Customer Reviews

The Botticelli Secret (Reading Group Gold)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

The hype on the back cover of this novel reads, "Dan Brown meets Sarah Dunant." I've read much of Dan Brown's work, and though I'm only familiar with Sarah Dunant by reference, it seems that for once the hype is right. This extraordinary novel will both frustrate and delight, but it will keep your attention and interest from beginning to end.

The story is about "secrets" embedded in Botticelli's famous painting, La Primavera; the painting tells, in allegory, the story of a sinister high-level conspiracy among the rulers of the Italian city-states at the end of the 15th century. What is fascinating is that the story is told in the first person by a protagonist who makes a living as a common prostitute. If you are offended by graphic descriptions and coarse language, this is not the book for you, and that would be a shame indeed, for the profanity and explicitness are anything but gratuitous, being an essential part of what is best about this book: the characters.

Indeed, although Dan Brown creates tighter and more credible plots (more about that later), Marina Fiorato creates multi-dimensional, well-crafted, believable characters. Furthermore, she handles character development through the course of the story in a way that Dan Brown can't touch. The protagonist, in particular, grows and develops in a compelling and meaningful manner; the lesser characters are also well-drawn and real. The story is good, even great, but the characters are the glory of this book, and will keep you involved until the very end. In fact, this may be a book to read twice; you surely won't be able to put it down the first time, so you might want to go back again to savor the subtleties and nuances that are found on nearly every page.

The downside is, unfortunately, the plotting. Although the plot is clever and fascinating, there are a few holes, including one gigantic lapse which, in topsy-turvy fashion, the author recognizes and then makes into a turning point in the middle of the novel! It's a bit too much and if everything else were not so good, it would have spoiled the story. I won't spoil it here, but you can't miss it and it will leave you scratching your head in puzzlement.

The main driver for the book--- the painting containing the secrets--- lacks motivation. If a group of Italian city-state rulers were to plot together, they would all know what's going on, and they would have neither the need, nor the willingness to risk, encoding these dire secrets in a famous artist's painting. While this mechanism makes the plot go and certainly holds our interest (again a la Dan Brown), it simply doesn't add up.

But this, after all, is adventure fiction, and we should make some allowances and overlook some errors. On the flip side, the author's research is meticulous, detailed, scholarly, and engaging all at once. She manages to avoid the dryness of, say, Umberto Eco, while still imparting huge amounts of historical and cultural information.

This is a book to read, and reread, to enjoy and ponder. It's a winner, pure and simple.

Or is it something else altogether? The basis of the novel and the mystery is Boticelli's famous painting Primavera. Asked to sit as "Flora" prostitute Luciana Vetra unknowingly says something that sends the artist into a fit of anger, and sent off without pay she decides to steal a smaller version of the painting (the artist would use this to *map out* his larger painting), but it doesn't take long before people are dropping dead left and right around her. Luciana eventually hooks up with a very good looking monk who goes by Brother Guido (who of course has not taken final vows yet) and the game is on to solve the pieces of the puzzle in the Primavera and stop "The Seven" before.......

Well, you know I can't tell you that don't you? This was a lot of fun and I enjoyed watching Luciana and Guido unraveling the clues that abound in every portion of this painting, as well as their own secret pasts (both are doozies). The story takes the pair from Florence to Pisa, Rome, Venice, Milan, Naples, near death on the high seas, a massive earthquake and even a spooky castle in the high mountains with a secret underground as they are chased by the ever-so-creepy leper with a talent for murder.

While I did enjoy the pairing of Luciana and Guido, I really would have liked to see less banter and more sexual chemistry between the two - this book is definitely heavy on the mystery and light on the romance. I also didn't care for the way Luciana was written, prostitute or no her language was extremely course and filled with potty words and I didn't warm to her as much as I should have. I also found her a tad bit too modern - using phrases like "get a move on" that just felt out of place - and for those reasons I'm knocking this one down a half star to 3.5/5. It was fascinating reading the minor bits and pieces that make up the whole painting (do read up on it), I'd love to see it in real life although most of those details would have gone right over my ignorant head. A very enjoyable and fast read and a nice mystery that keeps you guessing, but not quite up to four star material.

I love this book and can't believe the other harsh reviews. It is very entertaining - I found it exciting and funny. I often laughed out loud while reading. It is not historically accurate but it is a lot of fun. I find that some historical fiction writers try too hard to fill you in on the historical details. She did a great job of balancing details about the cities without losing the plot.

