Rising above it in the distance, some one hundred yards away, the theater's grand entrance wing appeared to be shrouded in mist. John Berendt. Refresh and try again. Perfect. Opera was just a form of relaxation, and anyway it was cheaper to take a box at the opera than heat a whole palace for an evening.". As he picked up the telephone to call his wife, Girolamo Marcello suddenly remembered that the ball was scheduled for this very night. The son of two writers, John Berendt grew up in Syracuse, New York. It was early February, in the middle of the peaceful lull that settles over Venice every year between New Year's Day and Carnival. On this particular day, in fact, he had risen at his usual hour of 4:30 A.M., convinced as always that the pieces he was about to make would be more beautiful than any he had ever made before. Seen from above, Venice resembled a jigsaw puzzle of terra-cotta rooftops. Except for Campo San Fantin, a small plaza at the front of the theater, the Fenice was hemmed in by old and equally flammable buildings, many of them attached to it or separated from it by only four or five feet. This year it was to be a masked ball, based on the theme of Carnival, and it would be held in the Rainbow Room on the sixty-fifth floor of Rockefeller Center. I read Berendt’s book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and I absolutely loved it, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 19, 2015. Marcello spoke with a gentle bemusement and without any trace of cynicism. ", The taxi driver shrugged. It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness. "It's too late," said one. 11 cds. A cheap copy for me to read over Christmas. He earned a B.A. Top subscription boxes – right to your door, © 1996-2021, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. It was interesting to learn about the city's history and art, as well as its present day politics and culture. In 1996, a fire broke out somewhere inside the empty Fenice opera house in Venice. magazine: who attended what party in what palace etc. It was seven years ago that Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil achieved a record-breaking four-year run on the New York Times bestseller list. The Ezra Pound and Save Venice incidents largely involve dubious Americans with huge egos that need stroking. The loss of the Fenice, where five of Verdi's operas premiered, is a catastrophe for Venetians. THE CITY OF FALLING ANGELS. Even in these side stories, however, I never lost confidence that Berendt would bring them together in the end. The Segusos lived on the third floor of Ca' Capello, a sixteenth-century house in the heart of Venice. Written by the author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil ( which I have not read) the author describes his move to Venice right after the fire and details how the past history of Venice affects its current history. It was a foggy night, and the image of the decrepit walls of the opera house standing through the mist as we walked through the square left a strong imprint on my mind. The author, as he did in his smash best-seller. John Berendt is a former magazine writer and his first book "Midnight In The Garden of Good And Evil" was a fascinating peek at Savannah society as well as a peek inside the judicial system - following trials of Jim Williams for murder - tried multiple times for the same murder and acquitted each time. She rushed to the telephone and dialed 115 for the fire brigade. he said. To see what your friends thought of this book, I started this book a few months ago, loved it, continued reading it, continued loving it, then put it down for a few months before ever finishing it. Archimede Seguso had been making glass since the age of eleven, and by the time he was twenty, he had earned the nickname "Mago del Fuoco" (Wizard of Fire). Gondolas lay tethered to poles and covered in blue tarpaulin. The author relates everything that is great and not so great about Venice. Just a disclaimer: I read that one when I was about 14, so perhaps my tastes have just changed. He was the first glassmaker ever to see his work honored with an exhibition in the Doge's Palace in St. Mark's Square. Often, however these digressions were more interesting to me than the central story. . The problem with the book is, although it paints a vivid picture of Venice, it doesn’t grab the reader like Berendt’s previous book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. This books starts well with excellent eyewitness descriptions of the fire that destroyed the famous Fenice opera house in January 1996, and this is followed up later by accounts of the long drawn-out investigation of the causes of the fire, with its oscillating conclusions, and the labyrinthine bureaucracy that surrounded reconstruction, and which contributed to long delay of seven years before the opera house was reopened. I listened to this on audio because I think Holter Graham is an excellent reader, and I think I liked the book, too. Moments later they came running out. Can’t say I’d recommend this over anything else I’ve read recently, but perhaps I’ll feel less strongly about that after some time…. ISBN-13: 9780143036937 Summary The author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil returns after more than a decade to give us an intimate look at the "magic, mystery, and decadence" of the city of Venice and its inhabitants.. The opera house was being restored, and was supposed to reopen within a month. Venetians had Venice all to themselves. She noticed that the air had become hazy, and she mused aloud that a winter fog had set in. of Venice's famed historic opera house, the Fenice--and the byzantine aftermath of this great loss to the city. Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2009. We learn a lot about the burning of the Fenice opera house, Ezra Pound's estate, and everyday life in Venice. Brodsky had been a passionate lover of Venice and a friend and houseguest of Marcello's. Two fireboats managed to navigate to a water-filled canal a short distance from the Fenice. The Segusos' house was only one of many buildings close to the Fenice. Whilst this book is not quite as good as Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil it is of profound interest to anyone interested in Venice, heritage or people. THE CITY OF FALLING ANGELS opens on the evening of January 29, 1996, when a dramatic fire destroys the historic Fenice opera house. Leaks sprayed from the couplings, but the firemen carried the linked hoses, such as they were, up to the rooftops around the Fenice anyway. Inevitable that this would be compared to Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Berendt's book book covered much more of course, the opera house fire, political feuds, quirky residents, and more. 13 hrs. "Let's go up and see what's happened," said Marcello. And, without trying to be facetious or condescending, it is a lovely book to read at bedtime. The Fenice itself was dark. Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2018. Sorry, John. The enormity of what was happening outside his window stunned Signor Seguso. Just as she started to lower the curtain, Signora Seguso saw a flash. Read free book excerpt from The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt, page 1 of 6 The book tells the story of some interesting inhabitants of Venice, Italy, whom the author met while living there in the months following a fire which destroyed the historic La Fenice opera house in 1996. This book was slow going. Signor and Signora Seguso had always taken a box for the season, and over the years they had been given increasingly desirable locations until they finally found themselves next to the royal box. ), and the bland portrait of, Its over!!! It married a mystery with quirky characters, with history - all of the components that made "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" truly great. What a great book. The loss of the Fenice, where five of Verdi's operas premiered, is a catastrophe for Venetians. Very well done vignettes on Venetian history as promptef by the fire of the opera house. Signor Seguso was aware, too, that the scenery workshop just across the canal from his house was stocked with solvents and, most worrisome of all, cylinders of propane gas that were used for welding and soldering. The empty canal would make it impossible for fireboats to reach the Fenice, and, worse than that, it would deprive them of a source of water. For seventy-five years, Signor Seguso had stood in front of a blazing-hot glassworks furnace-ten, twelve, eighteen hours a day-holding a heavy steel pipe in his hands, turning it to prevent the dollop of molten glass at the other end from drooping to one side or the other, pausing to blow into it to inflate the glass, then laying it across his workbench, still turning it with his left hand while, with a pair of tongs in his right hand, pulling, pinching, and coaxing the glass into the shape of graceful vases, bowls, and goblets. I found it good and absorbing reading but I am a historian . Thank you, Holter Graham, for not doing Italian accents! He never let the story out of his control, but remained omnicient as both author and protagonist (a word I feel comfortable using even though this is a work of non-fiction). Every available plot on the burial island of San Michele had been spoken for years ago. SA Berendt's first visit to Venice after beginning to think of writing a book about the city happened just after a fire destroyed the historic and magnificent opera house. A very quirky angle to write in such a way. The City of Falling Angels NPR coverage of The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt. The floors in the entrance wing had collapsed, one onto another. They aimed their nozzles at flames burning furiously in a top-floor window of the theater, but the water pressure was too low. My grandfather loved going to the opera, but he didn't give a damn about music. Often, however these digressions were more interesting to me than the central story. While technically a piece of non-fiction, the narrative structure of this book makes it seem more an interwoven collection of short vignettes. Really wanted there to be a lurid murder like in Berendt's Midnight, but I guess there are limits to what a literary non-fiction author can do for the sake of his craft. The arrangement is purely social.". Something about a burnt-down opera house just doesn’t excite the same tension and thrills that good old fashioned homicide does. An interesting book about the town of Venice and the people who actually live there- as opposed to the tourists. Earlier in the day, Count Marcello had learned that the exiled Russian poet and Nobel laureate Joseph Brodsky had died suddenly of a heart attack, at fifty-five, in New York. Both stories tell you much about what is wrong with Venice. A brilliant Venetian book even if you haven't been ! More By and About This Author. Their hoses were not long enough to reach around the intervening buildings, however, so the firemen dragged them through the kitchen window at the back of the Antico Martini and out through the dining room into Campo San Fantin. ), and the bland portrait of Venice. by Penguin Books. There really wasn't enough there for discussion. THE CITY OF FALLING ANGELS. Lightning DOES strike twice, though perhaps not for John Berendt. Shortly after eleven, a helicopter appeared above St. Mark's, swung low over the mouth of Grand Canal, and scooped up a tankful of water. "Midnight" is one of my favorite books- next time, try New Orleans. Then he would close the curtains again, and a servant would come from the house with a basket of chicken and some wine. "But I would suggest," Marcello went on, "that if they want to rebuild the place as it was in its prime-and by that I mean as a social place, a meeting place-they should make it into a great discotheque for young people. 'Good! WHEN THE LIGHTS WENT OUT, Count Girolamo Marcello was midsentence in a conversation over dinner with his son on the top floor of his palace less than a minute's walk from the front of the Fenice. They had to collect water from the Grand Canal and bring it over by helicopter - by then, the opera house was in flames and there was no way to stop it. They were large, muscular hands, the hands of an artisan whose work demanded physical strength. Marcello went back upstairs to his rooftop altana, this time fortified with a bottle of grappa, a video camera, and a bucket of water in case any of the airborne embers should happen to land on his roof. THE FENICE WAS NOW RINGED BY A TUMULT OF SHOUTS and running footsteps. Men in the Seguso family had been glassmakers since the fourteenth century. Suddenly another enormous boom shook the ground. As travel writing, City of Falling Angels is superb. Penguin Press $25.95 (414p) ISBN 978-1-59420-058-8. Like Savannah in his previous work, Venice takes on its own identity and that is critical to the plot. This book is not a shot of vodka or even a can of diet coke, but it’s a very nice cup of tea or warm glass of milk. THE AIR STILL SMELLED OF CHARCOAL when I arrived in Venice three days after the fire. There was a problem loading your book clubs. I was rewarded for my perseverence. The famed opera house had burned in January, 1996 but there had been no change to the site sin. A powerful updraft sent chunks of burning embers, some as big as shoe boxes, arcing over Venice like comets. Enjoyed it, though, and oh how it made me want to be a mysterious American expat occupying a palazzo... Audiobook note: Well done. When I saw that he followed up this book with a book about Venice, The City of Fallen Angels, I bought it and it has decorated by TBR shelves ever since. 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