Rating: 
Summary: Amusing, bitchy, interesting...
Review: I picked the book up in order to remind myself of the fabulousness of Venice. And it did just that. However, I also got a big kick out of the author. She is hilariously judgemental and bitchy! Her accounting of her landlord makes me want to root for the landlord! Seems like a gal I'd love to have a cocktail with, but would hate to have as a mom. My fiance and I are heading to Italy for our honeymoon. It'll be his first time to Venice, and my second. I don't think the book was brilliant, but it was amusing, nonetheless.
Rating: 
Summary: On a bookshelf at Marco Polo airport
Review: I read this book on the plane back to the USA from Venice, where I had been (for the first time) for about a week on combined business and pleasure. I was captivated by the city and was hungry for anything more to read about it, so I picked up Venetian Dreaming at Marco Polo airport before boarding. I was surprised by the extremely negative reviews of the book, although I can understand the reasons for their criticism. I had read a fair amount about Venice and its history before the trip and wandered the city through crowds and quiet back streets and canals for a few days. From that perspective, it was interesting simply to read a description of many of the same places and a few more facts that weren't in the guidebooks. At the next level, it was interesting to read an account by someone who acted on the fantasy many visitors to Venice have and move there for an extended period of time. Here we find Weideger moving to a city where she knows no one and trying to establish a social network. As a professional writer, she has the potential to move into literary and artistic circles, and she attempts to do so with some success. I too was struck by her brutal characterization some of the people she meets. Actually, I should say her attempts to do so, because Weideger has a journalistic style of writing that lacks depth in characterization. I was reminded somewhat of A Sun Also Rises which to me was a boring book about bored inhabitants of an artistic colony who are searching for something to do. However, Weideger's colony is more interesting because Venice provides a focus of past glories and present problems in contrast to Hemingway's troupe of self-indulgent drunks. Yes, Weideger is trying to work her way into the inside of Venice, and yes, she lives in an artificial world because, after all, she hasn't just move to Venice, she also is going to write a book about it. But in doing so, we meet characters who are part of what is left of Venice, and in contrast to what some reviews have implied, some of these characters are interesting and admirable. And then on another level, we become acquainted with Weideger herself. No, she doesn't seem very happy. And apparently a precondition for continuing to live together with "H." is that she can't really write about their relationship. But do we care? And we find that Weideger's lack of flexibility alienates her from her landlords, yet she doesn't seem to have any insight into this. Again, her journalistic style makes it easy to take sides with her landlords, who are interesting people. Finally, we are left with a matter-of-fact account of one writer's year in a world that stopped turning in 1797 with the death of the Venetian Republic. It's not an uninteresting read.
Rating: 
Summary: On a more forgiving note....
Review: I really enjoyed this book. Having lived in the Veneto Region and visited Venice so many times I'd often wondered what it was like to live inside one of those Venetian palaces. Ms. Weideger with luck managed to land an apartment in a most famous "Casa", and brought me every detail into vivid view.
The charming stories of the people she meets, many of whom become her friends, are scattered throughout and interspersed are interesting stories of Venetian history, and insider views regarding the future of Venice with all its politics. There was much of what I read that filled in the gaps of my personal knowledgebase of the city. I also loved how she included the sometimes unpleasant episodes with her landlords and how she finally resolved them "venetian style".
This was a very balanced book with something for everyone. And I think this is what the author wanted to achieve, or rather share with us, the reader. I had my engineer husband read the chapter of the MOSE so he could read more of what could become the largest engineering project in the world, and why many Italians question its worth. I was drawn to admire the author's tenacity as a student of the language. I myself have several times lived and studied in foreign countries where I did not know the native language and forced myself to become as fluent as possible finally making myself understood in conversations of the most particular. After reading this book you can't help but say bravo! to this lady who embraced a city and who embraced her in return.
Rating: 
Summary: If you have lived in Italy or just plain love Venice
Review: I really enjoyed this book. Having lived in the Veneto Region and visited Venice so many times I'd often wondered what it was like to live inside one of those Venetian palaces. Ms. Weideger with luck managed to land an apartment in a most famous "Casa", and brought me every detail into vivid view.
The charming stories of the people she meets, many of whom become her friends, are scattered throughout and interspersed are interesting stories of Venetian history, and insider views regarding the future of Venice with all its politics. There was much of what I read that filled in the gaps of my personal knowledgebase of the city. I also loved how she included the sometimes unpleasant episodes with her landlords and how she finally resolved them "venetian style".
