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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
This book did a good job of making me want to visit Venice, and a great job of making me want to never be involved in Venetian business or politics.
Again, Berendt writes a brilliant travelogue about Venice, exploring the local color like only he can. Investigating the fire at the Fenice Opera house, he journeys into the seamy side of Venetian government. A wonderful read if you like his work, or are just a fan of Venice.
A story that starts with the burning of the Fenice and tells some of the rich history of Venice. Enjoyable, but not a page turner
John Berendt, did a much better job writing about Venice then I anticipated, and his book covers much more then Venice itself and the Finice fire (which I considered to be not as interesting as other aspects). In fact some of the tangents he goes off on would make excellent books in and of themselves. He handles everything masterfully and I must admit it was my second favorite non fiction book of the dozen or so I read this year.
There are a lot of interesting stories but almost none of them are resolved in any kind of satisfying way. That is sort of the point of Venice, according to this guy - that these non-endings are very Venetian. And, of course, as it's non-fiction - if the story was never resolved, it was never resolved - but mostly, it just left me frustrated.
This book, written by John Berendt, at first may seem a bit confusing. When I first started reading it, I came across the beginning pages, where Berendt writes that this book is a work of nonfiction, and therefore should be considered as one while the reader reads it. However, while going through the book, page by page, I felt that his non fiction historical narrative, seemed to resemble a more mystery/fiction novel that was hard to put down.
In these pages, Berendt starts out with the burning of the Fenice, one of the most famous opera houses in all of Italy and even the world. He then moves on to his experiences and personal events and observations during his stay in Venice with the de Lauretizens. He thus outlines events, such as meeting various people at balls and during Carnival, listening the the gossip that was circulating Venice at the time, describing the sounds of Venice, the people, the culture, and the very way of life, while not making the reader lose sight of the significance of each event.
Even though Berendt seems to lose sight of the original topic and subject of the book, the burning of the Fenice and eventual conclusion with the rebuilding and the verdicts issued to those held responsible for the burning, he definitely made me feel like I was admist all the winding streets and canals in Venice.
Definitely, a must read!
In these pages, Berendt starts out with the burning of the Fenice, one of the most famous opera houses in all of Italy and even the world. He then moves on to his experiences and personal events and observations during his stay in Venice with the de Lauretizens. He thus outlines events, such as meeting various people at balls and during Carnival, listening the the gossip that was circulating Venice at the time, describing the sounds of Venice, the people, the culture, and the very way of life, while not making the reader lose sight of the significance of each event.
Even though Berendt seems to lose sight of the original topic and subject of the book, the burning of the Fenice and eventual conclusion with the rebuilding and the verdicts issued to those held responsible for the burning, he definitely made me feel like I was admist all the winding streets and canals in Venice.
Definitely, a must read!
Good that Venice is the main character of this book. But it is missing something. Author John Berendt took the same strategy as when he wrote Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. He made the central event in the book a murder. However, in this book, it is not a person who gets murdered. An opera house is destroyed, and since a city is the main character, a notable building equates to a protagonist being murdered. I get it. But the feel is not the same. Berendt collects characters and devotes chapters to them, but I feel like someone got left out of that too. Perhaps he was limited by time, or by privacy restrictions.
I am not complaining. He did not set out to write a novel. It's a tragedy when people are murdered, and in a sense, it's a greater tragedy when centuries are destroyed when a building is demolished. But the book truly feels like Berendt was kept away from essential information. Venice didn't want him to have it, perhaps.
I am not complaining. He did not set out to write a novel. It's a tragedy when people are murdered, and in a sense, it's a greater tragedy when centuries are destroyed when a building is demolished. But the book truly feels like Berendt was kept away from essential information. Venice didn't want him to have it, perhaps.
I am so sorry to finish this book. I really, really enjoyed it!
The book started out fantastic. I love a good massive disaster story, and I was immediately drawn into the story of the Fenice Opera House fire. I also enjoyed Berendt's more personal stories of his time in Venice, the cast of characters he met and sought out there, and the sort of "biography of everyday Venetians" the book tried to be. But it just went on far too long. I barely cared about the Fenice fire anymore once we returned to it almost 3/4 of the way through the book, but eventually I was drawn back in, only to change gears again and move onto the internal politics of the non-profit organization committed to preserving Venetian buildings and artworks. I literally did not care at this point, and ended up skimming most of that chapter (to be fair, I'm not sure if I would have cared earlier in the book either, but I probably would have at least tried). But the time I got to the last couple of chapters finally tying up the reopening of the Fenice, I was just reading to get it over with.
Fascinating, well crafted, page turner. I had to keep reminding myself that this wasn't fiction.