Death in a Strange Country

Book Description

In Death in a Strange Country Commissario Guido Brunetti confronts a grisly sight when the body of a young American is fished out of a fetid Venetian canal. Though all the signs point to a violent mugging, something incriminating turns up in the victim's apartment that suggests the existence of a high level conspiracy—and Brunetti becomes convinced that somebody is taking great pains to provide a ready-made solution to the crime. As dark and riveting as its predecessors, Death in a Strange Country will provide Leon's growing fan base with another chilling read.

Customer Reviews:

"You are a stubborn devil, aren't you?".......2007-09-23

Donna Leon definitely caught my attention with the first book in this series, and now she has made me a fan of her wonderful work. Leon's excellence is based on three main concepts: a complex main character, an enchanting environment, and of course a well-crafted mystery. Commissario Guido Brunetti is one of the most interesting detectives I have encountered in quite some time. His personality and family life make him a character with which we can relate fairly quickly, and his uncompromising attitude towards delivering justice for those that have been wronged is one to admire. Venice is the perfect setting for this character, and allows Leon to use its canals and rich history to add mystique to the plot. And then there is the murder case, which is complex without being contrived, and keeps us interested until we find out the truth.

This novel starts at full speed, catching our interest right away, with a body floating in a canal on a quiet morning. Brunetti is soon placed in charge of the investigation and finds out that the victim is an American and that the killer was either very skilled or very lucky, since death came after a perfect stroke with a blade. When the victim is identified as a Sergeant in an army post in Vicenza, the case becomes much more complicated and Brunetti has to deal with people trying to mislead him and cover up the truth. On top of this, there is a second case, involving a robbery, which adds variety to the story and allows for the introduction of some really colorful characters.

Last time, Leon's work incorporated many aspects related to the world of Opera and classical music, and this time the canals and the way in which their currents work take center stage. As happened in the first book of this series, we get to see a fair amount of what transpires in Brunetti's family life. Leon uses the food proficiently to convey how important meals are in the Italian culture, and how this family time results in captivating interactions. We also get to witness situations in which the culture plays an important role, like fights within the police department with the subsequent grudges, or higher-ups in the department sucking up to powerful people.

I believe that there is not much more to say. This novel is definitely a winner and I recommend it without reservations! I am already looking forward to reading the next Brunetti mystery.

Cynical Digging Pays Off.......2007-09-01

If you liked Death at La Fenice, the debut of this series, you'll probably like the first 80 percent of Death in a Strange Country even better. Seldom have I experienced the joy of seeing most of the second novel in a series far exceed the debut. Unfortunately, the last 20 percent isn't nearly as good as the ending of Death at La Fenice so you will conclude on a down note.

A body floats facedown in a Venetian canal, bumping against the steps of the embankment in front of the Basilica of SS. Giovanni e Paolo. No one notices the corpse until an early rising woman peeks out to see if her husband's boat needs to be bailed out. I'm sure you can feel the rich setting that Donna Leon has wonderfully described for the beginning of the investigation. When no one can be roused on the night shift, Commissario Guido Brunetti is called at home and grumpily heads to the scene. Finding American coins in the deceased's pockets, Brunetti immediately knows he has a hot potato on his hands. Vice-Questore Patta, his superior officer, makes that point even more obvious by poking his nose into the case soon after the beginning.

When the autopsy reveals someone with expert knife skills has dispatched the young man with the American coins in his pocket, Brunetti realizes that this may not be a simple murder. The dead man's teeth show American dental work, and the police begin calling hotels but find no one missing. By analyzing some papers in the corpse's pockets, it looks like the man has come from the American base in Vicenza, near Venice. Could terrorism be involved?

Contacting the base, the MPs don't seem very interested that one of their own might be dead. Eventually, they do find that Sergeant Michael Foster, the base's public health inspector, is missing and send his superior officer, Captain Terry Peters, a female pediatrician. Captain Peters identifies Foster and seems unusually upset and inquisitive. What does she know that she's not sharing?

Traveling to the American base, Brunetti is astonished to see the lengths that Americans go to in recreating their home country on foreign soil. He's even more certain that he's being frozen out of the investigation by the Americans. A surprise find at the dead man's apartment seals that impression and makes him wonder when the attractive Captain Peters will spill the beans to him.

Although I am making this sound like this novel is all about the investigation, that's a false impression. Interspaced with the investigation, Brunetti tends to his family, and we learn a lot about their relationships and family culture. I think you'll be charmed by the Brunettis, especially the parents. They get along well and make room for one another. As with Death at La Fenice, Brunetti also has a social evening with his patrician in-laws. You'll have fun watching how Brunetti has a hard time enjoying himself in a casino.

The case seems at a dead end with key witnesses become unavailable. But a surprise resurrects the opportunity. Brunetti rapidly makes progress. The faster he unravels the mystery, the stronger the forces are that he arouses to put pressure on him to stop investigating.

The first 80 percent of the book has everything you might like in a mystery: a troubling case, unclear motives, a lack of suspects, slender clues, an amusing detective, good character development involving the detective and his family, and a delightful setting to contemplate . . . Venice.

If you don't expect much from the book's conclusion, you won't be as disappointed as I was. The quality of the first 80 percent and the excellent ending of death at La Fenice had led me to expect something brilliant. Instead, I found a cynical ending.

Donna Leon.......2007-08-31

Donna Leon has written over a dozen Commissario Guido Brunetti mysteries, all set in the lovely city of Venice which she knows better than most guidebook writers. Brunetti is a warmhearted detctive, in love with his wife and family, his city and justice. Once started in a Donna Leon mystery one has to go on to the next and the next and so as one becomes immersed in her world. I have read ten so far, started m eleventh, and worry that I have only the twelth in reserve. Her books are addictive, fascinating in their depiction of the Venetian state of mine and its many layers io corruption. Her characters are fully realized, her plots intricate, her writing silken.

Fast, Fun Mystery.......2007-07-03

Another mystery in the Comissario Brunetti mystery series! Comissario Brunetti is called in on the case of a murdered John Doe found in a Venice canal, who turns out to be on the public health staff at the local American military base in Vicenza. As he's working on the case, his supervisor pulls him off of it to work on a local robbery of a well to do Milanese who has just finished renovating a palazzo in Venice. As more people are found "murdered" Brunetti gets deeper and deeper into both cases - will he be able to solve the case before someone else is found murdered?

Donna Leon's strength is her impeccable description of Venice, the city itself and the lifestyle of it's citizens. Any lover of Venice will certainly enjoy these mysteries. The Venice setting is what keeps me coming back for more as I find the mysteries themselves to be lacking somewhat. Overall not a book that I would recommend as a "must read" but an enjoyable fast read for those who love Venice.

Interesting in Venice.......2007-01-16

I am finding these books very interesting especially since I was in Venice in May 2005. It is very easy to visulaize the setting she uses in the book so that you can easily move along in the story. The subject of the story was also very interesting and different. I plan to read more in the series.