This was a very balanced book with something for everyone. And I think this is what the author wanted to achieve, or rather share with us, the reader. I had my engineer husband read the chapter of the MOSE so he could read more of what could become the largest engineering project in the world, and why many Italians question its worth. I was drawn to admire the author's tenacity as a student of the language. I myself have several times lived and studied in foreign countries where I did not know the native language and forced myself to become as fluent as possible finally making myself understood in conversations of the most particular. After reading this book you can't help but say bravo! to this lady who embraced a city and who embraced her in return.
Rating: 
Summary: The Ugly American meets Venice
Review: I wish I'd read these reviews before I bought and read this nasty piece of work. The premise looked pretty good, and I thought, "It's about Venice. How bad could it be?" Well, it turned out to be a lot worse than I thought possible. Behind a guise of "loving" Venice, Weideger whips up an angry stew of bitterness against the most beautiful city on earth and its inhabitants. The self-indulgence is stunning. The author's sense of entitlement is breath-taking. Ms. Weideger has revealed far more about herself than she has about Venice, and it ain't a pretty picture. At first I kept reading because I hoped it would get better. Eventually I kept reading just to see how bad it would get. And indeed it got worse and worse.
Rating:
Summary: A nasty book about a beautiful city
Review: I'm glad I'm not the only person who really detested Paula Weideger. I started reading this book in Venice, and did enjoy the bits that taught me about the history, art and architecture of the city. However, it is spoiled by the presence of the author herself who is a highly unpleasant individual.
The highlight of the book for me was the fact that her name is given incorrectly on the back of the edition that I have (she is referred to as Paul not Paula) - I bet she fumed if she ever saw it!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful - Loved it -- now I WILL visit Venice!
Review: I've never been to Venice, but I will now. Paula Weideger gives an unusual view of this fascinating city (well, I think it will be!), through living there, firstly for a short period and then longer (she can't keep away!). If you want a book that will gain you insights into the usual, the unexpected and the less explored parts of Venice, all wrapped up in a fascinating tale, very up to date (read the challenges about getting her internet connection!), then this is it. If you have had a yearning for living in a different city for an extended period, and always wondered how to, then this is your book. A great read and for me, as compelling as a Grisham. Thanks for sharing Paula, when I go, I'll read your book first, take it with me and use it as my guidebook (oh yes, and watch for the tricky rental contracts too!)
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful - Loved it -- now I WILL visit Venice!
Review: I've never been to Venice, but I will now. Paula Weideger gives an unusual view of this fascinating city (well, I think it will be!), through living there, firstly for a short period and then longer (she can't keep away!). If you want a book that will gain you insights into the usual, the unexpected and the less explored parts of Venice, all wrapped up in a fascinating tale, very up to date (read the challenges about getting her internet connection!), then this is it. If you have had a yearning for living in a different city for an extended period, and always wondered how to, then this is your book. A great read and for me, as compelling as a Grisham. Thanks for sharing Paula, when I go, I'll read your book first, take it with me and use it as my guidebook (oh yes, and watch for the tricky rental contracts too!)
Rating:
Summary: A wallow in Self-pity
Review: If you're hoping to find a book that takes you along on a personal and joyful discovery of Venice -- this isn't the book for you. Paula Weideger has produced a memoir that's nothing more than a wallow in self-pity and a collection of acid-laced comments on the people who have had the great misfortune of passing through her orbit. Between the occasional paragraph relating some tiny snippit of Venice's history or describing some particularly beautiful or obscure discovery; one has to endure Weideger's on-going tirades against her landlady, the perceived slights of nearly everyone who crosses her path, the social pretensions of her Venetian acquaintances, and diatribes concerning the tourist schlock for sale in local shops. All the while -- loudly exclaiming her newly found and undying love for the city. Otherwise -- Weideger fills the pages whining about the continuous stream of ingrates taking advantage of her at every turn, her unhappiness at not getting her way in all things, badmouthing the looks or fashion sense of nearly everyone, and relating tales of her social exploits which are nothing more than marathons in name dropping. There's very little here that's thought provoking, or even interesting -- unless you're the type who enjoys non-stop windging (in which case, you'll love the blatant play for the reader's sympathy at the end of the book.)
Rating:
Summary: Boring, boring, boring!!!!!
Review: Ms. Weideger may have thought she was writing an equivalent to "A Year in Provence" or "Under the Tuscan Sun," but she hasn't. I was terribly disappointed, and bored beyond belief. This is the opposite of a page-turner. You get no real sense of the wonder and magic of the city she claims, unconvincingly, to love. But you do get seven pages on how she manages to sort out her computer problems. She is, by her own description, a nightmare of a tenant, and the book's only suspense is one's mounting curiosity as to what she will do next in the way of petty meanness to her landlords--and how long they will put up with her before they throw her out.
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