The City of Falling Angels
by John Berendt
Published by Penguin Press
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Reviewed by Julie Failla Earhart
The Venetians hated it. Most critics hated it. I loved it! John Berendt's sophomore effort, The City of Falling Angels, is a great read. The reader gets to explore the back alleys--or canals--of Venice without having to make the trip or fight the tourists.
The story begins with the author's arrival in the floating city three days after the famed Fenice Opera House is destroyed by fire in 1996. The night's events are pieced together by master glassblower Archimede Seguso's family that watches from their apartment window.
Known as "The Wizard of Fire," the 75-year-old Maestro Seguso would take to his workshop and recreate that awful night in more than a hundred intricately crafted glass vases that have yet to see the same light, years after the maestro's death, that the Fenice has enjoyed.
The story chronicles the Fenice's history and rebirth and illuminates the politics, the pathos, and the pizzazz of Venice. The narrative takes many detours as it follows the eight-year restoration of the beloved opera house--such as the New York-based nonprofit Save Venice (which has its share of politics and backstabbing) and the American expatriates who have lived there.
Palaces, paintings, and passion litter the story, which has a rough plot, but it is essentially about why the Fenice burned, who was responsible, and who should rebuild it.
Like the winding canals, the story moves in many directions, sometimes hard to follow. Numerous characters share similar name spellings, leading to confusion. Many of the vignettes seem to have no relation to the Fenice--but ultimately do connect. My favorite is the love story of Ezra Pound and Olga Rudge, an illicit affair that lasted more than fifty years and resulted in an illegitimate daughter. Another favorite tells of the Curtises, seven generations of a family who once owned the Palazzo Barbaro and whose matriarch wore only white.
Okay, so it wasn't Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil-- Berendt's first novel.
Armchair Interviews says: Beredt took an extremely complex story, and in writing The City of Falling Angels, made it simple. Sort of.