Customer Reviews

Acqua Alta

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"Aqua Alta" is another splendid, can't-put-it-down engagement with Guido Brunetti. I despaired of reading any more of Donna Leon's fine prose and carefully crafted plots when notified last year that publication had been cancelled of a forthcoming book. Led by a note in another review, I checked out Amazon.co.uk, where I found "Death of Faith," "A Noble Radiance," and the book I just finished, "Fatal Remedies." Each is as good or better than its predecessor. I remain a dedicated fan. (Be aware, "The Anonymous Venetian" was published in the US with the title "Dressed for Death.") Also, some of Leon's works that are out-of-print in the US are available in the UK.

I recently discovered this mystery writer and am backtracking to read all her books. She never fails to deliver a wonderful read. Her picture of Venice and its society and politics is piercingly honest and although she shows all that society's warts and corruption, there is a sense of objectivity and compassion in her telling and in her police commissario, Guido Brunetti. Brunetti is a full, well-realized character and his family gives him even more depth. Contrary to many mysteries, where all the loose ends are tied up and justice is served. Her stories often end with ambiguity and not necessarily with the bad guys getting their just rewards.

As an aside, his relationship and dealings with his superior, Patta, is worth the price of admission and give an even stronger, quite humorous picture of his control and tolerance.

Acqua Alta, the title, refers to the seasonal torrential rains of Venice and provides a backdrop to a tale of art, thefts and violence.

I bought this after reading "Doctored Evidence," Donna Leon's latest book. I think beatings and violence in mysteries are overused and boring so I'm subtracting one star, but I enjoyed the atmospheric descriptions of Venice and am a fan of mysteries about the art world or Italy (so I also recommend Iain Pears' "art history-mystery" books). This novel portrays acquisition lust at its ugliest. I have added four more Donna Leon books to my amazon.com shopping cart.

Of the only 5 (out of the 13) Donna Leon "Inspector Brunetti" highly atmospheric Venetian mysteries that are readily available in the U.S. at popular prices, this newly available paperback is our family's favorite. Read the dramatic first chapter and you will be hooked all the way to the end, perhaps the most satisfying climax (and the most action) of all her Brunetti ouevre--though, true to Leon's vision of Venetian politics, still somewhat ambiguous and certainly not pat. (Note: it is helpful but not essential to have read "Death at La Fenice," the first Brunetti mystery, which is also easily findable in the U.S. in paperback and which introduces two main characters in "Acqua Alta.")

One of the things that I so love about Donna Leon's books is that in addition to being terrific mysteries - they evoke all of the smells and tastes, and sights and sounds of this wonderful city. Having been to Venice I love to read about where Guido is sitting down for a coffee or a drink, and which alleys he crosses and which vapos he takes, and what he notices in the streets and canals because these things are all real! In this latest Guido Brunetti mystery Leon resurrects two protagonists from "Death at La Fenice", the diva soprano, Flavia Petrelli and her lesbian lover Brett Lynch (an American archeologist). Brett opens the door of Flavia's and her apartment to find a couple of thugs who tell her not to make a meeting with the director of a museum who recently showed some of her rare pieces of ancient pottery from China. Although Brett is hurt but not killed, the director is murdered before she can speak to him. Brunetti weaves his way through the alleys of Venice's hoodlum underground, finds himself in the home of one of the Venice's greatest art collectors (whose son is one of those hoodlums.... could there be a connection), and must reexamine the "accidental" death of Brett's young assistant while on a dig back in China. Of course it all comes together one night during the infamous high waters (when the full moon causes the monthly flooding of the narrow Venetian streets and plazas), hence the name of this particular mystery.

If you have ever been to Venice this book will transport you back there. Leon uses a light hand on descriptive phrases but still manages to evoke the essence of Venice. The book is an easy read, without being boring. Lovers of mystery will find this book has all the elements of a Colin Dexter or P D James, with a nice change of scenery.

Donna Leon again creates an ambience in Venice that few tourists ever come into contact with. Her descriptions of the city; the crime and violence; the moral values of the typical Venetian; the rampant corruption in government; and the pollution that will ultimately destroy Venice, are juxtaposed with the normal life of the Brunetti family of 4, and the exquisite Italian (Venetian) food that is so lovingly described. Leon's characters -- good and evil -- are fully developed, and her storytelling abilities are excellent. These are books that are impossible to set down even for a minute: one must read them from start to finish, as I have done 10 of them in the last 2 weeks.

