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The City of Falling Angels

3.46 of 5 stars 3.46 · rating details · 7,663 ratings · 1,145 reviews

Twelve years ago, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil exploded into a monumental success, residing a record-breaking four years on the New York Times bestseller list (longer than any work of fiction or nonfiction had before) and turning John Berendt into a household name. The City of Falling Angels is Berendt's first book since Midnight, and it immediately reminds one...more

Paperback, 414 pages

Published September 26th 2006 by Penguin Books (first published January 1st 2000)

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The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

Death in Venice and Other Tales by Thomas Mann

The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt

In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant

Books Set in Venice

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Venice

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Jul 25, 2007 El rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: cultural-studies-and-other, true-crime

Written by the same man who wrote Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, this book takes the reader to Venice shortly after the well-renowned Fenice Theatre burned down. Berendt offers a multiple of theories surrounding the fire, from Mafia participation to a neglectful renovation crew.

There are few cohesive lines through this book. There is the mystery surrounding the fire of the Fenice, and there are gossipy stories involving many of the locals (most of whom are actually expatriates and not...more

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Nov 13, 2007 Denise rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone

This book is actually one I like to read again and again. 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.

"The City of Falling Angels" turns it attention to the ancient Italian city of Venice, and the tragic fire that destroyed the famous opera...more

6 likes · like · see review

Mar 11, 2008 LJ rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: male_author, non_fiction, italy, contemporary_post_1945

THE CITY OF FALLING ANGELS (Non-Fiction-Venice, Italy-Cont) – VG+
Berendt, John – Standalone
The Penguin Press, 2005, US Hardcover – ISBN: 1594200580

First Sentence: “Everyone in Venice is acting,” Count Girolamo Marcello told me.

In January 1996, La Fenice (the Phoenix) was destroyed by fire. Was it an accident, or was it arson? Berendt’s book is a non-fiction look at more than the investigation, but a true study of the history, culture and people of Venice.

I loved this book. No, it’s not on the sa...more

4 likes · like · see review

Mar 18, 2009 Suzanne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, travel, art-painting-sculpture

I love Berendt's style of writing and this is very well done. Like his previous nonfictional work, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" the author takes an event, (this time the fire at the Fenice, the Venice Opera House in 1996) investigates it and creates a story he, as the author, and we the reader, all become intrigued by. As always there is a memorable cast of characters. Like Savannah in his previous work, Venice takes on its own identity and that is critical to the plot. The artists,...more

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Sep 12, 2008 Natalie rated it 2 of 5 stars

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. Hmm. 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. Something about a burnt-down opera house just doesn’t excite the same tension and thrills that good old fashioned homicide does. As travel writing, City of Falling Angels...more

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Jul 29, 2008 Sparrow rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, reviewed, audio

Berendt is a very patient writer, which to me is neither a compliment or an insult. I listened to this on audio because I think Holter Graham is an excellent reader, and I think I liked the book, too. Large sections of it only loosely tied into the main story of the burning of Teatro La Fenice, Venice's opera house. Often, however these digressions were more interesting to me than the central story. For example, the story of Ezra Pound's papers was very compelling to me, probably because I have...more

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Jul 15, 2007 R.J. rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: recommend

An American walks around Venice trying to explain its peculiarities. He has access very few other Americans would be granted--Unfortunately who comes out looking odd here, in my opinion, is the other Americans expatriates who call the place home. The Ezra Pound and Save Venice incidents largely involve dubious Americans with huge egos that need stroking. The absurdities are worth reading about particularly if you are aware of NYC socialites whose names are within the book.

I enjoyed the book but...more

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Jul 17, 2009 Tisha rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: travel, non-fiction, 101-to-read-before-i-die, all-things-italian

John Berendt wonderfully digs beneath the surface of Venice in The City of Falling Angels.. He provides much history of not only the art and buildings of Venice, but also of many Venetian families. He manages to do this all in such a casual way that one forgets it's non-fiction. I'm only sorry, I didn't read this prior to visiting Venice.

