Virtuosity

by Jessica Martinez

Just before the most important violin competition of her career, seventeen-year-old prodigy Carmen faces critical decisions about her anti-anxiety drug addiction, her controlling mother, and a potential romance with her most talented rival.

• ISBN10: 1442420529
• ISBN13: 9781442420526
• Publish Date: 18 October 2011
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Imprint: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[Joséphine]

I can’t remember the last time I loved a book that made me so so angry! Virtuosity did it for me. I must say I experienced a roller coaster ride of emotions. There were moments I felt happy and mesmerised and others where I felt sad and furious. Martinez writes beautifully and knows how to surprise her readers, which I already said about her second book, The Space Between Us. They are moving stories with beautiful prose and lots of surprises. The characters came alive and I really felt like they were next to me, telling me their stories. It's no surprise then that I am looking forward to reading her third book, The Vow. I have it sitting on my desk, lined up to be read in the coming month.

Now, back to Virtuosity. I could just rave about it and go on and on about how much I loved it. But that's not going to help much in explaining why. As I said, the prose was amazing. It was well thought out, lyrical when it came to speaking about music but also very well-balanced with humour.

Iron fists, it turned out, come in all shapes and sizes. This one had a French manicure.

Carmen was a strong character who knew what she wanted and that was to win the Guarneri competition. The one person who could just as easily tear it away from her was Jeremy. It didn't help when the two started to get involved with one another. Yet no matter how smitten she was with him, her goal was never far from her mind, so her adoration was mixed with repulsion. And that was what made me believe her. Years she toiled at perfecting the violin. Wanting to become the best violinist in the world also was what allowed her to slip into drug abuse. She became dependent on Indernal to take care of her nerves.

Virtuosity thus presents the journey of a world-class musician and how far she would be willing to go to be the top of the class. I thought the books was fascinating and there were twists I did not for the life of me expect. They stole my breath, left me steaming mad and when I closed that book at the end, I was positively sad that I didn't have more left to read.

Regardless of whether one knows music or not, Martinez made Virtuosity accessible to anyone. There's no excess of music jargon but there were enough musical references that those who do know know music will especially appreciate.

Carmen's mother Diane was also integral to the plot, not only as Carmen's mother but also as her agent. I definitely appreciated the presence of a prominent adult figure, even if I didn't agree with some of her methods. She gave Carmen everything she could possibly think of to help her to achieve greatness as a classical violinist. She also made provisions for a private tutor, so when Jeremy came into Carmen's life, there obviously was conflict because 1) he was someone who could distract her, and 2) he was the prime competition. Nonetheless, I liked that even though there were strong undertones of romance, music was what drove the plot first before the romance did. That is something that I particularly appreciate when it comes to contemporary fiction because I'm interested in the protagonist's life as a whole and their passions. If I'm in the mood for romance, I'll grab a book based on romance.

Oh and one other thing I liked was Carmen's reference to her Catholic faith, or lack thereof. Personal beliefs are something that aren't featured enough, so that added a plus point too in rounding up the character of Carmen, whose voice packed a whole lot of punch as well.

Clark offered to drive me with all the subtlety of a sumo wrestler in ballet shoes.

Besides the story itself, Virtuosity also offered a fair bit of thought. Jeremy brought up the difference in judging between female and male competitors. Females can be quiet and withdrawn which makes them look demure and sweet but the same attitude in males makes them look weak. Such interspersed commentary helped break up the varying parts of the book and slow things down a little for me to savour.

I wanted to protest. I was a musician, not an actress. Smiling on command made me feel like a pageant contestant, and I wasn't vying for Miss Illinois.

Such internal monologues showed the feisty side of Carmen who didn't just want to accept everything at face value. They also conveyed humour to lighten some of the heavier aspects of the plot. Also, to me, they portrayed the difficult side of Carmen's position, where she had to always put on an act to please others, no matter how much or how little she was into her performances. Overall, that is why I absolutely adored Virtuosity: the heart and soul that sprung out of it.


This review is also available on dudettereads.com.

[Amber]

Despite not liking music, I really enjoyed this book!

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Virtuosity is told from the point of view of Carmen, an award winning violinist who is about to enter a competition and is going up against Europe’s best male violinist. I’m not a huge fan of music to be honest. I mean, I love listening to it, but I don’t understand most of the terms that musicians use and I can’t play an instrument to save my life. Actually, that’s a lie. I used to play the recorder. Boo-yeah. Anyway, what I was leading to before I got sidetracked was that the music in this book, while being a huge part of the novel, wasn't overpowering and there weren't music terms thrown around left, right and centre.

I really enjoyed reading from the point of view of Carmen, as she was easily relatable and I loved her personality. I was led to feel so sorry for her, and I was cheering her on during the latter half of the book. For coming from such a rich family, she’s definitely not spoilt and she’s really down to earth once you get to know her. I would have liked to have seen some development in the relationship between her and her biological father, perhaps just some sort of communication, because I felt like this could have been a goof focus for the novel. However, Carmen has a great relationship with her stepdad, which was awesome to read about.

Carmen’s relationship with Jeremy did move very fast. I would have preferred a little more build up, but without much action happening – this is contemporary, after all! – I think Jessica Martinez handled this quite well. Jeremy was a really sweet guy, and a well developed character. We learnt a lot about his own family, which I enjoyed. Tip: If a guy from Britain was to state his nationality, he would not say he’s British. He would say he’s English, Welsh etc.

I absolutely hated Carmen’s mother, Diana. I think that if I had seen more of her then I would have despised her as much as Nash from the Soul Screamers series. I almost do. She was an awful mother to Carmen, for various reasons. The main reason being she put her daughter on anti-anxiety drugs, and she practically forced her to take them. This made me so unbelievably angry. Diana was a very controlling mother, and ran Carmen’s life for her. I was very pleased with how their relationship turned out in the end.

Overall I enjoyed Virtuosity to an extent that was completely unexpected! Jessica Martinez is a fabulous author, and she told Carmen’s story really well. I’d definitely recommend this to fans of contemporary fiction, whether you like music or not. It’s a great book!