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Summary: er lettore romano de roma
Review: Questo e de sicuro er libbro piu figo c'ho mai letto na vita mia
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Summary: So many books, so little time
Review: So many books fall flat after the first few chapters. It seems that great ideas are a dime a dozen, but the execution of those ideas, at least the well-done ones, are few and far between. Not so with A VENETIAN AFFAIR. The writing and plot are excellent and well-thought out, like McCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD or Martel's LIFE OF PI, and the story is well paced with wonderful characters. Most of the books I've come across lately have been a disappointment, but that's not the case with this one. Riveting and warm, you'll have to keep pinching yourself and saying "It's only fiction!" It's just that good and that real. I highly recommend this wonderful read to anyone with a pulse!
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Summary: Just great!
Review: Talk about running the gamut from A to Z! This book has it all: laughs, sadness, insight, and everything in between. The writing is excellent, as are the plot and characters. As with most successful books, the main characters in A VENETIAN AFFAIR must constantly battle things thrown against them--the essence of drama: conflict. And Andrea Di Robilant is masterful in the way she handles the material. Just great fun and a great read.Also recommended: BARK OF THE DOGWOOD
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Summary: 18th-century Venice comes to life!
Review: The passionate, illicit love affair between the handsome Venetian aristocrat and the beautiful, illegitimate English-Greek woman is a pulse-quickening page turner, the moreso because it is all true. Di Robilant uses a recently discovered packet of 250-year-old letters to frame his story, smoothly filling in the gaps in the correspondence with careful research. All the color, intrigue and pageantry of 18th-century Venice is made vividly real, and Casanova even has a delicious, hilarious walk-on part. A delightful read. It would make a great, classy Christmas present.
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Summary: Erotic, Tender, Delicate and Meticulously Researched
Review: This book is one of the secret delights of the year. An incandescent gift that has come to us through the centuries. The lovers are unforgettable. With Andrea and Giustiana we travel the streets of Venice, Paris, London and back again to Venice for the bittersweet conclusion. Exquisite!
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Summary: A wonderful "affair"
Review: This is a captivating love story, one that shouldn't be missed. Andrea Di Robilant weaves a superb tale of his ancestor, based upon the letters passed between the two lovers. What seemed amazing to me was that the letters remained for years and years in the library of Randolph-Macon College. (I was also surprised to learn that, incidentally, the author's mother went to the same college I go to, no big feat since it is relatively unknown).
It is the story of the illicit love affair between Andrea and Giustiniana, which began in 1754. Banned from seeing one another, they must communicate surreptitiously, stealing embraces and kisses whenever they can. They must hide especially from the eagle eyes of Giustiniana's Greek- English mother, Anna, who won't allow her daughter to marry a member of the Venetian aristocracy. Di Robilant also puts in excerpts from the two lovers' letters, giving the reader a sense of proximity to this book, which reads more like a novel than a straightforward book on history. The use of masks in 18th century culture is indicative of the way in which Andrea and Giustiniana must conduct their affair.
Its a beautifully written story, one of passion, jealousy, and, especially, love. I was enchanted by the language Di Robilant used to bring this story to life on the page, and by the masterful way in which he carried it out. Di Robilant catches the air of mid-18th century Venice perfectly: the salons, the balls, and the intrigues. It will keep you reading from stormy, sudden beginning to stormy, sudden ending.
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Summary: Great Book
Review: This is a story of two young lovers trying to hide their love from their families, friends and society.
This book is the 18th century version of Romeo and Juliet.
Unlike Romeo and Juliet, this is a true story. You see how these two young lovers mature through time and how their love makes them stronger each day that goes by. I read it in one day. that's how good this book is. you can't put it down because you wanna know what happens to the young lovers in the end... Andre Di Robilant is a great author.
