If you thought classical music was boring…you’re probably right. But don’t let that get in the way of reading “Virtuosity”–a novel about love, real life, and classic mommy issues.
“Virtuosity” is about a 17-year-old girl named Carmen Bianchi who has had never had a normal childhood. Her mother, Diana, was a famous opera singer until a surgery ruined her singing career after she had Carmen. In order to fill that void, Diana makes Carmen play violin starting at a young age.
Ever since her first lesson, Carmen fell in love with playing. She cannot imagine a life without concerts and playing new songs for the first time. Her career as a violinist has been amazing as well. She’s traveled all over the world, won multiple Grammys for her classical music, and she’s competed and won in various competitions. But she has a dark addiction to anti-anxiety drugs that makes her feel nothing when she’s on stage, and she deals with it by herself.
All her life she’s been training for the Guarneri competition. The winner gets $50,000 and a chance to play one of the most expensive and most coveted violins in the world. The only thing she really wants is to win, and she will fight for it. Then, she meets Jeremy King, her biggest competition to win the Guarneri. He’s handsome, has unremarkable stage presence, almost commanding the attention from the audience every time he performs, and has a British accent that’s to die for. Their relationship is like every other one I’d read about. They meet, hate each other, then something happens and they begin to fall in love. When Carmen’s mother finds out about their relationship, she forbids Carmen to see him.
As the novel progresses, her relationship with her mom starts to become a business relationship, only speaking when she has a performance coming up or when her mom finds a great deal for her. But her stepfather, Clark is always there for her. Her real dad lives with his parents, and he comes from a very wealthy family. They’ve ignored Carmen’s existence until they find out about her talents. Her grandparents even buy her a violin worth $1.2 million. Clark is the man that keeps her sane. Dealing with all the concerts and her crazy mother sometimes becomes too much, but Clark is always there to help her relax.
I actually really enjoyed this book. I didn’t have an interest in classical music before reading this. If I’d hear of composers mentioned in this book like Tchaikovsky, my attention would dwindle away, but I applaud the author, Jessica Martinez, for taking a topic that seems a little boring but managing to make it exciting. Also if you’re a fan of Sarah Dessen, I think you’d liked this romance of “Virtuosity.” Their friendship starts off rocky, but in the same style as Dessen, Martinez builds an intense relationship between the two main characters. The story is very real. Even though I know that mostly all of us have not won multiple Grammys for our concertos, Carmen deals with real life situations that everyone can relate to.
