John Berendt

Traces the aftermath of the 1996 Venice opera house fire, an event that devastated Venetian society and was investigated by the author, who through interviews with local figures learned about the region's rich cultural history.

The City of Falling Angels

Laura Mauler

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.

Elizabeth Moore

This was my first go with John Berendt and I plan on reading Midnight In The Garden Od Good And Evil next! 

I really like Berendt's writing style, and I like the idea of creating a story out of real event with a point of view that focuses outward rather than inward.

I loved all of the people in the book and felt that the characters were drawn really nicely; my favorites were all of the odd "little" parts played on the Venice stage set; the man who believes himself to be a policeman, a firefighter, and every other kind of hero, and the walking "Bush Man" who wanders through the streets singing slang and selling flowers.

My biggest criticism would be that I felt completely drawn it at the beginning by the desire to look at each new character as a suspect or a "player" in the story of the fire and then to find out by the end exactly what happened, and that was definitely not the case! I also understand that in the end it wasn't the point of Berendt's story, either, and while I definitely appreciative what he created, the ending still felt quite anticlimactic to me!

Great read, wonderful to relax with and got me all wanderlusty, which was fun.

The City of Falling Angels

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