The Madman of Venice [Hardcover]

Sophie Masson (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 276 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press (August 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375855386
• ISBN-13: 978-0375855382
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Born in Indonesia of French parents, Sophie Masson was sent to live with her paternal grandmother in Toulouse, France, when she was just a baby and lived there till she was nearly five, when her parents came back from Indonesia and took her to Australia. All the rest of her childhood, the family stayed in Australia, with frequent trips back to France, and this dual heritage underpins a good deal of Sophie's work.
Sophie's first book appeared in 1990 and since then she has published more than fifty novels, mainly for children and young adults, but with several for children as well. her books have been published in Australia, the USA, UK, France, Germany, Italy, and many other countries. She has also had many short stories and articles published in newspapers, magazines, and online journals. She is a regular contributor to the writing blog Writer Unboxed(www.writerunboxed.com)
Sophie Masson lives in the high, cool New England tableland area of Northern New South Wales, Australia, with her husband. She has three grown-up children. She holds a BA and M.Litt in French and English literature, and is on the committee of the Australian Society of Authors.
Sophie's website is at www.sophiemasson.org

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Dull, September 16, 2010

By 

Miz Ellen "all the letters of my real name" (Bovine Universe) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Madman of Venice (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

I wanted to like this well-meaning YA novel, but whenever the author had successfully engaged my interest she would cut to another scene and proceed to tell her story in the most uninteresting way possible rather than to show us her characters in action.

My other complaint is that despite the historical setting there was little effort to make the characters congruent with the time. In that era, teenagers were regarded as adults, rather than children.

My breaking point came at the middle of the book. Rather than allow the girl character to discover that the boy/young man loves her, the author has a minor character tell the girl all about it. Why spend half the book making a big deal of the fact that the guy is too shy to declare himself and then blow all the dramatic possibility of that like this?

And could it be that continually asking questions might not be the best way to create dramatic tension in the reader? Why not allow your heroine to ask dozens of them before breakfast and engage in hokey theorizing about the investigation without a shred of evidence? Could it be some readers will actually stand for this? Should I?

This book features well-meaning characters and a plot about pirates, abductions and the Jewish community in Venice. It's kinda sorta okay. I'm not a big fan of "okay" in literature for young people. Seems to me they deserve only the best.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for the Target Group, October 8, 2010

By 

Betty K - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Madman of Venice (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

Set in the early 17th century, this young adult novel is the story of Ned Fletcher, an orphan taken in by a wealthy English merchant as a clerk and bookkeeper. In love with his patron's daughter, Celia, Ned is a dreamer who loves to write plays and poetry. He's managed to see several of Shakespeare's plays at the Globe Theatre and is therefore delighted when his benefactor decides to include both Celia and himself on a trip to Venice to investigate a couple of mysteries. The novel is inspired by two of Shakespeare's plays and may very well act as an introduction to the bard's writings to the target group.

I think if I were a girl of 12 or 13, I would love this book. It has romance, mystery, travel and adventure. The arc of the plot is cleverly carried through to the end and the settings are very well done. I've visited Venice and the descriptions of both exteriors and interiors of the fabled architecture of that city are well portrayed. So are the wonders of gliding through the canals. As well there are the subtle lessons of tolerance versus "man's inhumanity to man." So for the early teenager, the book is both entertaining and educational.

For the older, more sophisticated teenager or the adult reader, not so much. A more critical, advanced reader would definitely pick up on a few problems. For example there are many anachronisms such as "she's a piece of work," "small time crook," and "dead in the water." Also both the narration and dialogue are often overly simplistic and sound almost childish. And yet, I found myself eager to finish the book to see where it goes. So perhaps these things are deliberate by the author because she knows the genre and I really don't.

Based on these thoughts and a readership of ages 11 to 15, I am going to give it a good rating.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, August 31, 2010

By 

Aviva and Avi Rosenberg (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Madman of Venice (Hardcover)

I was not at all impressed. Weak, contrived storyline, overdone dialogue, wooden and predictable characters. The mystery was melodramatic and shallow. Honestly, this book was just stupid, and I don't say that lightly. There are much better historical mysteries, and much better novels set in Venice, if that's what you're looking for. DOn't bother with this one.