Bellini Card, The [Hardcover]

Jason Goodwin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2008

Bellini Card, The by Goodwin, Jason

Product Details

• Hardcover: 306 pages
• Publisher: Faber and Faber; 1st ptg. edition (2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0571239927
• ISBN-13: 978-0571239924
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,041,082 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

If you wish, please check it out on www.jasongoodwin.net

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars terrific nineteenth century mystery, March 8, 2009

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bellini Card: A Novel (Hardcover)

In 1840, the new Ottoman Empire Sultan Abdulmecid orders the eunuch Yashim to travel to Venice to obtain a portrait of Mehmet the Conqueror painted by Bellini. However, before leaving for Italy, Resid Pasha directs Yashim to keep the expenses including the purchase down. Yashim asks his friend impoverish Polish Ambassador Stanislaw Palewski to masquerade as an American to help locate the portrait of the hero who took Constantinople from the Christians in the fifteenth century.

In Venice while Palewski conducts his search, a killer has murdered two dealers connected to the Bellini masterpiece. Soon the Polish Ambassador becomes a target of this unknown murderer, but Yashim working from the shadows keeps his friend safe while trying to obtain the painting.

The third Yashmin historical thriller (see THE JANISSARY TREE and THE SNAKE STONE) is an enjoyable fascinating look at Venice and at the Ottoman Empire. Interestingly Yashim plays second fiddle for much of the early part of the novel, but once he comes on stage, he and his adversary battle in am electrifying contest. Fans will enjoy this terrific nineteenth century mystery due in part to the investigations into the portrait and the killer, but also because of the deep sense of time and place.

Harriet Klausner

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ottoman-era investigators invade Venice..., March 12, 2009

By 

S. McGee (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bellini Card: A Novel (Hardcover)

Both Yahsim the eunuch and Palewski the Polish ambassador to the Sublime Porte (aka the court of the Ottoman Empire) have problems. Yahsim has been commanded by the new young Sultan to track down and retrieve the portrait of his ancestor, Mehmet, who first conquered Constantinople in 1453. It's a problematic and potentially risky assignment for many reasons, and Yahsim is strongly advised not to venture abroad. But Count Palewski, on the other hand, is feeling more disrespected than usual by the diplomatic community -- his invitation to the festivities for the Sultan's ascension haven't arrived. But then, Poland, divided up between Russia, Austria-Hungary, Germany and other nations, doesn't really exist as a country.

Yahsim commissions Palewski to go to Venice in his place, disguised as an American art collector, and thus begins a remarkable and mysterious adventure for the Polish exile, who thus far in Goodwin's three-book series has played second fiddle to Yahsim in their investigations. Pawlewski duels, literally and rhetorically, with his Venetian neighbor, a beautiful noblewoman, displays his chivalrous streak and risks both his life and freedom in the pursuit of the Bellini. Others involved peripherally in his quest do lose their lives in the murky canals of a Venice long past its prime (and still occupied by the Austrians). But just in the nick of time, Yahsim arrives on the scene to resolve the mystery...

As usual, Goodwin's novel is packed full of all the color of the locales in which he sets the stories. Yahsim, an avid cook, introduces us by proxy to the delights of Ottoman-era cuisine, even as he mourns the destruction of ancient tiles and savors the beauties of Arabic calligraphy. None of that atmospheric detail is allowed to detract from the action, however, and the result is a great historical mystery in a series that shows no signs of flagging.

For those who have enjoyed Goodwin's novels, I'd strongly suggest picking up a copy of his history of the Ottomans that started it all, for him as an author and me as a reader, Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire (It even sent me traveling back to Istanbul...) It's one of those rare histories that is written in as lively a tone as the average novel, and the research for that book shows just why Goodwin is so at home writing about early 19th century Istanbul and the machinations of the Ottoman court. His equally obvious comfort in writing about Venice comes as a pleasant surprise, and while I relish the daring duo's adventures in Istanbul, it makes me hope that Yahsim and Palewski venture abroad again in some future instalment of their adventures.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Baffling plot, January 2, 2011

By 

RDG "Robert" (South Bend, IN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bellini Card (Investigator Yashim) (Paperback)

I wanted to like this book very much. The historical details and local color were great, both for Istanbul and for Venice. But the plot was just baffling. So many characters (some of whom turn out to be one another, no less!), so many hidden motives and agendas, all of which would be fine if the author ever stopped, somewhere near the end, to explain what exactly had happened. But he never does! Worse, he gives hints along the way that things are not as they seem (of the "afterwards, it was this moment he would remember, when it became clear he was being cheated..." variety) but never quite resolves what the hint was about. Various people are killed (by one killer? more than one?), various deceptions are staged (to what end, exactly? it's not clear) and various revelations are revealed, but I honestly couldn't keep track of who was who or why any of it mattered.

In the interview with the author at the back of the book, Goodwin says he doesn't plot out his books in advance, but just starts to write and hopes he wraps up all his loose ends by the end of the story. It shows.