Dressed for Death (Commissario Guido Brunetti Mysteries)

Average customer rating:

An Ironic Murder Mystery Triggers Probing Questions Leading to New Insights
Another great read
Dressed for Death
Leon Tackles Tough Subjects
Dressed for Death

Dressed for Death (Commissario Guido Brunetti Mysteries)
Donna Leon
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0143035843

Book Description

Donna Leon's Commissario Guido Brunetti series grows more popular in America with the publication of every new novel. In this installment, Brunetti's hopes of a refreshing family holiday in the mountains are once again dashed when a gruesome discovery is made in Marghera—a body so badly beaten the face is completely unrecognizable. Brunetti searches Venice for someone who can identify the corpse, but he is met with a wall of silence. Then he receives a telephone call from a contact who promises some tantalizing information. And before the night is out, Brunetti is confronting yet another appalling, and apparently senseless, death.

Customer Reviews:

An Ironic Murder Mystery Triggers Probing Questions Leading to New Insights.......2007-09-04

With Dressed for Death (originally titled as The Anonymous Venetian), the Guido Brunetti mysteries reach their full power for the first time. As with Donna Leon's earlier books, Dressed for Death features a corpse that's prepared and deposited to create maximum confusion for the police. That tiny fragment of her style becomes a launching pad for much self-examination by readers about how others think and live, including transvestite "working women" and those who employ them.

The book offers two new aspects to the series that readers will also find rewarding: Vice-Questore Patta is knocked off his smug pedestal when his wife leaves him to live with a pornographer and Patta also hires the astonishingly capable Elletra Zorzi who makes the Brunetti series much more realistic in terms of portraying police procedures.

But this book could have been better titles as, "Vacation Lost." Brunetti is about to leave for two weeks away from stifling hot Venice for the mountains when a man dressed as a woman is found dead outside of an area where female ladies of the night normally operate. For reasons only known to Patta, Brunetti is assigned to lead the investigation in nearby Mestre. Although Brunetti promises to wind up the investigation as soon as possible, he knows that he's unlikely to be able to join his family. But dutiful to a fault, he proceeds to pursue a case that others want squelched.

The investigation takes Brunetti into the seamy world of those who sell their bodies to make a living . . . and where the police are seen as the enemy rather than as protectors. Brunetti finds himself out of his depth until his wife, Paola, asks some penetrating questions that shake Brunetti's self-absorption.

But watch carefully, there are unexpected events and people populating this book . . . and each unexpected aspect has meaning for the story.

Watch out for one more thing: This book may hook you on the series so that you won't be able to escape its appeal. I don't recall reading a third mystery in a series that's as good as this one.

Why? Venice makes the stories fascinating as you see behind the surface that the tourists experience. Brunetti is a fascinating, complex, and admirable character whom you will enjoy as a detective. His family life adds to the spice. The candid assessments of other members of the police also make for much good humor. The criminals in this case are people you'll be glad to see brought to justice. The methods will be equally intriguing. You'll also explore aspects of life you don't normally think about. As a result, Ms. Leon delivers more than you should expect from even a fine mystery.

Ciao!

Another great read.......2007-04-25

All of Leon's Venice mysteries are great - they really give you a wonderful sense of place and also inform you about some areas around Venice.

I recommend reading the entire series if you are traveling to Venice.

Dressed for Death.......2007-03-21

The most annoying thing about this book is that it is also available under the title The Anonymous Venetian. So be careful when purchasing the wonderful Donna Leon Books. A couple of them have been published under different names.

Leon Tackles Tough Subjects.......2007-02-28

The air in Venice is stifling, but Leon's famous detective doesn't hesitate to dig into the most carefully guarded secrets of Italy's highest citizens to those struggling to survive as prostitutes. Without the support of his beloved family (they've gone on a well-deserved vacation without him) Brunetti doggedly follows a convoluted trail despite the loss of a fellow officer and an assortment of other personal and profesisonal obstacles. From the first scene behind the slaughterhouse, this book will show you both the beauty and grime of Venice. A terrific read.

Dressed for Death.......2006-07-20

No good deed goes unpunished as Comissario Guido Brunetti learns as this plot unravels. Appearances can be deceiving but Brunetti is not fooled by first impressions and is able to put together the pieces of this puzzle aided by his secretary Signorina Elettra and trusted fellow officers.

Average customer rating:

Beautiful prose
Superb Translation of a Novella That Seamlessly Blends Obsession With Artistic Integrity
5 Stars 3 times - Forward, Novel and Translation

Death in Venice
Thomas Mann
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0060576170
Release Date: 2005-05-31

Book Description

Published on the eve of World War I, a decade after Buddenbrooks had established Thomas Mann as a literary celebrity, Death in Venice tells the story of Gustav von Aschenbach, a successful but aging writer who follows his wanderlust to Venice in search of spiritual fulfillment that instead leads to his erotic doom.

In the decaying city, besieged by an unnamed epidemic, he becomes obsessed with an exquisite Polish boy, Tadzio. "It is a story of the voluptuousness of doom," Mann wrote. "But the problem I had especially in mind was that of the artist's dignity."

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful prose.......2007-06-15

This is a wonderful novella, written as a self-reflective piece about Mann's own life and how he imagined dying a beautiful death. The descriptions of Venice are beautiful, as are the classical references. The death scene is quite nice, turning from one perspective to another, gently.

Superb Translation of a Novella That Seamlessly Blends Obsession With Artistic Integrity.......2006-11-26

An obsessive, unfulfilled passion is at the heart of Thomas Mann's classic 1912 novella, and Michael Henry Heim's 2003 translation liberates the homoerotic elements of Mann's sometimes dense prose to make the main character more accessible to contemporary readers. Heim succeeds in bringing the story out of the academic cobwebs. The plot is light on action, as it focuses squarely on middle-aged Prussian novelist Gustav von Aschenbach as he pursues his passion for Tadzio, a young Polish boy on vacation with his family in Venice. Past his peak as a successful writer and facing his fast-approaching mortality, von Aschenbach sees Tadzio as a symbol of his own faded youth and of attractions that were never made reality in his fifty-plus years. The writer is in the middle of a book about Frederick the Great when he arrives in the sweltering heat of Venice where there is an Asiatic cholera breakout.

Although the more literal interpretation of von Aschenbach's constant pursuit can be seen as wanton lust, the real undercurrent that Mann provides is the writer's self-validation as an artist. Toward that end, Mann has his protagonist look at Tadzio as an object of irreproachable beauty, something that fulfills his need to get reacquainted with his artistic integrity. Heim's translation allows the story to get past the titillation factor into what comes across almost like a ghost story given that von Aschenbach never touches or even speaks to Tadzio. There is a sense that something transcendent will occur toward the end, but it becomes a race against time to see if von Aschenbach's fever dream becomes tangible. Mann's struggles with his own sexuality are palpable on these pages, but so is his emotional distance from the character's passions. It's this concurrent dichotomy in perspective that makes this book a classic and not something to be relegated simply to the gay fiction shelves at the bookstore. Novelist Michael Cunningham ("The Hours", "Specimen Days") wrote the introduction to the 2003 Heim edition.