One of my favorite lines in the book, describing Venice:

“On one occasion I set about testing this notion by concocting a game called “photo roulette,” the obje...more

7 likes · like · see review

Jul 15, 2007 Andie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Need to reread this one again. I picked up this book and bought it mainly because of my first memory of Venice. It was October of 1997 during my honeymoon and my husband and I had just arrived and were trying to find our Venetian hotel. We were wandering aimlessly through the small passageways and streets of Venice up and over canals; we were hopelessy lost, and we stumbled upon the ruins of La Fenice. The famed opera house had burned in January, 1996 but there had been no change to the site sin...more

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Jan 08, 2009 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Venice is the city of falling angels—literally carvings falling off of buildings, possibly on your head if you weren’t careful. The main focus of the book is the fire that burned the Fenice opera house, the reactions of Venetians and those from outsiders like the Americans in Save Venice, the non-profit organization that raised funds for restoration of Venetian art and architecture, as well as the following investigations, legal battles and eventual restoration. The author functions as a sort of...more

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Jan 28, 2009 Jennifer rated it 2 of 5 stars

The author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil> moves to Venice to get to know the city without tourists. He meets an odd assortment of characters, from the artisan who opened the first mask shop in Venice to the prosecutor investigating the fire that destroyed the city's great opera house.

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Aug 25, 2007 Leslie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Italy fans

Shelves: audiobooks, italy

I was so glad when this book was over. It was quite a chore to listen to on audio, but I think it would have been the same for print. The author moves to Venice and then infiltrates the locals' worlds. We learn a lot about the burning of the Fenice opera house, Ezra Pound's estate, and everyday life in Venice. I enjoyed learning that everyone walks in Venice--there are no cars. However, I felt that the author went into way more detail about the Fenice fire than I needed to know. It was just hard...more

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Jan 26, 2008 Hilda rated it 1 of 5 stars

Recommended to Hilda by: Evie Lopez-Brignoni

Shelves: books-i-stopped-reading-before-i-fi

I didn't finish the book, but from what I read (about 3/4ths) I didn't like it, except for the Ezra Pound section - although I didn't really see the connection with the Fenice theater burning.

The book reminded me of a never-ending Dominick Dunne piece for "Vanity Fair" with its continuous name-dropping and irrelevant gossip - name dropping is only fun when you know who the people are! Alas, I'm not up on Venice society.

However, the writing itself - the use of language - as expected was wonderf...more

2 likes · like · see review

Nov 29, 2008 Wendell rated it 2 of 5 stars

*Midnight* was such an entertaining, intriguing book that it would only be natural to go looking for more from Berendt. Sadly, this book isn’t it.

Though Berendt tries to give *Falling Angels* a convincing through-line (and you’d think it would have one – the built-in whodunit of the burning of the Fenice Theatre), the thing simply never gels.

In part, it’s not Berendt’s fault; it’s the fault of “reality.” In typical Italian fashion, there’s no clear good guy or bad guy; the guy convicted for a...more *Midnight* was such an entertaining, intriguing book that it would only be natural to go looking for more from Berendt. Sadly, this book isn’t it.

Though Berendt tries to give *Falling Angels* a convincing through-line (and you’d think it would have one – the built-in whodunit of the burning of the Fenice Theatre), the thing simply never gels.

In part, it’s not Berendt’s fault; it’s the fault of “reality.” In typical Italian fashion, there’s no clear good guy or bad guy; the guy convicted for arson may or may not have done it (and it may or may not have been arson); the rebuilding dragged on for years while Berendt’s informants inconveniently died, and so on.

But in part it is precisely his fault, because he puts his focus in entirely the wrong place: on the spoiled, backbiting, nasty, venal, social climbing, ultrarich jerks (for the most part) who orbited the Fenice project in specific and who populate Italian “high society” in general.

Granted, there’s no snob like an Italian snob (unless it’s an English or American expat snob, and that’s a whole ‘nuther ball game), but Berendt seems to have had an especially difficult time finding one decent or likeable person in his cast of liars, petty criminals, reprobates, butt-kissers, tin gods, name droppers, arrivistes, and plutocrats. Really, barely one.

