Scan barcode
A review by nghia
The Bellini Card by Jason Goodwin
2.0
I saw this mentioned somewhere -- maybe fivebooks.com -- as a great historical mystery. I think the interviewee said something like "he really makes Venice in 1840s come alive; I'm a historian of Venice and I felt like he knew more about it than I did!" So I added this to my To Be Read list as a "try something different" when the time arrived for a palate cleanser. After the disaster that was [b:Real Men Knit|51351884|Real Men Knit|Kwana Jackson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1571674719l/51351884._SX50_.jpg|72780260] I felt that time had arrived.
First a disclaimer: this is the third book in a series of detective mysteries that are mostly set in 1840s Istanbul featuring Yashim the Eunuch, a kind of problem-solver extraordinaire for the sultan. I have no read any of the previous books in the series but I find that's not usually an insurmountable hurdle for mystery series, which tend to be fairly self-contained.
The book starts off a bit strange: Yashim isn't really the main character of the first half the book. The book takes place in Venice and he sends his Polish friend Palewski in his place. Much of the first half of the book is just Palewski kind of...putzing around Venice somewhat ineffectually looking for a painting.
There are a series of murders occurring in Venice but it has not much to with Palewski. He doesn't know the victims, he's not investigating them. There's a weird lack of tension and drama. It almost reminded me of [b:The Catch|48550232|The Catch (Slough House, #6.5)|Mick Herron|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1574334687l/48550232._SX50_.jpg|73871959], except Palewski isn't quite that incompetent. He's more just out of his depth rather than incompetent per se.
Then, after you've been following Palewski for half the book...suddenly Yashim shows up and Palewski is shelved. We follow Yashim for the rest of the book. It is just kind of jarring. I imagine for a fan of the series it might be even more jarring. (After all, the series is "Yashim the Eunuch" and he's not even really in the first half of the book.)
Despite all that...the first half of the book was somewhat entertaining. The author is tremendous at depicting Venice in the mid-19th century and he is especially good at detailing anything involving food.
Once Yashim shows up the book descended to the ridiculous. There's a jarring sequence where. There's some mystical mumbo-jumbo about how the Sand-Reckoner's Diagram is not just the basis for fencing and wrestling (and Yashim and the Contessa both just happen to be trained in this same style!) but also, uh, everything?
But probably the biggest "are you kidding me?" is the whole sequence with
Oh, and the same exact location of the infamous gambling night many decades ago that set everything in motion, also happens to be where Maria gets stashed, and is also where the decides to hide out?
This book is just contrivance piled on top of contrivance on top of contrivance.
I'm only giving this 2-stars instead of 1-star because I feel slightly bad about jumping to the third book in a series and then giving it 1-star.
(Also, why does the decide to cut off someone's head and put it on dramatic display?)
First a disclaimer: this is the third book in a series of detective mysteries that are mostly set in 1840s Istanbul featuring Yashim the Eunuch, a kind of problem-solver extraordinaire for the sultan. I have no read any of the previous books in the series but I find that's not usually an insurmountable hurdle for mystery series, which tend to be fairly self-contained.
The book starts off a bit strange: Yashim isn't really the main character of the first half the book. The book takes place in Venice and he sends his Polish friend Palewski in his place. Much of the first half of the book is just Palewski kind of...putzing around Venice somewhat ineffectually looking for a painting.
There are a series of murders occurring in Venice but it has not much to with Palewski. He doesn't know the victims, he's not investigating them. There's a weird lack of tension and drama. It almost reminded me of [b:The Catch|48550232|The Catch (Slough House, #6.5)|Mick Herron|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1574334687l/48550232._SX50_.jpg|73871959], except Palewski isn't quite that incompetent. He's more just out of his depth rather than incompetent per se.
Then, after you've been following Palewski for half the book...suddenly Yashim shows up and Palewski is shelved. We follow Yashim for the rest of the book. It is just kind of jarring. I imagine for a fan of the series it might be even more jarring. (After all, the series is "Yashim the Eunuch" and he's not even really in the first half of the book.)
Despite all that...the first half of the book was somewhat entertaining. The author is tremendous at depicting Venice in the mid-19th century and he is especially good at detailing anything involving food.
Once Yashim shows up the book descended to the ridiculous. There's a jarring sequence where
Spoiler
Yashim and the Contessa go from fighting to the death to jumping into bed“Patterns aren’t measurements,” Yashim said finally. “I’ve seen the Sand-Reckoner’s diagram on a sheet of paper and on the floor of the wrestling school, in Istanbul. It’ll work on any scale.”
“Of course.”
But probably the biggest "are you kidding me?" is the whole sequence with
Spoiler
the Contessa, Maria's priest, and the Croat. The Croat turns out to be the Contessa's long-lost son and that only comes to light because Maria's neighborhood priest happens to have been the caregiver of the son several years ago on the Dalmatian coast.Oh, and the same exact location of the infamous gambling night many decades ago that set everything in motion, also happens to be where Maria gets stashed, and is also where the
Spoiler
TartarThis book is just contrivance piled on top of contrivance on top of contrivance.
I'm only giving this 2-stars instead of 1-star because I feel slightly bad about jumping to the third book in a series and then giving it 1-star.
(Also, why does the