5 Stars 3 times - Forward, Novel and Translation.......2006-07-18

This book deserves 3 sets of 5 stars.

The first set goes to Michael Cunningham's extraordinary forward. His insights are tremendous and well worth reading. Read them first if this is your second time through the novel, or save them for the end if this is your first time through.

The novel itself is simply a masterpiece. One of the best novels ever written, and quality per word, the best I know of. It was phenomenal when I was 20, it is even better now, 30 years later (though I do miss reading it on the Lido!)

This translation is far better than the one I read originally, and that may well be a sign of the times as much as a comment on the quality of the two translators.

Don't read too much about the book, read the book. Wonderful.

Average customer rating:

transcendant translation
A 21st Century Facelift For a Classic (Ink Fresh But Dried)
A New Translation: DEATH IN VENICE more radiant than ever!

Death in Venice
Thomas Mann
Manufacturer: Ecco
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0060576057

Book Description

The world-famous masterpiece by Nobel laureate Thomas Mann -- here in a new translation by Michael Henry Heim

Customer Reviews:

transcendant translation.......2005-11-29

A writer who undertakes to translate a complicated and nuanced work by an acknowledged literary master puts himself into an unenviable position, especially should the work have already been previously translated by another and be considered definitive. And yet Heim's update on the classic Lowe-Porter translation has made Mann's Aschenbach more fully human, more tragic and less comic, still every bit as pompous and self-justifying, more insidiously real. It's a triumph of the translator's art.

To me, anyhow, Mann's book has always been at least as much about the language, the inner self-talk of Aschenbach, as it has been about the story line or plot. It is fascinating to see how the author enters the mind of a man who has spent his life in rigid self-denial, self-deception really, and slowly - and not without considerable struggle from his ego against it - expands his consciousness. By book's end Aschenbach has not only found himself, he can no longer deny himself, he accepts himself as he is and then of course he dies. The journey he undertakes - not just from serious and constricted Germany to a holiday resort on the Lido in Venice, but from stuffy and self-important man living a lie, a life of 'despites', to allowing himself to be fully conscious of one true emotion and impulse and allowing it, even willing it to take him entirely over, to free him from himself, is the thing.

Well, it's a spellbinding book, and one which rewards close rereading.

A 21st Century Facelift For a Classic (Ink Fresh But Dried).......2004-06-25

I don't have much more to add to Grady Harp's effusive praise, except to say that I pretty much agree with his main points. I first read the classic H.T. Lowe Porter translation in college and liked it then . . . anything for a thorough expose of what it means--or necessarily used to mean--to be gay and aging. Even Lowe Porter's fusty Edwardian strains, imparting dignity and Olympian tragedy to the drama, seemed apt at the time for a life--in the middle of another pestilence--that seemed to offer no happy ending.

But since then we've had Will and Grace and countless gay characters, mostly minor, in films and on TV--and one of the great things is that it's okay to laugh about it all. Even at what we in the community used to call tragic and sometimes in our bitchier moments still do. This translation invites us to smile, and even occasionally howl. By giving Aschenbach an obsession with the Greek gods (toward the end he uses the words god and godlike about a dozen times in two pages), Mann not only shows us what was required at the time as a good alibi or cover for homosexual tendencies (not even "identities")--"classical culture" and "noble classicism" and so on: everything that involved nude boys and swimming hole frolics and attention served to youth and beauty in young beauties--but also gave us in the future (inadvertantly, I don't know, since I don't read German) the keys to understanding a period in which so-called bourgeois culture needed its literature and high art to justify the ancients' curious sexual habits. An almost neurasthenic obsession with youth and health and beauty being an ironic side feature of cultured life.

The result for Mann, in one instance, is a wonderfully dry scene in which the old writer goes to the barber and frowns at his "pinched face" in the mirror, thereby unleashing a torrent of rationales from the barber for working his own art on the aging artist: dye job, little curl here and there, rouge. It's an astoundingly paced and worded moment, and what it leads up to is more dramatic and complex than I remembered in the most famous version. It's not so much about loneliness and a necessarily tragic life, it turns out in this makeover, as about the way we hide ourselves, cloak ourselves, in the identities the world wants to see. That's the tragedy Mann's getting at. Now the yellowing lenses of post-Victorianism have been lifted to reveal this more clearly.

So, three cheers for Michael Henry Heim--and five stars!

A New Translation: DEATH IN VENICE more radiant than ever!.......2004-06-20

For those legions of readers who consider Thomas Mann's DEATH IN VENICE one of the pinnacles of 20th Century literature, welcome to the feast! Michael Henry Heim has restudied and again translated this brief but poignant novella with an English version more in tune with Mann's novella and certainly, finally free from all the societal homophobic restrictions that have shrouded previous translations. This is the tale of a writer - Gustav von Aschenbach - in his fifties who feels the need for exotic travels to break his writer's block, and after many aborted attempts to find the right place, comes to Venice and not only falls under its spell but also finds his sublimated desires for pure beauty as focused on young men awakened in his encounter with the young Polish boy Tadzio. This story has been translated into other languages, transformed into film by Luchino Visconti and made into the last opera of Sir Benjamin Britten. But though the simple story has captivated our minds for many years, it has never been presented in so eloquent a fashion as in this Heim translation. To wit: "On a personal level, too, art is life intensified: it delights more deeply, consumes more rapidly; it engraves the traces of imaginary and intellectual adventure on the countenance of its servant and in the long run, for all the monastic calm of his external existence, leads to self-indulgence, over refinement, lethargy, and a restless curiosity that a lifetime of wild passions and pleasures could scarcely engender." When he first encounters Tadzio "...he was infused with a paternal affection, the attraction that one who begets beauty by means of self-sacrifice [a writer] feels for one who is inherently beautiful." And "Was it not common knowledge that the sun diverts our attention from the intellectual to the sensual? It benumbs and bewitches both reason and memory such that the soul in its elation quite forgets its true nature and clings with rapt delight to the fairest of sun-drenched objects, nay, only with the aid of the corporeal can it ascend to more lofty considerations."