Nor does the book have anything particularly revealing to say about Venice, the Veneziani, or Italy (notwithstanding jacket copy to the contrary), because Berendt spent all his time in an echelon so esoteric, nihilistic, and cannibalistic that *Falling Angels* ends up being a book about the generic rich-and-bored (in any city, on any continent) and not about Venice or the Fenice.

As a result, it’s hard to know who could be interested in what amounts to 400 pages of society-page gossip about people you don’t know, aren’t ever going to know, and don’t especially *want* to know, but that’s what the book—deprived of a true mystery to explore—devolves into.

After all the time, effort, and money Berendt and his publisher sunk into Venice, I’m sure it would have been wrenching to walk away and say, “There’s no book here,” but that would very likely have been the honorable thing to do.(less)

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Apr 11, 2013 Chris Whtie added it

The City of Falling Angels is a fantastic book written by John Berendt, author of the New York Times bestseller Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. The City of Falling Angels is a quasi-narrative description of Venice, Italy. The book starts off with the catastrophic fire that destroyed the Fenice opera house in 1996. This fire can be perceived as a metaphor for the current state of Venice which is one of slow decay. The book is based on Berendt's investigation of the cause of the fire amid...more

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Mar 11, 2013 Chrishna rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a non-fiction account of Venice, Italy, after a fire that destroyed the famous Fenice opera house which is located there. Berendt goes and lives in Venice shortly after the fire and examines the city and people of Venice first hand. I've never had the desire to go to Venice before reading this book, but the Venetians and Venice positively bewitched me. Imagine how charming it would be to live in a city with no cars because canals are the roads. Imagine a city filled with narrow little st...more

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Nov 09, 2012 Grace rated it 5 of 5 stars

Author: John Berendt
Title: City of Falling Angels
Description: This book was my choice for this month for our book group. I had read Berendt’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, his book about Savannah. This book is about Venice.
Source: The nice folks at Penguin
Writing style: Berendt has a unique style. He writes about places, but he really mostly writes about the people who make places unique. I felt like his book on Savannah got off track when it became more about the murder than the cit...more

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Oct 11, 2012 Book Concierge rated it 3 of 5 stars

3.5***

Berendt is perhaps best known for his nonfiction exploration of the intricacies behind an infamous crime in Savannah GA - Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - which spent an unprecedented (and still unbroken) record 216 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List.

On the heels of that success he arrived in Venice for a holiday – just a few days after fire engulfed and destroyed the famous Fenice Opera House, where five of Verdi’s operas had their premier. The conspiracy theories and c...more

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Jul 29, 2012 Kristen rated it 3 of 5 stars

I am not surprised that other reviewers did not like this book, because it is not your typical mindless read. You wil have to pay attention and attend to the story to get something out of it.

If you enjoy books that read like a novel filled with an unusual cast of characters, and also offers a peek inside a completely different culture and behaviour structure than our North American one, you may enjoy this book. Because although it reads like a novel under Berendt's deft writing style, it is actu...more

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Apr 23, 2012 Paula rated it 3 of 5 stars

It seems like whenever there’s a good book about a place, we’re usually told “It’s so good it makes you want to go there.” John Berendt’s first book — Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil — apparently did that for Savannah. But in the case of The City of Falling Angels, I felt that even if I went to Venice a hundred times, I’d never get the kinds of insights I got from reading this book.

Like so many of the millions of readers who found John Berendt’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil an...more

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Mar 25, 2012 Lothar W. Pawliczak rated it 5 of 5 stars

Der Brand des Teatro Fenice ist Rahmen und immer wiederkehrendes Thema des Buches, aber nicht allein: gut recherchiert, gut erzählt wird von der zunächst irregehenden und unbefriedigenden Aufklärung der Brandursachen, von Engagement und Konkurrenzkampf um den Wiederaufbau, von anderen Verwicklungen und Verstrickungen, von GIUSEPPE VOLPI, EZRA POUND und dem Faschismus, von Familien- und Erbstreitigkeiten, vom Kampf um den Nachlass von PEGGY GUGGENHEIM und EZRA POUND, von Intrigen amerikanischer V...more

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Nov 29, 2011 Maduck831 rated it 3 of 5 stars

