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Mijn Venetië (2007)

by Donna Leon(Favorite Author)

3.27 of 5 Votes: 2

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Cargo

review 1: This is a collection of short essays by Donna Leon, author of the Commissario Guido Brunetti mysteries set in Venice. Leon, an American, has lived in Venice for decades now, and many of these essays reflect her impressions of life in the city. This book is not, however, a travelogue or ode to life abroad. While she clearly loves her adopted home, she's not afraid to look at the city's warts--or, more to the point, it's dog poop. There's an edge to Leon voice in these essays--something that also comes through in her novels, but here you don't have Guido's charm to blunt that sharpness. Still, anyone who's been reading between the lines in the novels won't be surprised by any of the opinions expressed here. I liked some of the pieces much more than others, but the essay abo... moreut how she was treated while teaching in Saudi Arabia will stay with me for a long time to come.
review 2: Oh, dear. This, for me, is a case of "Don't get too close to your idols, for you will be disappointed." I love Donna Leon's Brunetti mysteries; I own all of the books of the series, and I have an advance galley of the newest one waiting on my Kindle app. I've read interviews she's given, and I can't say I was surprised by the overall negative tone of the pieces in this book. Some of them I liked (the section "On Venice" was really what I was in it for, and there is an interesting essay in which she talks about what makes for successful crime fiction), but the ones I didn't like ... perhaps someone told her at some point "Well, if you don't like it here, go live somewhere else!", and she took the suggestion, because her pieces on the US are rather nasty. I read this book, but didn't enjoy it much; that said, I'd rate this 2.5 stars if I had the option, rather than the two shown above. Now, to that new mystery ... less

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