"I couldn't put it down" is a description that I cannot apply to this book...while reading it, I put it down often and retreated into the welcome experience of reading other, better, well-written books. I think I read eight others in the course of plowing through this shallow story.

Plow on I eventually did, and the second half of the book was somewhat more interesting than the first half, but I still can't recommend this as an enjoyable read. The first half of the book does little to establish any depth in the characters of Luciana Vetra and Brother Guido - they're interaction is superficial, the growing "attraction" between them simply not believable.

Then there's the story line. Obscure clues found hidden in the unfinished cartone stolen by Luciana lead to effortless conclusions that lead the pair unerringly to the various cities portrayed in the picture. The first half of the narrative is a litany of their travels from place to place. Then there are the huge "jumps" in the story line that come out of the blue and seem so disjointed. Example: upon sighting the leper for the first time, Luciana lists (she uses an annoying habit of listing things in threes throughout the book) the following which she suddenly suspects but can not prove: that the leper had been following them since Florance, that he was the one who had killed four other characters and that he had been assigned to kill them, too. All this with one glance, no previous mention of him in the book, no other explanation; after that single listing of things she "just knows", the leper is dropped and not mentioned again until later in the narrative. The plotting is clunky, and in the end, the story line simply doesn't provide a coherent whole.

My recommendation would be to pass on this one.

This heavy yet easy to read historical/mystery was a lot of fun and I enjoyed watching Luciana and Guido unraveling the clues that plagued them. The story takes our main characters across Europe, eluding the creepy villian and escaping many interesting plot twists. Of course, as someone raised by Italian's...I found the Medicis and Renaissance Italy a great backdrop for this historical indulgance. At times the language felt a bit "off" for Italy in the 1400's, but it still worked ok for me. I also didn't mind Luciana's fairly filth-riddled dialogue...But, if you are easily offended by a potty mouth, you might not appreciate her as a lead character in a novel.

I adored the relationship between Luciana and Brother Guido. I thought the romantic mix of sinner and potential Saint was really well put together. Her filthy mouth and his virtuous, Godly ways were almost riotously combined. I love a great opposites attract scenario, and who would imagine a romance between a prostitute and a monk working out??! Looking forward to more from this author!

This may be the worst "historical" novel I've ever read. The writing is awkward, the plot ridiculous, the use of Italian full of mistakes, the suspense totally manufactured, and the main character just plain revolting.

In the back matter the author talks about how she "loves" her main character, the prostitute Luciana Vetro, which is proof enough that authors should NEVER fall in love with the characters they create-- it makes them blind to that character's faults, and to the fact that their beloved might not be quite as lovable to the reader.

Luciana isn't merely foul-mouthed-- she's disgusting in every possible way. I don't mind profanity when it's used in a convincing manner, but this potty-mouthed woman talks like a 21st-century adolescent who's just now discovered "dirty" words and feels compelled to pepper every sentence with them.

And what can you say about an author who CONSCIOUSLY adopts an extremely annoying verbal tic? Fiorato has Luciana make a habit of listing three things she knows about nearly every subject-- person, place or thing-- that comes up in the narrative. This gets old after the second repetition and intolerable after the tenth.

But what I found most offensive about this seemingly endless novel is how retrograde the author's attitudes toward sex really are. It's depressing to find a youthful, FEMALE writer buying into the oldest of male chauvinist fantasies--that prostitutes are merely lusty, happy-go-lucky women who love sex and can hardly wait to jump into bed with their next client. Her description of Luciana as "pr--k hungry" just about turned my stomach! If the author had done any research at all into the grim realities of prostitution she'd have come to a very different conclusion. For starters, she might want to read the novel "The Crimson Petal and the White," written by a male author and set in Victorian London--a book that reveals just how brutal a prostitute's life really is, and the kind of desperate economic and social conditions that lead women into that life.

As for the happy ending--I won't reveal it, but suffice to say I figured it out in the first few pages. Believe me, you'll soon KNOW who she marries and lives-happily-ever-after with, which pretty much ruins the suspense while adding to the general level of incredulity the plot generates.

This book is a waste of time and money. Glad I got my copy from my local library.

