The City of Falling Angels
Ratings4
Average rating3.8
15
Ratings4
Average rating3.8
Venice, a city steeped in a thousand years of history, art and architecture, teeters in precarious balance between endurance and decay. Its architectural treasures crumble--foundations shift, marble ornaments fall--even as efforts to preserve them are underway. This book opens in 1996, when a dramatic fire destroys the historic Fenice opera house, a catastrophe for Venetians. Arriving three days after the fire, Berendt becomes a kind of detective--inquiring into the nature of life in this remarkable museum-city--while gradually revealing the truth about the fire. He introduces us to a rich cast of characters, Venetian and expatriate, in a tale full of atmosphere and surprise which reveals a world as finely drawn as a still-life painting. The fire and its aftermath serve as a leitmotif, adding elements of chaos, corruption, and crime and contributing to the ever-mounting suspense.--From publisher description.
Reviews with the most likes.
Second reading: still so very gossipy, still so very very good.
First reading: Gossip cleverly disguised as commentary upon the citizens of Venice, Italy. Mmm, good.
I read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil years ago and loved it, so I was excited when this book came out. Berendt really knows how to select a setting. He also knows how to seek out the local “characters” and bring them to life in print. Like Midnight, this book has a central mystery that's rather unsatisfactorily solved (in this case, the burning of The Fenice Opera House), fabulous descriptions of the city and its art and architecture, and lots of minor intrigues and petty infighting amongst the locals. It's like a really well written gossip column. And it's lots of fun.
I doubt I'll retain much of what I read, but I did really enjoy the book.
