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Himmlische Juwelen (2012)

by Donna Leon(Favorite Author)

3.01 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

3257068379 (ISBN13: 9783257068375)

languge

English

genre

Mystery & Thriller

publisher

Diogenes-Verlag

review 1: The historical story line was overly complicated, and I got bogged down in the retelling of Caterina's research several times. I thought the ending was abrupt, and didn't adequately explain the mysterious behavior of either the "lawyer" or the "cousins." I liked Caterina, but wondered at the ending given her offer to her sister Christina. Perhaps we'll learn more about her and her motivations in another book?
review 2: I've been reading Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti series (with as yet only a modicum of enthusiasm). As I was going to be on a couple of long flights, I thought I'd try and find a second-hand Donna Leon in our local bookstore to read on the flight. However, the only Donna Leon book in the used section was this one. I thought the description s... moreuggested that it might be interesting -- perhaps even more than I'm finding her Commissario Brunetti books -- but, sadly, that was not to be.The writing was annoying for a number of reasons: Leon inserted a lot of foreign (mostly Italian) phrases and quotes without (in most cases) explanation or translation, as if she expected the reader to know what they meant -- rather pretentious, I felt. The action (such that it was) was entirely centered around very few characters, predominantly the main character, Caterina, and the narrative was almost entirely about her researches into trunks of belongings of a somewhat obscure and long-dead composer. All of the other characters were very minor, and so not very interesting. I didn't find the quest particularly interesting, and found the prose rather turgid. When, finally, we reached the denouement, it was very sudden and unsatisfactory, almost as if the author had grown bored, or her publisher had said that the deadline was nigh. A definite anticlimax to a not very interesting book.Maybe I'll stick with her Commissario Brunetti novels for a little longer, but I doubt I'll look for any others of hers. less

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