Once von Aschenbach accepts the fact that he is in love with the idea of Tadzio he sets about to quash rumors of the threat that cholera is invading Venice to keep his Polish lad from leaving the city (and von Aschenbach) with his family. "Thus the addled traveler could no longer think or care about anything but pursuing unrelentingly the object that had so inflamed him, dreaming of him in his absence, and, as is the lover's wont, speaking tender words to his mere shadow. Loneliness, the foreign environment, and the joy of a belated and profound exhilaration prompted him, persuaded him to indulge without shame or remorse in the most distasteful behavior, as when returning from Venice [to the Lido] late one evening he had paused at the beautiful boy's door on the second floor of the hotel and pressed his forehead against the hinge in drunken rapture, unable to tear himself away even at the risk of being discovered and caught."

Has Heim 'changed' Mann's story in to a more titillating one? No, indeed not! But he has rescued it from the mere Apollonian/Dionysian rhetoric with which other translations have cloaked the sensual aspects of the story. Here von Aschenbach becomes a fully three-dimensional character, one whose life up to the entry into Venice is understood and appreciated as a writer of brilliance, and one whose epiphany of the Eros submerged in this intellectual psyche blossoms in the most credible, tender way that far from being transformed into a 'pedophile', he is instead in that wondrous plane where awakened emotions of love and longing dwell.

Michael Cunningham has written a beautiful introduction to this new translation and, as we have come to expect from this contemporary gifted man of letters, his words are warm and befitting his admiration for this work by Thomas Mann. This is a book to be read and read again, and should you have other versions of DEATH IN VENICE in your library, that is all the more reason to pleasure your mind with the genius of this translation. Highly recommended!

Death in Venice: And Seven Other Stories
Average customer rating:

A great introduction to a litery giant

Okay

Good Introduction to Thomas Mann - Intriguing, Complex Stories

Entertaining, Classic Literature

A Wonderfully Complex Writer

Death in Venice: And Seven Other Stories
Thomas Mann
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679722068
Release Date: 1989-03-13

Book Description

Eight complex stories illustrative of the author's belief that "a story must tell itself," highlighted by the high art style of the famous title novella.

Customer Reviews:

A great introduction to a litery giant.......2005-12-13

This is my first time reading Thomas Mann, save for the few excerpts that appear in college literature studies. Thomas Mann is notorious for his lengthy sentences and his never-ending novels, so I picked this as a gentle introduction to his works.
Even just flipping through the short stories will give an impression of how versatile and varied Mann's writing styles could be. Death in Venice, while being his most famous work in this book, is also one of the more difficult ones to read. This was Thomas Mann at his best - his sentences, long and tortuous, rolls through the imagination paragraphs at a time. Felix Krull, on the other hand, is short and succinct, with almost a feel of modern satire permeating through it.
The translation reads pretty clean and straightforward. While this probably probably loses a bit of feel in terms of grammar and structure of the sentences, Mann's styles and the suitability of the German language to this task means that a direct translation would have less flow and may seem cumbersome.
Overall I would say this is a nice illustration of Mann's literary prodigy, without overwhelming those who are not yet initiated into reading his full-sized novels.

Okay.......2005-09-26

The book was shipped really late and that bothered me. I needed it for class, and i got it three weeks from the day i bought it.

Good Introduction to Thomas Mann - Intriguing, Complex Stories.......2005-08-21

The long novels of Thomas Mann can prove challenging, not unlike those of Henry James. Fortunately, this varied collection - Death in Venice and Seven Other Stories - offers an easier way to become acquainted with Mann's intellectual, psychologically complex literature.

Thomas Mann's lengthy sentences and complex grammatical structures markedly complicate the task of translation. H. T. Lowe-Porter's translation is considered the most accessible version, although at the expense of subdividing many of Mann's sentences. (For comparison with an excellent literal version, look at Stanley Appelbaum's translation of Death in Venice, Dover Publications, 1995).

Death in Venice and Seven Other Stories was first published by Vintage Books in 1954. My edition was printed by Vintage International in 1989; it has neither an introduction nor explanatory notes.

Death in Venice (1911): While vacationing in Venice, the aging, highly respected author Gustave Ashenbach becomes mesmerized by a young boy staying at the seashore with his Polish aristocratic family. Although intellectually aware of his growing obsession, Ashenbach is unable to break away. This somber portrayal of a troubled man is a masterpiece of subtle nuances that illustrates Thomas Mann's ability to create layers of meaning.

Tonio Kroger (1903) is perhaps more biographical as it explores a writer's internal conflict between his desire to be accepted, that is to fit in to a bourgeois life, and his contradictory need to follow his artistic temperament wherever it might lead him.

Mario and the Magician (1929) is more explicitly political, depicting in the guise of an unscrupulous hypnotist a Mussolini-like character. The ending of this intriguing account is a surprise.

The setting in Disorder and Early Sorrow (1925) is Munich, less than a decade after World War I, amid rampant inflation and social upheaval. The narrator, Professor Cornelius, is saddened by the loss of tradition, exemplified by modern art, music, and dance forms so popular with his older children, now young adults. He finds refuge in his study of history. Early sorrow refers to an incident involving his five year-old daughter, Ellie.

A Man and His Dog (1918) is personal, humorous, and almost idyllic, quite different from the more serious topics addressed in the other stories in this collection.

The Blood of the Walsungs (1905) is the most disturbing story in this collection. The two key characters exhibit an aristocratic arrogance and elitism that culminates in incest. In an opera scene Mann draws a close parallel between his two protagonists and Siegmund and Sieglinde in Wagner's Die Walkure.

Tristan (1902) has been described as a retelling of the legend of Tristan and Isolde set in a sanatorium. Detlev Spinell, a tuberculosis patient staying in the Dr. Leander's medical facility, becomes infatuated with another patient, Herr Kloterjahn's wife. Spinell is a largely unsuccessful writer, one that has difficulty relating to others.

In Felix Krull (1911) the narrator is a self-serving, unscrupulous, amoral, confidence man that is somehow likeable. The story ends abruptly, leaving the reader wondering what happens next. Forty years later Thomas Mann resumed work on this story and in 1954 he published the novel The Confessions of Felix Krull, a light, often hilarious account of a man who wins the favor and love of others by enacting the roles that they desire of him.

Thomas Mann was born in Germany in 1875. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929. He left Germany in 1933, living primarily in Switzerland and the United States until his death in 1955.

Entertaining, Classic Literature.......2003-11-09

Thomas Mann wrote "Death in Venice" in 1911. The protagonist, formerly a self-controlled and respectable public figure, gives himself over to obsessively stalking a 14-year-old boy for whom he has erotic feelings. While these feelings would be unacceptable to most people in our era, it is still difficult for us to appreciate the degree of condemnation they would have attracted when this story was written. Yet, Sigmund Freud had published The Interpretation of Dreams a decade earlier, and German intellectuals like Thomas Mann were aware that censurable urges lurk beneath conscious notice within all of us. Through this story, the author was surely struggling to come to terms with his own homoerotic urges. Judging from what he wrote, these were deeply troubling to him: corruption, decay, and condemnation are the themes he presents to us. While the images conveyed through this story are repugnant and shocking, the writing is beautiful and affecting.

