Through a Glass, Darkly
Donna Leon opens doors to the hidden Venice like no one else. With her latest novel, Through a Glass, Darkly, Leon takes us inside the secretive island of Murano, home of the world-famous glass factories. On a luminous spring day in Venice, Commissario Brunetti and his assistant Vianello play...
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Donna Leon opens doors to the hidden Venice like no one else. With her latest novel, Through a Glass, Darkly, Leon takes us inside the secretive island of Murano, home of the world-famous glass factories. On a luminous spring day in Venice, Commissario Brunetti and his assistant Vianello play hooky from the Questura in order to help Vianello's friend Marco Ribetti, arrested during an environmental protest. They secure his release, only to be faced by the fury of the man's father-in-law, Giovanni De Cal, a cantankerous glass factory owner who has been heard in the bars of Murano making violent threats about Ribetti. Brunetti's curiosity is piqued, and he finds himself drawn to Murano to investigate. Is De Cal the type of man to carry out his threats? Then one morning the body of De Cal's night watchman is found. Over long lunches, on secret boat rides, in quiet bars, and down narrow streets, Brunetti searches for the killer. Will he unravel the clues before the night watchman's death is allowed to be forgotten?A fascinating novel set in the intersection between tourism and native Venetian society, Through a Glass, Darkly is Donna Leon at her finest.
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Format: hardcover
ISBN:
9780871139375 (0871139375)
ASIN: 871139375
Publish date: March 27th 2006
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
Pages no: 272
Edition language: English
Category:
Fantasy,
Science Fiction,
European Literature,
Cultural,
Italy,
Mystery,
Detective,
Contemporary,
Thriller,
Mystery Thriller,
Crime,
Murder Mystery,
Italian Literature
Series: Commissario Brunetti 6 (#15)
I love Brunetti's Mysteries, but this one was quite boring, I never found myself caring what was going on. It wasn't a bad book, it was just a bit flat. Of course, I will continue with the series. One so-so book doesn't blemish the rest of it :)
This was really weak fayre and not recommended at all.
Donna Leon writes lushly about a Venice in regal decay, with the urbane and likable Commissario Guido Brunetti as her main character, yet it was not until 158 pages in (halfway through the novel) that the crime the good detective was supposed to investigate even occurred. This, I think, encapsulates...
What a bore. As usual with these sorts of writers when they no longer have a plot in them they turn to political-social issues. In this case the relationship between pollution, glass-making and politics in Venice.It isn't that I totally don't want to read about these things, but if I do, I will not ...
It's spring in Venice and we get to follow Brunetti to the island of Murano to investigate death threats. Environmental issues, the art of politics and a lead character that is just interesting and wonderful. You follow Brunetti thru Venice, have a late lunch with him at a trattoria, watch him play ...