Reviews

The Girl from Venice by Martin Cruz Smith

meowzik's review against another edition

3.0

Overall, an enjoyable book with an interesting plot, but it took me a while to really get into it, and it fell a little flat to me.

constantreader471's review against another edition

4.0

I enjoyed this stand alone by the author. I have read ten of his books and enjoyed all of them. This book starts with Cenzo, a simple fisherman in Venice, who finds the body of a young woman in a lagoon where he is fishing in the dark. Quote: "Fisherman were nocturnal creatures who slept by day and fished by night." He brings the girl aboard his boat, but then a German gunboat comes to him and boards his boat. They search his boat, but don't find the girl. She is alive and slipped into the water. She is a Jewish escapee from a hospital where she was hiding with her family. But they and other Jews were betrayed and Giulia can identify the traitor. Only Giulia escaped and the Nazi SS are hunting her. Cenzo decides to shelter her. He is led gradually into a web of intrigue, with Fascists, Partisans and his brother Giorgio all interacting with Cenzo. This book takes place in at the end of the war--1945 and everyone is trying to survive.
Cenzo and Giorgio have a difficult relationship. Cenzo's wife left him for Giorgio, who is a film star and is a magnet for women.
I thought the characters were realistic and the plot moved along at at a very good pace. Recommended for Cruz Smith fans. I rate it 4 out 5 stars.
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC.

sarah_reading_party's review against another edition

started in jan 2017 and never finished. maybe someday i'll come back...

marbooks88's review against another edition

4.0

Family, loyalty, and figuring out who you can trust is at the center of this adventure set as Italy is falling apart at the end of World War II.

krep___'s review against another edition

2.5

Having read and loved all of his novels since Gorky Park, including all the non-Renko ones, I couldn't help but be disappointed by this one. It was weak in many of the ingredients I had come to expect and savor: sardonic wit, deep mystery, violence and peril, clever villains, romantic tension, all the way to the tension-filled and satisfying climax. Not that these aspects were totally missing; they were just not up to snuff. Even the narration of the audiobook by Zach Appelman, a perfectly adequate narrator of other audiobooks, was weak; all the non-Italian characters had appropriate foreign accents, but all the Italians, male and female, had American voices that were nearly indistinguishable. 2-1/2 stars on the normal scale, but 1 star on the Martin Cruz Smith scale.

jfwickes's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

darrenlewis's review against another edition

2.0

Started well building the characters and their backstories. Unfortunately midway the plot started drawing a little thin with numerous new characters introduced. Towards the end it felt rushed.

tasmanian_bibliophile's review against another edition

3.0

‘Without a moon, small islands disappeared and Venice sank into the dark.’ 

Venice 1945. World War II is almost over, but the German SS is still hunting Jews. Innocenzo ‘Cenzo’ Vianello is fishing when he comes across the body of a young woman floating in the lagoon. He pulls her body onto his boat and covers her with a sailcloth. He is astonished to find that she is still alive. Her name is Guilia Silber and, after murdering the rest of her family, the SS are still looking for Guilia. 

‘The SS rounded up all the Jews … All but a girl who swam away.’ 

Cenzo’s intention was simply to outlive the war. His younger brother Hugo was killed, his older brother Giorgio is part of the Mussolini propaganda machine while Cenzo himself was dishonourably discharged as a pilot for refusing to use mustard gas on Abyssinians. Cenzo is happy to fish and to paint, and to try to avoid his mother’s plan for him to marry Hugo’s widow.  The arrival of Guilia changes Cenzo’s life. He dresses her as a fisherman and kills a German officer to protect her. 

Cenzo’s kindness takes him well out of his comfort zone, into a world occupied by partisans and informants, and into conflict with other family members. Mussolini makes promises he cannot keep placing others in danger. 

I enjoyed this story of Cenzo the fisherman. Yes, he bears a grudge against his brother and shares some truths that other family members find uncomfortable, but his fundamental decency is what shone through. 

A thoughtful novel which held my attention from beginning to end. 

Jennifer Cameron-Smith 

athenany's review against another edition

3.0

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway.

This was my first book by Martin Cruz Smith. I liked some aspects of it but others were frustrating. The characters of Cenzo, Giulia and Maria Paz were fun, and the dialogue is snippy and fast. The book does not overburden you with character or scenery descriptions, although there are a lot of details about fishing. One problem I had with the book was that it was easy to confuse some of the characters who floated in and out of the pages, and to remember which side they were on. (Which, to be fair, may have been intentional.)

All in all it was a fine read but nothing mind-blowing.

readingbetweenthemoors's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0