Several of the other stories in this volume are of similar quality, and similarly deal with troubling themes ("Mario and the Magician," "The Blood of the Walsungs"). Yet, Mann was also capable of an extended and sincerely felt appreciation of the more benign and wholesome aspects of our world ("A Man and His Dog").

These stories are worth reading and re-reading. Thomas Mann won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1929, and these stories, if not Nobel prize quality, at the very least show Mann to be an engaging and entertaining writer.

A Wonderfully Complex Writer.......2003-04-21

Mann is to be struggled with; his work to be attacked and repulsed - it is the embodiment of engaging, challenging fiction. It may be advisable to start out with Mario and the Magician, a splendid and accessible story of a hypnotist performing amazing acts on an incredulous audience that is itself hypnotic in alluring its character audience and the reader into a seeminly pedestrian story that turns out to have a whimsical, fantastic denouement. M&M also doubles as a grand metaphor for the fascism that was beginning to grip Germany - the awesome power of a tyrant and the dangerous nakedness of a raptured audience.

Mann passes the test of great writing, in that even in translation, one can appreciate the literary dexterity of a master at work - a writer carried away, inhabiting each sentence of his story. Some of his lesser stories, towards the end of the anthology, are sprawling introspectives and thoroughgoing accounts of places and things.

Death in Venice is a seminal work and sets the tone for Mann's subtle revelations of repressed passions and the tabboo. Mann elegantly lays bare human souls, yet keeping the lid safely fastened to the pressured jar. One of my favorites was Toni Kroger - a touching story of an artist's life, from young man to mature adult. Mann renders beautifully unrequited love and homosocial admiration by the introverted for the extroverts. In reading his stories, we may find that he expresses memories and feelings that were always there, but could not find the words for before. That, perhaps, is the highest achievement of a writer.

Death in Venice & A Man and His Dog: A Dual-Language Book
Average customer rating:

Seems presumptuous to review

Death in Venice & A Man and His Dog: A Dual-Language Book
Thomas Mann
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0486416003

Book Description

Two works by one of the 20th-century's great writers. In Death in Venice, a renowned author finds himself infatuated by a young boy — an attraction that proves fatal. A Man and His Dog is a charming essay about Mann's canine companion, a friendly mongrel pointer that accompanies the author on his morning walks.

Customer Reviews:

Seems presumptuous to review.......2001-11-14

DiV is one of my favourite books, and an acknowledged masterpiece. This has translations of facing pages, for the aid of those (like me) who would find the German a bit too tough on its own.

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Crime and Justice
Brilliant
"The answer to his death had to be there, it always did"
MUCH more than a mystery novel
Insightful Venetian Murder Mystery

Death at LA Fenice: A Novel of Suspense
Donna Leon
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Death in a Strange Country
Dressed for Death (Commissario Guido Brunetti Mysteries)
Acqua Alta
A Noble Radiance
Blood from a Stone (Commissario Guido Brunetti Mysteries)

ASIN: 0060168714

Book Description

Beautiful and serene Venice is a city almost devoid of crime. But that is little comfort to Maestro Helmut Wellauer, a world-renowned conductor whose intermission refreshment comes one night with a little something extra in it-cyanide. For Guido Brunetti, vice-commissario of police and detective genius, finding a suspect isn't a problem; narrowing the large and unconventional group of enemies down to one is. As the suave and pithy Brunetti pieces together clues, a shocking picture of depravity and revenge emerges, leaving him torn between what is and what should be right -- and questioning what the law can do, and what needs to be done.

Customer Reviews:

Crime and Justice.......2007-08-29

Most of us think of crime and punishment as being linked. Donna Leon makes the case for justice following crime instead of punishment in this interesting debut novel in the Guido Brunetti series.

Where in most mystery novels, the story focuses on the crime or the investigation, Death at La Fenice instead develops the victim's character as its primary focus. Many fictional detectives consider knowing about the victim to be essential, but few mysteries pretty much focus on that one element to the exclusion of most other elements. I like character development, but I thought this approach was a little flawed in that without tapes, documents, and other character-created evidence you cannot really learn very much about a person who isn't alive during most of the story.

I liked the way that Venice played a role beyond being simply context by helping to define the story and the crime. As someone who loves Venice very much, a good part of the joy of this book came for me in references to locations I have visited.

Guido Brunetti is a most appealing detective. He's more like the private eyes in noir stories than he is a Venice police commissario, but that's all to the good. His family situation, being married to the daughter of a Venetian count, Paolo, also makes for amusing complications which are nicely developed in this story.

The crime is also offbeat enough to arouse interesting speculations among curious readers. During a performance of La Traviata, the opera's conductor, the world-famous Helmut Wellauer, is found dead after the second intermission. While hundreds had access to kill him, who had motive? It turns out that many had good motives. So how do you boil it down to find the criminal? That's quite difficult. Donna Leon plays fair and gives you all the clues you need to figure out what actually happened. From there, you'll have to decide what you would do.

Those who love opera will also enjoy the references to what makes for good opera and the politics behind the performances.

If you like to think of bureaucracies as inept and filled with incompetents, you'll enjoy meeting Guido's boss, Vice-Questore Giuseppe Patta. The relationship between Patta, the buffoon, and Brunetti is filled with much good humor that plays on Patta's strong inclination to do no work and to receive all credit for any successes.

The book's main drawback is that Wellauer is someone you won't have much sympathy for, and you'll enjoy even less learning about his bad habits. I'm sure that many crime victims are equally undesirable, but the novel labors a bit more than it might have with a victim about whom you could feel more neutral.

There are many fine novels in this series, and I do recommend you read this one. After all, you want to understand the context for the series don't you? Ah, Venice!

Brilliant.......2007-08-23

The mystery "who-done-it" genre is quite far out of my comfort zone, so I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the murder investigation and characterizations in this story. It started out as something I wanted to read strictly to absorb myself in the vividly drawn Veniciano setting, and turned out to be an entralling page-turner! What a pleasant surprise!

"The answer to his death had to be there, it always did".......2007-08-11

Nowadays there are a wide variety of whodunit mysteries to choose from, and the list definitely includes many good ones. But in order for me to label a series as a favorite it has to have an engaging main character and interesting sub plots. Donna Leon performs extremely well in these two categories. Vice-Commissario Guido Brunetti is one of the most intriguing detectives I have come across since Hercules Poirot. He is married, has two kids and his wife Paula is also a very appealing character. She is daughter of a Count, who is one of the richest persons in Venice and she likes to guess who the killer is at the beginning of each case. Leon spends some time on family matters that are entertaining and help make Brunetti a more real character.

