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A review by bretts_book_stack
A Beautiful Crime by Christopher Bollen
5.0
The population of Venice has dropped from 175,000 after World War II to just over 52,000 today, the massive decrease driven largely by the overwhelming tourism that floods in every year much like the sea that’s slowly dragging the city under. This is just one of the ancillary components that amplifies @christbollen’s fantastic “A Beautiful Crime”, and the setting for young grifters Clay and Nick to make their mark.
Bollen shifts his non-linear narrative between our two ambitious lovers deftly setting up an act of revenge while keeping the reader on slightly unsteady ground.This is an intellectual thriller that’s threaded with commentary on race and social class that I thought was just brilliant, and made me check my own assumptions and prejudices while reading.
It would be easy for Bollen to create ugly, unsympathetic portrayals of these two men, but he does the complete opposite, making them both exceedingly charming and compassionate as they increasingly find themselves over their heads.Additionally, he’s also written a great collection of distinct and well drawn supporting characters including Nick’s ex lover in New York City, an elderly transgender woman, and the man marked to be taken by our driven protagonists.
And finally, Venice.
Bollen states in the notes how he lived there for months in 1999 interning at the Peggy Guggenheim museum. (which one of his characters had as well). It’s evident he managed to absorb the atmosphere like a sponge, and translate it into text, and it becomes a character in its own right, its quarried stone streets spread out like a maze. You’ll almost feel the crush of the crowds at San Marco square and hear the gondoliers singing. I highly recommend you mix a Negroni and add this terrific book to your #TBR list for the summer. I loved it.
Bollen shifts his non-linear narrative between our two ambitious lovers deftly setting up an act of revenge while keeping the reader on slightly unsteady ground.This is an intellectual thriller that’s threaded with commentary on race and social class that I thought was just brilliant, and made me check my own assumptions and prejudices while reading.
It would be easy for Bollen to create ugly, unsympathetic portrayals of these two men, but he does the complete opposite, making them both exceedingly charming and compassionate as they increasingly find themselves over their heads.Additionally, he’s also written a great collection of distinct and well drawn supporting characters including Nick’s ex lover in New York City, an elderly transgender woman, and the man marked to be taken by our driven protagonists.
And finally, Venice.
Bollen states in the notes how he lived there for months in 1999 interning at the Peggy Guggenheim museum. (which one of his characters had as well). It’s evident he managed to absorb the atmosphere like a sponge, and translate it into text, and it becomes a character in its own right, its quarried stone streets spread out like a maze. You’ll almost feel the crush of the crowds at San Marco square and hear the gondoliers singing. I highly recommend you mix a Negroni and add this terrific book to your #TBR list for the summer. I loved it.