Product Description

It was seven years ago that Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil achieved a record-breaking four-year run on the New York Times bestseller list. John Berendt's inimitable brand of nonfiction brought the dark mystique of Savannah so startlingly to life for millions of people that tourism to Savannah increased by 46%. It is Berendt and only Berendt who can capture Venice--a city of masks, a city of riddles, where the narrow, meandering passageways form a giant maze, confounding all who have not grown up wandering into its depths. Venice, a city steeped in a thousand years of history, art and architecture, teeters in precarious balance between endurance and decay. Its architectural treasures crumble--foundations shift, marble ornaments fall--even as efforts to preserve them are underway.

THE CITY OF FALLING ANGELS opens on the evening of January 29, 1996, when a dramatic fire destroys the historic Fenice opera house. The loss of the Fenice, where five of Verdi's operas premiered, is a catastrophe for Venetians. Arriving in Venice three days after the fire, Berendt becomes a kind of detective--inquiring into the nature of life in this remarkable museum-city-- while gradually revealing the truth about the fire. In the course of his investigations, Berendt introduces us to a rich cast of characters: a prominent Venetian poet whose shocking 'suicide' prompts his skeptical friends to pursue a murder suspect on their own; the First Family of American expatriates who lose possession of the family palace after four generations of ownership; an organization of high-society, party-going Americans who raise money to preserve the art and architecture of Venice, while quarreling in public among themselves, questioning each other's motives and drawing startled Venetians into the fray; a contemporary Venetian surrealist painter and outrageous provocateur; the master glassblower of Venice; and numerous others--stool-pigeons, scapegoats, hustlers, sleepwalkers, believers in Martians, the Plant Man, the Rat Man, and Henry James.

Berendt tells a tale full of atmosphere and surprise as the stories build, one after the other, ultimately coming together to reveal a world as finely drawn as a still-life painting. The fire and its aftermath serve as a leitmotif that runs throughout, adding to the elements of chaos, corruption and crime, and contributing to the ever-mounting suspense of this brilliant audiobook.

Bonus feature includes an exclusive interview with the author!


From the Compact Disc edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #137546 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-14
• Released on: 2005-09-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 414 pages

From Publishers Weekly
It's taken Berendt 10 years follow up his long-running bestseller, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. In lieu of Savannah, he offers us Venice, another port city full of eccentric citizens and with a long, colorful history. Like the first book, this one has a trial at the its center: Berendt moves to Venice in 1997, just three days after the city's famed Fenice opera house burns down during a restoration. The Venetian chattering classes, among whom Berendt finds a home, want to know whether it was an accident or arson. Initially, Berendt investigates, but is soon distracted by the city's charming denizens. Early on, he's warned, "Everyone in Venice is acting," which sets the stage for fascinating portraits: a master glassblower creating an homage to the fire in vases, an outspoken surrealist painter, a tenacious prosecutor and others. As the infamous Italian bureaucracy drags out the investigation, Berendt spends more time schmoozing with the expatriate community in long discussions about its role in preserving local art, culture and architecture. By the time the Fenice is rebuilt and reopens, Berendt has delivered an intriguing mosaic of modern life in Venice, which makes for first-rate travel writing, albeit one that lacks a compelling core story to keep one reading into the night.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From AudioFile
Magical, exasperating, sometimes mystifying, but finally enormously awe-inspiring, Venice, Italy--the city itself--becomes the vibrant and vital main character as Holter Graham, in an exceptionally fine reading, presents the account of a devastating conflagration of the Fenice Opera House and the civil investigations that followed. (The irony of such an event in a city noted for its waterways is inescapable.) Further richness includes insightful descriptions of a variety of contemporary characters inhabiting this ancient and sometimes otherworldly city. Poetry lovers will appreciate the significant, sad, and sometimes tragic accounts of Ezra Pound's poetic legacy. Ultimately, Graham's fine reading, along with Berendt's valuable information and penetrating observations, results in a captivating audio presentation. L.C. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
The author's phenomenally best-selling Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1994), which, for a record-breaking four years, remained on the New York Times best-seller list, drew tourists in droves to the lovely city of Savannah, Georgia. Will his thoroughly engaging new book do the same for the tourist trade to Venice, Italy? In 1996, Berendt planned an extended, off-season stay in Venice. Just three days prior to his arrival, Venice's world-famous opera house burned to the ground. He uses the official investigation into the disaster and the construction of a new opera house as a paradigm of civic and social life in this enigmatic city whose importance to the world -(other than as a tourist destination) has long vanished, and he uses the personal stories of the wide variety of individuals with whom he became acquainted during the course of his stay not only to enrich but also to personalize his account. This is journalism at its most accomplished; it is creative nonfiction as enveloping and heart embracing as good fiction. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Disappointing
On January 29 1996, a sensational fire destroys the historic Fenice Opera House. A catastrophe for Venetians, made worse by the revelation that arson may be the cause. Berendt visits Venice shortly after the fire and intrigued by the ongoing investigation decides to write about it. The author encounters a rich cast of characters and takes the readers on an unusual voyage into the heart of Venice, adding elements of chaos, corruption and crime as the story unfolds.

I expected this book to be as good as "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" capturing the essence of the city and its inhabitants what I got was a disappointing and frankly boring narrative. The book started well, introducing the readers to a strange and amusing cast of characters but as the story progresses things crumble as each chapter stands alone and you are faced with a lack of a cohesive plot. I felt more than once like abandoning it but I was determined to finish.

It's a hit!
Just like his "Midnight in the Garden," Berndt's CITY is another great book, with the same great writing and plot that you'll find in MIDNIGHT, only with an entirely different setting. So often an author's second book just doesn't come close to the first, but in my opion, CITY is even better. For some other captivating reads, I recommend Jackson McCrae's KATZENJAMMER and the highly entertaining ABOUT A BOY. All are great, but buy and read CITY first.

WONDERFUL CITY, WONDERFUL WRITING
A witty and urbane tour through the private (as opposed to the tourist) Venice. Along with Berendt we encounter an extraordinary roster of Venetians and expatriates--the people who actually live in Venice. And what a collection of eccentrics and oddballs! I was hooked from the very beginning in which Berendt describes the spectacular fire that destroyed the Fenice opera house, as seen through the eyes of the people who were on the scene, including the 87-year-old master glassbower of Venice, who watched from his bedroom window a mere 30 feet away from the blaze and then went to his glassmaking factory and started work on a series of bowls and vases representing the awful fire. While he follows the twists and turns of the Fenice story--the investigation into the causes of the fire and the chaotic rebuilding of the theater--Berendt weaves in a number of other fascinating stories that reveal the mystery, the intrigue, the social climbing, the back biting, and the corruption seething in this magical and beautiful city. Couldn't put it down. Didn't want it to end. This book in many ways remindes me of George Kostantinos's masterpiece thriller~~The Quest.