In this first book of the series, the Vice-Commissario is summoned to the Opera, were Helmut Wellauer, a famous conductor has been murdered. His body was discovered during an intermezzo and the cause of dead is later determined to be poisoning by cyanide. Since there was a lot of people backstage during the performance, the list of suspects is not particularly short. The fact that the victim was not a pleasant man does nothing to make things easier for Brunetti. For example, there are rumors that Wellauer was a Nazi supporter during World War II, and he was also a homophobic.

The list of suspects includes the young widow, who may have lied about being with the conductor right before he died. The director of the play, Franco Salvatore, also makes the cut, since he is a homosexual and the conductor broke a promise regarding using one of Salvatore's friends as a singer in the opera. Another main suspect is Flavia Petrelli, the soprano who seems to be hiding a secret together with his friend and assistant, the American Ms. Lynch. As the story moves along, other names will make it to this suspect list, with the common characteristic that all their stories and personalities are enthralling.

Leon delivers a well-constructed mystery, and even though the solution is not totally surprising, there are aspects of it that will certainly shock any reader. Besides that, we get a great depiction of the culture in Venice and the idiosyncrasies of the characters portrayed. Brunetti is an extremely unusual detective, he is extremely proud of his culture and knowledge and interested in showing it off. There are also a fair amount of politics within the police department involving Brunetti's supervisor, and I am looking forward to the next book to find out more about this topic.

I have trouble thinking of anyone who likes mysteries who would not enjoy this book. And if a captivating main character and a variety of sub plots make the story more appealing to you, then I am certain you will like this series even more. Those that like opera and classical music will find allure in the fact that this installment of the series includes a fair amount on these topics. Highly recommended.

MUCH more than a mystery novel.......2007-07-23

If you see this as merely a mystery novel than you are missing the best part of Leon's work. Leon is a true artist. She paints pictures so clearly that you feel you are there rowing through the canals of Venice alongside them, sharing their meals with them. You can actually almost smell and taste the surroundings.

And THAT'S STILL NOT THE HALF OF IT- she also is such a keen observer of the peculiarities of human nature, and the differences of these found in different cultures (Leon has lived and worked in countries around the world)- that she picks up on minute details that even a seasoned psychologist might miss. What's more, she can so concisely describe these observations that you will be amazed at reading them. She notes the type of thing that you may have noted yourself in someone you've known, but never been able to put a finger on exactly what it was, much less, know how to put it into words.

Some of her observations are truly HILARIOUS. I have found myself laughing out loud throughout the book. So much so, in fact, that I realized that it is almost as much of a comic work of art as it a mystery.

Last but not least, she also has an accute understanding of the ITALIAN CULTURE and language (having lived in Venice for many years). If you have any interest in Italian culture at all, then you will no doubt love these books. Here again, she hits the nail on the head and will surprise you that someone could be so adept at noticing the details that she does.

AS IF YOU NEEDED MORE REASON TO PICK UP THIS BOOK...Leon also has an uncanny knack for things that are human nature in general- the relationship between the detective and his family...and so many other things. You don't have to be Italian or like mysteries to appreciate the characters she creates. I think everyone could read her books and smile at how one of the characters reminds them of someone that they know.

I could go on, but really you just need to give these books a try. I can't recommend them enough.

Insightful Venetian Murder Mystery.......2007-06-27

Donna Leon, An American expatriate living in Venice, started writing her Venetian Guido Brunetti mysteries in 1992, and this is the first in the series. (She's up to number sixteen now.) Brunetti is a Commissario of police in that enchanted city. In this one don't expect a lot of action, chase scenes, gory violence, and melodramatic suspense. Rather look for subtlety of character and humor as, oh so slowly and deliberately, the sleuth weaves his way through a case involving the murder of a celebrated German orchestra conductor at the Venice opera house, La Fenice.
Leon knows the sexual intrigues and cupidity of the city's social life as well as the glories of the city's architecture and art. A myriad of witnesses come vividly to life.
Her detective has a bright and loving wife and two great kids. In a drowning and sinking city, a caring detective soldiers on. The mystery moves at a measured pace, but bear with it, and it will reward you

The Daemon in Our Dreams
Nine Lives Too Many
The Rice Queen Spy

Average customer rating:

Another Leon winner
A Brutal Existential Look at Ethics
Not her best
Bravo for Brunetti!
Death and Judgement Review

Death and Judgment
Donna Leon
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Dressed for Death (Commissario Guido Brunetti Mysteries)
Blood from a Stone (Commissario Guido Brunetti Mysteries)
Friends in High Places
Quietly in Their Sleep
Death in a Strange Country

ASIN: 0060177969

Book Description

With more than 500,000 copies of her books in print in the United States, Donna Leon continues to find new fans for her riveting Commissario Guido Brunetti mysteries. In Death and Judgment, a truck crashes and spills its dangerous cargo on a treacherous road in the Italian Dolomite mountains. Meanwhile, in Santa Lucia, a prominent international lawyer is found dead aboard an intercity train. Suspecting a connection between the two tragedies, Brunetti digs deep for an answer, stumbling upon a seedy Venetian bar that holds the key to a crime network that reaches far beyond the laguna. But it will take another violent death in Venice before Brunetti and his colleagues begin to understand what is really going on.

Customer Reviews:

Another Leon winner.......2007-09-14

Whether you are a Donna Leon fan or not, this Inspector Brunetti mystery is in the true Leon genre, insightful of the lovable but often corruptible Venetian, and in essence, Italian culture. She weaves a plot line full of intrigue and possible evildoers, along with the usual and colorful suspects....his wife, children, Vianello, Patta, Scarpa and the delightful Signorina Elettra. In this particular story, one of the many existing problems that goes hand in hand with illegal immigration, is the problem of 'kidnapping' foreign women from troubled and often impoverished countries and bringing them into Italy and forcing them into prostitution for survival. Inspector Brunetti is a master of solving these dilemnas and keeping the peace among the less than moral administrators to whom he must report. Leon tells a story that goes beyond the plotline and reveals some of the essence of contemporary Italian society.
As a lover of Italian life and culture, Donna Leon's novels do not diminish this passion, but do ring home some of the problems in current Italian life and underscore exisiting problems throughout Europe and the fast changing world we live in.

A Brutal Existential Look at Ethics.......2007-09-13

Please be aware that this book also appeared under the title of A Venetian Reckoning. If you are trying to read the whole series, read one or the other. This is the fourth novel in the Guido Brunetti series of mysteries.

As the book opens, it's late September and a Rumanian truck carrying lumber plunges off the road and into a rock face to open up a grisly scene of crushed and broken young women amid scattered pine boards. Paolo, Guido's wife, notes the story where it remains tucked in her memory until it can provide a critical clue.

The scene shifts to late November when prominent international lawyer Carlo Trevisan is found murdered on a late night train to Venice, where Trevisan lived. Vice-Questore Patta is annoyed that he had been called to the scene when Brunetti could not be reached. The mayor of Venice quickly calls the next morning to ask for a quick and quiet solution. Since there's no evidence of robbery, Brunetti must probe into motives. Who didn't like Trevisan?

