, so wonderfully brought to life (Ming is clearly based on a real-life friend of the author!) suffers Eva's highs and lows as Eva's search for the money further complicates her present relationships and dredges up memories of her disappeared father...
Format:Paperback
"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 crime drama 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.
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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Turbulent
Eva Tyne is an Irish violinist living in New York and after her solo debut she collapses and ends up in hospital. Read more
Published 3 months ago by booklover
Truly original writing, but...
Tenderwire is a puzzle. I read it with delight, revelling in Kilroy's original,sharp, touching voice. I was in New York and Howth with Eva, and I could see it all. Read more
Published on 2 Feb 2009 by R. Chipperfield
Save your money
How much can you drink without collapsing? Can you, a delicate female Irish violinist, shortly after a hospital admission , match a massive Russian black marketeer drink for drink? Read more
Published on 22 Jun 2007 by vera
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