Definitely a better read when compared with her first novel, "The Glassblower of Murano ($9.99 Ed.)," "The Botticelli Secret" should please most readers of this genre, which I would define as definitely "historical lite." The category "Lite" does not imply that the novel does not have its complexities--it does--the zealous study of Botticelli's masterpiece, "La Primavera" employs much classical allusion and imaginative insinuation that compliments the author's ability to turn a conjecture into an entire novel that succeeds to entertain for most of its 500+ pages. However, to be considered a purely historical novel that would compare admirably and assuredly with a "Wolf Hall: A Novel (Man Booker Prize)," a "Forever Amber" or a "Katherine", "The Botticelli Secret" would need to expand its knowledge base and tighten its grasp of Tuscan Italian to be thought plausible. Unfortunately, Fiorato gets lost in her own comedy: a Florentine whore poses for Botticelli, steals a working study of "La Primavera," hooks up with a handsome monk and starts a chain reaction that results in a harried trek through at least five of the Cinquecentro's City States to uncover a secret alliance revealed through an ambitious study of the figures in the painting.

Whether or not this scenario rings with the well-researched truth of a more "serious" novel doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of ranking a book based on reading pleasure. The exploits of Luciana and her tantalizing monk Guido as they romp through the Italian peninsula makes for more than adequate page-turning adventure despite the rather odd premise that the whore is really a dignitary given away at birth by an overly ambitious mother who manipulatively rules the roost in her home town of Venice. Luciana's demimondaine humor offends at times, but otherwise can seem ribald in an almost Chaucerian style. Again, the main character and narrator, Luciana, may not be everyone's cup of tea--her comments and insights may seem burdensome but are "miraculously" balanced by the erudite monk--but then what would one expect from a gal that has run away from the convent as a preteen living on the streets?

The mystery/conspiracy itself intrigues as does Fiorato's descriptions of the important Renaissance cities, making "The Botticelli Secret" a good entertainment for those who like all things Italian and a puzzle involving artists, their work and their patrons.

Bottom line? "The Botticelli Secret" is by no means in the same genre than the faster-paced modern thriller "The Da Vinci Code." It will definitely appeal to those who relate to a
strong female narrator who eventually finds romance while remaining somewhat independent and a leader in her own right. Beware of a literary license used to full advantage with regard to historical accuracy and some credibility issues that arise when considering the character's background and her ability to coerce the powerful men around her in spite of her lack of formal education and pretty manners. Recommended for those who enjoy romantic historical fiction with an emphasis on the "fiction."
Diana Faillace Von Behren
"reneofc"

I do like a good mystery, and in that way,the Botticelli Secret did not disappoint. I found it to have a very Dan Brown feel to it, much the same as I found in his books The Davinchi Code and also in Angels and Demons. However the main characters Luciana and Guido (a prostitute and a monk) are not Sophie and Robert Langdon. I mean - Luciana has quite a reputation for herself and Guido is a man of the cloth....

however - in that sense the book works, and is mainly why I kept reading.

Where I struggled is that the first 250 or so pages, when Luciana is still quite rough around the edges, the language is foul, some of the acts that the reader is allowed to "witness" is stomach turning, and there is a point where I had to skim in hopes of the books tone changing as Luciana spends more time with Guido.
It does.

The second half of the book shows that Luciana's heart is softening and I was able to relax more into the details of the read and beauty of the details as they travel around trying to solve the clues that are given within this amazing (and real) painting. I enjoyed the clues and the solving of them and liked the second half of the read a lot more than the first half.

Overall, if you can hang in there, the book is filled with colorful details of the cities they travel fifteenth century Renaissance Italy.

Honestly I don't want to waste a lot of time with a long review here... The writing was poor, the storyline left much to be desired, and honestly i found the character of Luciana to be off putting. I think it had something to do with the way she "acts" and her annoying habit of listing everything in threes. If you like dan brown esque stories, there are a bunch on my reviewed list that were better. Most recently I would recommend either Black Rain: A Thriller which is a bit more adventure oriented or The Book of Spies as alternatives.

"The Botticelli Secret" seems to be drawing comparisons to "The Da Vinci Code" due primarily to the fact that the plot revolves around the close explication of an artwork's symbology and hidden agenda. But this book is nothing like anything by Dan Brown; it is charming and humorous rather than ponderous and heavy-handed; the author's love for all things Italian shines forth on every page. The plot is indeed somehwat preposterous at times but rolls forward at the speed of an Indiana Jones movie. The potty-mouthed heroine is both original and lovable. An absolute delight!