Brunetti gets a quick leg up when Signorina Elletra's sister agrees to share information about the wife and daughter of the murdered man, who had been patients. When the crime comes up for discussion at home, Brunetti's daughter, Chiara, says she knows the daughter and agrees to ask around a bit.

When Chiara turns out to be good at snooping through gossiping with friends, there's a major confrontation in the Brunetti household concerning the ethics of such undercover methods employing a minor.

The case becomes more clouded when a successful accountant is found dead of an apparent suicide, but leaving behind the telephone number of the dead attorney in his address book. When the numbers are matched up with the records of the attorney's calling, they show a disturbing pattern . . . including many international calls and to a bar where the ladies rent by the hour in a rough part of town.

Trevisan's widow and her brother seem determined to shut off the police investigation. Frustrated that he's getting nowhere, Brunetti calls in a favor for a judge who tells him more about the background of the attorney and his family. Tracking through a tangled series of clues, the case takes one more twisted turn when the widow's brother is also killed.

The case breaks open quite suddenly when an unexpected clue is dropped into Brunetti's lap. From there, it's a question of how to accomplish justice. But is there any justice other than God's? You may be reminded of the myth of Sisyphus as you contemplate the ending of this existential look at the human condition.

For those who like action and mysteries evolving in ways that they can solve just ahead of the author's revelations, Death and Judgment will be a disappointment. But for those who enjoy tough ethical questions, this is a very fine book. In either case, the book's primary limitation is Ms. Leon's customary dark view of human nature. In this book, she goes about as far as you can go and still slightly separate humans from vicious, uncaring predators.

Not her best.......2007-05-19

I'm a big fan of mysteries and Donna Leon, but this particular book moved too slowly. I lost interest.

Bravo for Brunetti!.......2007-05-06

This is my first Donna Leon mystery and my first introduction to Brunetti. It won't be my last. Brunetti provides us with a disarming if somewhat ambling policeman working against the backdrop of beautiful Venice, brought to rich atmospheric life skillfully through Leon's writing.

I'm not certain why it's published under 2 different names and I didn't feel that Death and Judgment exactly captured the essence of this caper. Nevertheless, it was a good solid read with a charming protagonist, complex plot and multi-dimensional characters. Nicely cadenced, graceful and accomplished, with a plot that juxtaposes the ugliness of crime against the corruption of some of Italy's elite. I'll be back for more of Leon's Brunetti novels.

Death and Judgement Review.......2007-03-08

Being a Donna Leon fan, I was a little disappointed in the ending as it seemed abrupt. It left me with a feeling
of the characters and story not being resolved or elaborated on which this author doesn't usually do.

Average customer rating:

Death in Venice CD
Thomas Mann
Manufacturer: Caedmon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 0060727527

Book Description

The world-famous masterpiece by Nobel laureate Thomas Mann here in a new translation by Michael Henry Heim.

Average customer rating:

Take the time to read this book!
Loved it
A great new twist for Bradbury
"Hard boiled" mystery, with tender-hearted sleuth.
Excellent book to rediscover Bradbury with!

Death Is a Lonely Business
Ray Bradbury
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Let's All Kill Constance
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Dandelion Wine

ASIN: 0380789655

Amazon.com

The image of drowned circus cages in the trash-filled canals of Venice, California, both haunts and illuminates famed fantasy and science fiction author Ray Bradbury's rare venture into the mystery field. Like filmmaker Federico Fellini, Bradbury is fascinated by the seedy splendor of cheap carnivals and circuses--"a long time before, in the early Twenties, these cages had probably rolled by like bright summer storms with animals prowling them, lions opening their mouths to exhale hot meat breaths. Teams of white horses had dragged their pomp through Venice and across the fields."

But now it's the early 1950s, and foggy, shabby Venice is the last stop on the circus train for scores of old silent-movie stars and young writers trying to keep their art and their bodies alive. As Bradbury's autobiographical hero, a young writer, pounds out his short stories, someone is killing off the older denizens of the tacky city. The writer joins forces with a quirky detective called Elmo Crumley and a faded screen star to investigates the deaths. Their search begins and ends in one of those iconic, waterlogged cages.

Blending hard-boiled detective fiction with beautiful descriptions of this strange Californian town, Death Is a Lonely Business is well worth investigating. --Dick Adler

Book Description

Ray Bradbury, the undisputed Dean of American storytelling, dips his accomplished pen into the cryptic inkwell of noir and creates a stylish and slightly fantastical tale of mayhem and murder set among the shadows and the murky canals of Venice, California, in the early 1950s.

Toiling away amid the looming palm trees and decaying bungalows, a struggling young writer (who bears a resemblance to the author) spins fantastic stories from his fertile imagination upon his clacking typewriter. Trying not to miss his girlfriend (away studying in Mexico), the nameless writer steadily crafts his literary effort--until strange things begin happening around him.

Starting with a series of peculiar phone calls, the writer then finds clumps of seaweed on his doorstep. But as the incidents escalate, his friends fall victim to a series of mysterious "accidents"--some of them fatal. Aided by Elmo Crumley, a savvy, street-smart detective, and a reclusive actress of yesteryear with an intense hunger for life, the wordsmith sets out to find the connection between the bizarre events, and in doing so, uncovers the truth about his own creative abilities.

Customer Reviews:

Take the time to read this book!.......2006-03-04

Ray Bradbury is noted for his science fiction books, which I have never read, but I was recommended this book (his rare effort to write in a genre that he loved - the mystery novel. This is a remarkable story of love and friendship and it also has a true psycopathic killer in it. The book is peopled with wonderful eccentric characters and its setting is a dying 1950's California seaside town. This is an evocative and eerie novel, and it will keep you turning the pages until you finish. If Ray Bradbury can write like this, perhaps I should read some of his better known stories. I have seldom read a book that held so many truly wonderful characters.

Loved it.......2004-02-01

I have to admit that I've never really been a fan of Bradbury. In school I read a couple of his short stories, which were pretty good but not amazing - I always thought Asimov wrote better - and the only novel of his I had read before this one was Farenheight 451, twice, and both times I found it to be among the most dull books I'd read. However, reading the back of this paperback in a used book store, I decided that he was worth another try for $1.25.

I immediately began to enjoy it. The almost filmoire style of the writing appealed to me for some reason, though there a couple lines I had to reread in order to see what he was getting at. The main character (I started calling him Jesus because that was the way Crumley often referred to him) was in a state of near desperation the whole novel, but it wasn't completely overdone, at least in my opinion. Frankly, if I was stuck in a hell-hole like Venice, CA I would be the same way.

I would definitely recommend this book, though maybe I'm simply a weird guy who likes weird books.