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Summary: a masterpiece on love, in a decaying republic
Review: This is an absolutely beautiful and fascinating look into a great passion between a young patrician and a woman with a questionable past. The author's approach - it was really a family enterprise based on the 250-year old letters his father found from a direct ancestor - is to paint a wide tableau of the era from the point of view of two young and doomed lovers. Though this may sound melodramatic, it is the perfect vehicle for an incredible historic narrative, one of the best I ever read. Andrea Memmo is the scion of an ancient Venetian family, destined by blood and talent to become one of the most powerful politican-functionaries of a dying republic. Memmo is steeped in the ideas that were "in the air" of the Enlightenment and reform, mentored by some of the most brillant men of the era, and friends with such colorful figures as Casanova and the later founder of the Louvre for Napoleon. Also witty and handsome, he seemed destined for greatness from the youngest age. Then he met Giustiniana, a semi-aristocrat whose mother was Greek and whose father was of "solid stock" from Britain, and Andrea's life took an unexpected turn involving passion, secrecy, and impossible hopes; she was one of the great beauties in the British expatriot circles. However, by tradition that extends to the Venetian bureaucracy, Memmo must marry a "correctly" aristocratic woman by family arrangement. The author does a brilliant job of placing these two in the context of the times. As the reader, you sympathise with the concerns of all the protagonists, from Andrea's familial obligations to Giustiniana's difficult mother who wants to avoid unneceassy prying into her murky past. These are not two-dimensional characters, but full-bodied people trying desperately to control their destinies while falling prey to their weaknesses and vanities. The vagaries of many intersecting careers of the protagonists and their friends are examined with perfect detail and brevity, an additional window into the life of the times and an exquisite treat. From Venice, the reader is taken on a tour of the major European powers of the time, following Giustiniana and her family as they try to make their way in the decaying world of the old regime and unable to find a suitable place for themselves. While Memmo more or less fulfills his destiny, it is Giustiniana who emerges as the most original person in the book. Her desires and career, from searching for a rich aristocrat to marry to her later success as a pioneering writer, are as facinating as they are reflections of what a troublesome person she must have been, always stepping into a hornets' nest of conventional expectations but somehow emerging admired and the nucleus of a salon that she built through friendship and talent. There is not a single boring page in this book, and it is written with a subtle elegance that covers what is happening in the 7-years' war to the rumblings of the French Revolution and the demise of the Venetian Republic, of which Memmo might have become the last Doge. It all adds up to a masterpiece and is based on the personal correspondence of the lovers that were assembled from many different sources. I read this in Italian, which was very difficult as there are long sections from the letters in the Venetian patois of the time. But the clarity of the writing is truly luminous. I only hope that the writer will produce more. He is truly first rate. Highest recommendation.
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Summary: Boring, I could not get through it.
Review: We choose this book for our January book club and of the 15 members most did not get more than half way through it before giving up. I found that just when something interesting started to happen in the love affair the writer would switch gears and give you more detailed history. Amist a group of well-educated female professionals over 30 you would think just ONE of us would have liked it but that was not the case.
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Summary: Two lovers with extraordinary lives...
Review: What if your father brought home some letters found in your ancestral palazzo in Italy that seemed to reveal a forbidden love affair? Would you tuck the letters away without a second thought? Or, like the author of this amazing book, would you decide to research the story further and write a book about lovers' lives? If this sounds like the foundation of a great story, you should definitely pick up this book. The author is related to Andrea Memmo, a son of a prominent ancient Venetian family who fell deeply in love with Giustiniana Wynne, the illegitimate daughter of a British father and a Venetian mother. The letters in the author's possession, as well as other letters and articles he was able to view, help create the framework of Andrea and Giustiniana's 18th-century meeting at the home of a mutual friend and the long love affair that followed. Separately their lives would be interesting enough, with friends like Casanova popping up and trips all over Europe. Combined together, their quest to be together is a riveting read. Andrea and Giustiniana's adventures take you into the final days of the great Venetian society of the past.
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