Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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83 of 88 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderfully written, March 3, 2006
This book was so good that I read it in one sitting. In this book Dunant returns to the place and time she does best: Renaissance Italy. This time the story takes place in Rome and Venice in 1527, and focuses upon Fiametta Bianchi and her dwarfish servant, Bucino Teodaldo. In the Company of the Courtesan is told from his point of view.
The book opens in Rome. Fiametta, a successful courtesan, leaves the city with her servant and goes to Venice, the city that was famous in this time period for the courtesans that lived there. Venice is a decadent city, filled with sin and vice, and it is through this that Bucino and his mistress must wade in order for her to be successful in her chosen profession. Along the way we run into a variety of interesting characters: a servant with sticky fingers; a Jew who lives in the Jewish ghetto of Venice; a blind healer called "La Draga;" a Turk who is fascinated by Bucino's size; the poet Aretino; the artist Titian; and a variety of Fiametta's clients. Many of the characters were, of course, real people; others, of course, were not. The story that Dunant creates, which mixes what really happened with fiction, is breathtaking.
This book is well-written, and very much like The Birth of Venus, Dunant's 2004 novel that is set in Florence at the end of the fifteenth century. In the Company of the Courtesan has the same kind of qualities, but is a great book in its own way.
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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Richly Descriptive Period Piece., July 30, 2007
This book has most everything you would want in a period piece. It contains unique richly developed characters, intrigue, humor, & a deep plot. The sights, sounds, smells, & ambiance of 16th century Venice are almost lifelike. There is a fine mingling of social mores & politics that leads to many types of betrayal that keep the reader guessing. The author tells Fiammetta's story through the eyes of Bucino, a clever dwarf who shares her lodgings. He eventually will be the main character. The story begins in 1527 with the sacking of Rome. Fiammetta, is ravaged by the invaders & flees the city with Bucino{a loyal caretaker, & sardonic, resourceful spy}, with little else but the clothes on their backs, & some swallowed jewels. They reach Fiammetta's deceased mother's home in Venice. Soon La Draga, a mysterious, blind woman comes into their lives to nurse Fiammetta back to her original health & beauty.
After a long recuperation she sets out to be the highly desired Courtesan she had been back in Rome. But, clearly she has not recovered as she gets more businesslike & cold as the book advances. Her lovers & friends are well done 7 most have an impact on the general theme. The most interesting relationship in the book is between La Draga & Bucino. their relationship will eventually put Fiammetta into the background, while these two characters play out their dramatic fates. The only minor flaw is that it was a too long, had it been a bit shorter in reaching the end I would have given it 5 stars.
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37 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful book!, February 14, 2006
With this, her second foray into historical fiction, Sarah Dunant gives her readers another brilliant novel.
Obviously well researched, Dunant's depiction of the Italian Renaissance setting is so realistic as to be magical. She transports the reader to 1527 and keeps them there. This fascinating novel is well fleshed out with historical figures and events.
The story is that of Fiametta, the titular courtesan and her dwarf companion, Bucino. They lose everything they hold dear, and barely escape with their lives when Rome is sacked and destroyed around them. Fiametta's legendary beauty was damaged in an encounter with "Lutheran harpies," and the two voyage to her matriarchal home in Venice to recover.
Sadly Fiametta"s mother has long since died and nothing remains of her fortune. With the help of La Draga, an eerily blind, crippled healer, Fiametta is nursed back to health and works hard to regain her status as the high-class companion to the wealthy and titled men of her time.
All is well until an accident involving Bucino sends him seeking after La Draga. To her misfortune, his discovery of her secret ends in an accusation of witchcraft and subsequent trial.
Dunant's Venice is truly compelling, shown to the reader by the unusually astute observer Bucino, narrator of this story. At times he is companion, helper, business manager, confidant and exotic plaything. He uses his status as a dwarf to full advantage. He is quite a sympathetic character; one can't help but like him for his loyalty to his mistress. He stands by her through thick and thin, even when there is considerable danger to his own skin. Indeed his loyalty makes him reject an offer that, had he accepted, would have set him up in luxury.
The courtesan Fiametta is both vain and shallow, excellent qualities in a woman who lives by her beauty. Under her flighty facade she has a core of steel, to have survived not only the rape of Rome, but also the setbacks that awaited her in the expected haven of Venice.
Although Fiametta is a slightly lesser character, her relationship with Bucino is the backbone of the story and the heart of the book; all events in some way revolve around her. La Draga the blind healer, has a terrible secret, this and her powers leave a permanent mark on the courtesan and her dwarf.
Armchair Interviews says: Dunant's characters are absolutely irresistible.
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