Interesting, but too slow, and not Brunetti.

An interesting story, if you are fond of the academic work of research. I enjoyed the knowledge and the history of religions and of historic power play. The descriptions of perceived menace was so well written, without being overdone. Familial and friendship networks were a bit understated, we understood that they were there, but the downsides were only implied. It was not quite enough for someone who doesn’t already understand it. The end was satisfying.

However, the progress of the story was very slow. I liked the audio, but was repeatedly frustrated by the slow pace and the excess of mundane details. This novel would benefit greatly from a thorough pruning and a different pitch. It reads like literary fiction with a mystery, and not a regular crime or mystery novel.

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For the love of Venice

Donna Leon has pulled away from Commissario Brunetti to pastures new in terms of central characters ...with one exception Venice herself. as ever the city is beautifully described. This story does not quite come off but it is still well worth reading to the end.

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VERY different from the Brunetti books!

I have to agree with the reviewer who remarked "If you are drawn to this because you love the Brunetti stories, save your money. Read the back of the cornflakes packet instead." This is the only Donna Leon book I have struggled to finish - all her "Brunetti" novels were 5-star page-turners. This seemed to be going nowhere - at a snail's pace. As another reviewer remarks, the first 7 chapters can be summarised as "A woman applies for a job, and gets it". These chapters are completely irrelevant to the "plot". Skip them. Whereas I loved Leo's descriptions of Brunetti's Venice, the amount of (often extremely repetitive) detail devoted to the most mundane actions - positioning papers on a desk, unwrapping and eating a chocolate bar - were stultifying. Not only are the details dull but the characters never come to life. I ploughed on, hoping for a big revelation. Disappointingly, the denouement seemed to be merely a way for the author to end the tedium. The "surprise revelation" is delivered in the last few paragraphs and is probably mildly satisfying only to lovers of morality tales. I suppose I had been expecting a narrator similar to those of the Brunetti novels but (perhaps unfairly, by comparison) I did not enjoy the narrator's slightly drawling American accent which I found rather "preachy" in tone

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Disappointed

The narrator's Italian accent is unconvincing and detracts from the story. The story is an interesting history of a composer and his era. Surrounding this with a modern girl's return home to Venice didn't work for me. An unsatisfying ending.

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Disappointing

As a big fan of Donna Leon I have to say that I found this audiobook very disappointing. The plot moved along painfully slowly and then fizzled out completely. The use of Italian accents for all the characters by the narrator was irritating and unnecessary.

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Disappointing

I found this boring, not a patch on others by the same author, the narration didn't compare with the others either. It came across as either flat or forced.

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Not Brunetti!

Interesting background and i formation about Venice but irritating in lack of story and character development. Not enough to believe in and sympathise with the characters. Also the story is slowed by excessive use of the Italian names, as if filling in for the lack of the above. Perhaps this might have been more successful in a different, more factual genre.

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