Reviews

Botticelli in the Fire by Jordan Tannahill

ella_reads_books's review

funny informative reflective

5.0

tishtashtosh's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

'Every shade and hue by your hand
I can't look at a colour without seeing your hand in it.'

apareruiz's review

4.0

Oh this sent me for a loop! Botticelli in the Fire explores queerness, community, and self-image through the anachronistic retelling of Botticelli (Sandro) and Da Vinci’s (Leonardo) relationship alongside the origins and creation of the formers most famous work.

There’s something refreshing about the mixing of queer culture in 15th century Italy and haunting of how cyclic our experiences can be. It forces audiences to examine the imposed taboo nature of queerness and how salvation may sometimes sacrifice to the highest degree.

katosprool's review

3.0

This was a really interesting read! I picked it up at a sale at the gallery because I liked the cover, so had no expectations going into it and was pleasantly surprised. It's a brief, queer interpretation of the life of Boticelli/Da Vinci/the Medici family and the art scene at that time. The transmutation of the modern art scene onto the past somehow worked really well and the dialogue was both fun and powerful. The anachronistic inclusion of mobile phones threw me a bit. Modern dialogue seemed to work as it was a means of conveying queer culture and the close, casual relationships between the character, but the use of phones took me out of the moment and demanded too much suspension of disbelief. There were frequent calls for special effects that would be difficult to do but amazing if pulled off. I would love to see this performed.