Author of "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil"
Non-fiction.
This book is about Venice. But it is also about decay, moral and otherwise. It is a finely wrought story weaved out of the fabric of life in Venice. You will encounter unforgettable characters, both tragic and heroic. Most of us are not familiar with Venice, or Venetians, but after reading this story, you'll have a taste of them, or distaste for them.
Heather and I are planning a trip to Venice for later this year, hopefully when fewer tourists are present. The book refers to the huge flow of tourists almost as a plague or scourge. The great popularity of Venice as a tourist destination certainly has distorted its economy and damaged its beauty.
I think that I recognized people I know in the book, even though all of it is nonfiction about the real world Venice. I think the themes and characteristics of people that John Berendt discovers in Venice are like people everywhere else, even if on the face of it they seem unique to Venice.
I didn't expect to like this book, but once I got to the third chapter, I found that I could not put it down, and the hours of my trip passed quickly.
There is a lot of history here, and the prose is engaging and very readable. It may not be an important book, but it is a good book, and one that I think will stand up well to the test of time.
One piece of advice from the author is one I'm glad we're already planning to follow, even without knowing it ahead of time - we are going for several days, not just a day to say we've been to Venice, but several days - to have a hope of getting to know the city and its people.
But perhaps I already do.
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