The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 23 May 2008
by Donna Leon
Venice is today a small (some might say constricted) city-state overrun by foreign tourists hoping to catch a sliver of the city's legendary beauty and mystery. The permanent residents of Venice, though, are aloof. Some of them can trace their ancestry, their wealth, or even some noble lineage, back for many centuries. The small population of Venetians is an insular society, a city under seige from the modern world, but also standing as a symbol of ancient gentility, style and beauty. All this makes Venice a city difficult to write about if you approach it at all from the outside. Donna Leon is an American writer who has lived in Venice for many years. Her Wikipedia entry, though, claims that her books have not been translated into Italian. Why would that be? This mystery novel is definitely entertaining, but there is something that sets the writing at a small distance from its subject. Leon writes about Venice, but, in a way, she can not write of Venice. No matter how long she lives there, she may not truly penetrate the deeply veiled culture that resides there. And so, we meet Leon's regular protagonist, Commissario Brunetti, a mellow and dedicated police officer who, in this story, unravels the cold case of the kidnapping and disappearance of a young man of a rich and noble family. The Count Lorenzoni has restored his family's reputation after some collaboration in World War 2, but his business dealings, like so much in corporate or official Italian life, are somewhat shady. His son is a sort of playboy courier for the company. His body is found in the foothills of the Dolomites, and the secrets his kidnapping were meant to cover up are bound to now be exposed by the diligent work of our Commissario. There are numerous characters in the book, many of which are developed through other books in this series, which has now been going on for more than a decade. Many of them are sympathetic, like Brunetti and his family, or like his coworkers and underlings in the police department. They all suffer the injustices of Italian bureaucratic life, and many of them lament the sorry state of our world. They are also often oppressed by the petty dealings of people building their own little empires, like the Lorenzonis and the dissipated rich nobles who are like them. Leon's characters are intelligent and driven in the Venice she creates. Her writing is fast-moving and entertaining, if a little superficial at times. It is a taut mystery in an exotic locale. But why, the reader wonders, not translated into Italian? Would a true Venetian be disappointed? It probably doesn't matter with a gentle, quick moving, alert and even compassionate novel such as this.