A great new twist for Bradbury.......2003-08-06

Ray Bradbury, as his fans know, is a man who has published a lot of works through the years -- over 500 -- but only a handful of novels. Most of his novels, in fact, are expanded versions of his short stories, e.g., Fahrenheit 451. Death Is A Lonely Business, a very good title from a man who is a master of titles, published in 1985, was his first novel since 1962's Something Wicked This Way Comes. What a surprise, then, it was for me to find this overlooked gem at my local library for a mere 50 cents. It is something one would not expect Bradbury to write: a detective story. Of sorts. This genre, previously monopolized in the science fiction realm by Isaac Asimov (as was everything else), turns out to fit Bradbury's writing style surprisingly well. As anyone who has read the author knows, he has a unique and very distinctive style -- poetic, atmospheric, and highly literary. Arthur C. Clarke has termed him a "prose poet", and this description works quite well. His aforementioned style, which is very complex and literary, would seem, on the surface, ill-suited to a hard-boiled detective novel and destined to be relegated to the short story -- as, indeed, much of Bradbury's work is. His writing style and use of imagery is very dense and literate, too much for some, and is often difficult to hold up over the course of a novel. This novel, like much of his work, contains very vivid poetic descriptions and not a few fantasy elements, and the reader is often left unsure whether a given sentence is meant to be taken literally or only figuratively. This was a problem for many readers with Something Wicked This Way Comes, a novel that had a very simple plot -- one might almost say, with its two child protagonists, that it was written for teenagers -- but this issue, thankfully, does not come up during the course of this interesting and very engrossing novel. Though this is, essentially, a detective story, it does not escape Bradbury's distinctive touches. His style is omnipresent throughout. It proves to be very engrossing. The first chapter -- the book's sections are not technically separated as such, but the definition will work fine -- pulls the reader in, and it is very difficult to put it down: I read the book nearly in one sitting. Bradbury pours on the suspense and the keeps the reader reading. His poetic descriptions of Venice, California's broken-down piers and carnival scenery are vivid and very atmospheric; the descriptions are beautiful prose to read, mysterious and alluring, dark and brooding. Any long-time Bradbury reader will immediately appreciate this aspect of the novel. The book is also loaded with literary references, to Brabdury's own work and to a vast number of other authors. This is a treat for the author's faithful readers and shows the author's encyclopedic knowledge of literature. In addition, the novels main character, by whom it is narrarated, is a highly autobiographical character clearly modeled on Bradbury's own early career. All of this is very good, certainly enough to recommend the novel. The only reason I have given it 4 stars is the ending, which is a very jarring anti-climax. The final revealing of the murderer is not a surprise, and the way in which he is caught is very unrealistic and hard to believe. This will probably frustrate the reader, as it did me, putting an ill-conceived end to an otherwise excellent novel. Stil, the book is well-worth reading, as Bradbury usually is, and this flaw only dims one's enjoyment of it somewhat. Highly recommended for Bradbury fans, or those who enjoy the noir mystery genre and are looking for something with more of a twist than they usually get.

"Hard boiled" mystery, with tender-hearted sleuth........2003-07-12

Writing in the style of hard-boiled mystery writers such as Raymond Chandler and Dashiel Hammett, Bradbury sets his story in Venice, California, in 1949, presenting as his main character a 27-year-old struggling writer, much like himself. Returning to Venice late one night on the last trolley from Los Angeles, he finds himself alone in the car, except for a mysterious, alcohol-fumed vagrant, who whispers in his ear, "Death is a lonely business." Convinced that he has met "Death's friend," the speaker gets "chicken skin," which gets worse when, upon arriving in Venice, he glances into an old canal and discovers, inside an abandoned lion cage, a body bobbing up and down on the tides.

The city of Venice in 1949 is a place for the down-and-out, its pier and amusement park crumbling, its rollercoaster lying on its side "like the bones of a vast dinosaur," old animal cages abandoned in the canals and filled with fish, and the oil pumps looking like "great pterodactyls" as they creak and groan. Inhabited by "the lonelies," old people with no futures, Venice is a dark and dismal place in those final days before the pier is demolished. Bradbury's hypnotic descriptions of this decrepitude provide dramatic contrasts with the young speaker who still has hopes, dreams, and a future.

With veteran detective Elmo Crumley as his mentor, the speaker tries to save lives and outwit a mysterious stalker, as more and more sad, old people meet their deaths. Hollywood performers, an opera singer, a lady who once raised canaries, a tarot card reader, an inept barber who knew Scott Joplin, and the owner of an old cinema all contribute to the color, atmosphere, and action in this unusual story of people and places which have outlived their usefulness.

Bradbury's writing, as always, is witty, descriptive, imaginative, and atmospheric. These separate elements do not seem to jell into a coherent whole, however. The speaker and Crumley are supposed to be "hard-boiled," but their genuine tenderness and naivete work at cross-purposes with the sometimes gruesome deaths they investigate. Unlike the classic detectives, they seem to care more about the sad, old residents than they do about catching the killer. Elements of the supernatural impinge upon the realism, and the reader is not always sure whether strange events should be taken literally or figuratively. When the killer is finally identified, it's almost an anti-climax, since he is less developed and far less interesting than his victims. Ultimately, it's the inherent "niceness" of Bradbury's characters and his clear belief in life's hopefulness which work to undermine the drama and fear engendered by the bizarre murders. As Bradbury makes clear, if one adapts to life's changes, one can truly "live." Mary Whipple

Excellent book to rediscover Bradbury with!.......2002-05-22

I bought two of his newest books, one of which is the aforementioned _Death is a Lonely Business_. I began reading it late last night and just finished it a little more than an hour ago. Technically, it's not a fantasy or science fiction, but it is such a great book, in my opinion, that I had to put a review of it somewhere.

_Death is a Lonely Business_ is Ray Bradbury's tribute to Hammet, Chandler, Cain and Ross McDonald. It is a very engrossing noir detective story, with the young Bradbury as the main character. More or less. The main character is a struggling, starving writer living in Venice, CA with a girlfriend studying in Mexico. Strange deaths begin occuring around him, seemingly triggered by a mysterious encounter with a man he calls at one point "Death's friend".

With the aid of a detective and a reclusive, yet very much alive actress, he attempts to unravel the mystery before the people he most cares about come to harm.

Bradbury's writing style, though for some perhaps a bit wordy and "purple", pulls the reader into the story, making him feel and see the world through the eyes of the main character. Once I began reading it, I found it very difficult to stop and go to school; I wanted to keep reading until the end.

The story itself, through the deliberate use of death and loss, affirms life and demands that the reader seize the moment and pursue life, happiness, and even pain. For by avoiding pain, we die a slow, lonely death.

In short, it is a book that I would highly recommend to anyone, even those dyed-in-the-wool single genre people. This has strong fantasy elements in it, and plenty of references to other books and stories by Bradbury.

What a pleasant and welcome way to rediscover a favorite author.

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