"Acqua Alta" is the fifth in Donna Leon's mesmerizing series featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti of the Venice police and, as in the previous works, the author once again manages to capture not only the soul but the heart, literally, of modern day Venice. Reality lurks behind every page, it seems, of a Donna Leon novel, from the cold, creaking listings of ages-old buildings almost atop the famed canals to the musty, bone-chilling foggy days as the "high waters" begin to permeate the once Serene Republic's confines. And, of course, thre's a murder or two lurking around some hidden corner of some fourteenth-century palazzo and naturally, as in the other works, it is Brunetti's dedication, his loyalty, and above all else his honesty in seeking out the truth that eventually bring about the solution. Leon's conclusions, however, are not always the easiest, most convenient, or happiest, as she gallops away from the melodramatic and lets reality win again. She underscores the fact that there are evil people about and, yes, occasionally, they win. Sometimes, by the end of her books, not all the guilty are punished, but the cases are solved, nonetheless. To say Venice, or even Italy itself, is any more corrupt than any other place is not the question, but Leon, herself an American English teacher at the University of Maryland extension campus at the U.S. Army's Vicenza (Italy) post, has spent quite a number of years in Italy, speaks the language, and captures the nuances of the people and of their daily lives, it seems; indeed, quite an accomplishment for an outsider. "You don't want to keep Doctor Semenzato's appointment." With this warning, two men proceed to beat Brett Lynch within an inch of her life. Thus, the action really begins in this fast-paced book. We'd met Brett in the previous Leon book. Brett is a famed anthropologist (NOT an architect as the writer in a preceding review asserts) and is the lover of noted Italian soprano Flavia Petrelli; she is involved in an extensive dig in China where she has helped uncover a priceless "find." Enter the art thieves, murderers, and con men. Indeed, from this point, murder and mayhem do follow and Commissario Brunetti is quick to pick up the case, indeed, he is eager for it. For in the previous case, Flavia and Brett had both been chief suspects in the case. Since then, Guido has come to respect them both and, to some extent, even considers them friends. He is appalled at the brutality of the assault and fears for Brett's life. In the course of this investigation, more than one murder transpires, with art-world theft as the circulating theme. What has "high water" (Acqua Alta) to do with the book? Acqua alta is the dread of every Venezian, as climatic changes cause the water in the canals to rise above their normal levels and a city ordinarily accustomed to much water anyway finds itself literally being inundated by even more of it! Thus, like Sandburg's fog in Chicago, the water becomes another character, always looming, always rising, always threatening. But unlike Sandburg's fog, it doesn't creep in on little cat's feet. And it comes not to wash away the sins but to underscore them. The end comes with the usual "bang" and Brunetti is left to ponder the aftermath. His path of glory indeed leads but to the grave for his villains, as Thomas Gray might have written in his "Elegy." (Leon has pubished her latest--and seventh--Brunetti novel, "A Noble Radiance" which is not yet available in the States. I had the great fortune to buy a copy on a recent trip to London. It is another Brunetti worth waiting for!)

Now, do not get me wrong. Her writing - I mean the language and the craft - is great as always. The general idea for this book is also not a bad one. But the plot ...

Brunetti spends the whole time in just four locations: his home, his workplace, his favorite watering place and the palazzo where he keeps visiting both ladies, Brett and Flavia, whether necessary or not, and where the crime took place. There is no deduction or investigation at all. Whatever information the Commissario needs, he gets it promptly from his two friends, an artist with "deep knowledge" of Venetian art crime scene and an art theft investigator from Rome. So whenever Brunetti gets stuck, he only needs to call one of them or they conveniently happen to call him, and hey pronto! - the next missing piece of the puzzle is served on the plate.

This is so unrealistic it can only be topped by the fantasy fiction character of Signorina Elettra, a sort of Mary Poppins of the Venetian police who can miraculously provide just about any information about anyone in the country in any desired time and who, on her meagre secretarial salary, can afford new ultra expensive items of clothing every single day. One really has to wonder. She is quite likeable and interesting but belongs rather in a modern day Wizard of Oz story. Unless Acqua Alta is meant to be a parody and not a mystery novel. There is nothing mysterious if the crime, so to speak, solves by itself while Brunetti is dilligently, if tediously, commuting in the ever deteriorating weather between home, office and his trattoria.

I understand Italian but I too found the Italian words out of place. Why use them if people in the book speak Italian all the time anyway, regardless of the language the book was written in?

Commissario Brunetti is becoming an institution, just like Simenon's Maigret. In Donna Leon's prose the city of Venice becomes the natural setting for crime - all the morbid beauty transforms into stories of murder, passion, betrayal and games of power. My recommendation: Read the whole series of Brunetti mysteries!!