![]() Just as the earlier book began with a murder, this one opens with something almost as compelling: a fire that, in 1996, destroyed the historic La Fenice Opera House and almost. He would stay to write about "the people who live in Venice" before it was too late. In The City Of Falling Angels, John Berendt tries to do for Venice what he did for Savannah, Georgia, in his blockbuster hit Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil. ![]() Soon he determined, rather grandly, that this event, together with the rising seas that so often flood Venice, might herald the end of the unique lagoon city. And although Berendt is an able writer, with an almost uncanny ability to render extended conversations, he is not a novelist of genius, such as Henry James nor has he the charm of a chronicler such as the 19th-century US consul, William Dean Howells.īerendt arrived for a long holiday in early February 1996, a few days after the devastating fire that destroyed the renowned Fenice opera house. When, for example, he writes of the obnoxious crowd of society hangers-on who raise money to restore Venetian monuments, and demand flattery and attention from the locals in return, there is nothing other than the artistry of presentation to hold one's attention. ![]() Glittering, entertaining Sunday Times Beneath the exquisite facade of the worlds most beautiful historic city, scandal, corruption and venality are rampant. ![]() Much of this follows from the form of his book. A beguiling portrait of the city of Venice from the bestselling author of the classic true crime Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. ![]()
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