“Do you see a bridge as an obstacle – as just another set of steps to climb to get from one side of a canal to other? We Venetians do not see bridges as obstacles. To us bridges are transitions. We go over them very slowly. They are part of the rhythm. They are the links between two parts of a theater, like changes in scenery, or like the progression from Act One of a play to Act Two. Our role changes as we go over bridges. We cross from one reality…to another reality. From one street…to another...more “Do you see a bridge as an obstacle – as just another set of steps to climb to get from one side of a canal to other? We Venetians do not see bridges as obstacles. To us bridges are transitions. We go over them very slowly. They are part of the rhythm. They are the links between two parts of a theater, like changes in scenery, or like the progression from Act One of a play to Act Two. Our role changes as we go over bridges. We cross from one reality…to another reality. From one street…to another street. From one setting…to another setting.” (2) [Ludovico De Luigi] “The Death of Venice had been predicted, pronounced, and lamented for two hundred years, ever since 1797, when Napoleon brought the once-mighty Venetian Republic to its knees…”I will be an Attaila for the Venetian state!” Napoleon had thundered – in Italian so as not to be misunderstood.” (43) [Fenice Fire] [Lord Byron’s time in Venice] “Footsteps and voices were, in fact, the dominant sounds in Venice, since there were no cars to drown them out and very little vegetation to absorb them.” (49) [Gladio] [Felice Casson] [Parsifal – Richard Wagner] [Massimo Donadon] “I am, but if I had given my company an Italian name, people would think, ‘This product was made in Italy? I don’t trust it.’ Italy has an image of being nothing but Mafia, tailors and shoemakers. On the other hand, Germany is solid, scientific, and efficient. If anyone could be counted on to kill a rat, a German would be the one.” (119) [the Seguso dynasty] [Bridehead Revisited – movie] [Palazzo Barbaro] [Asolando – Browning] [Anders Zorn painting of Isabella Stewart Gardner] [The Aspen Papers – Henry James] [A Lume Spento – Ezra Pound] [Ezra Pound papers at Yale] [the Villa Foscari] [Peggy Guggenheim] [Save Venice] [film director Pier Paolo Pasolini] “But when I put my hand on the door, I caught sight of something that stopped me cold. The words “Vintage Clothing, Special Sale on Hats and Shawls” had been written on the window to the right of the door – with a blue felt-tip marker.” (361) [Senso – movie] (less)

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Nov 21, 2011 Christine rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-reads

Mr. Berendt happened to be visiting Venice in January of 1996 when a fire destroyed the Fenice Opera House. Being an author, it would make sense that he decided to write about it.

Including “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” among my favorite books I had some high expectations for this book. As an account of the fire and the resulting chaos - it was interesting, but as Mr. Berendt delves a little further back into the history and inhabitants of the city the book seems to lose a little mome...more

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Oct 25, 2011 Elizabeth Wallace rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

Anybody who knows me knows I don't read a lot of non-fiction. I WANT to read non-fiction, but I get lured away by the latest Mieville or Valente, almost every time. It doesn't help that to me a lot of non-fiction feels tedious, like I'm pushing a gondola through the sludge of a half-drained Venetian canal (Heh. See what I did there?)

But THIS book, I liked. The title definitely grabbed me: in the early 1970's, before a lot of restoration got started in Venice, pieces of the marble ornaments on th...more Anybody who knows me knows I don't read a lot of non-fiction. I WANT to read non-fiction, but I get lured away by the latest Mieville or Valente, almost every time. It doesn't help that to me a lot of non-fiction feels tedious, like I'm pushing a gondola through the sludge of a half-drained Venetian canal (Heh. See what I did there?)

But THIS book, I liked. The title definitely grabbed me: in the early 1970's, before a lot of restoration got started in Venice, pieces of the marble ornaments on the Santa Maria della Salute Church were falling off onto pedestrians. A helpful citizen posted a sign outside: "BEWARE OF FALLING ANGELS." How can you NOT like a story like that?

And that's what the whole book is, a series of little stories. In some places one chapter has seven or eight interesting little tidbits, all woven together by the theme of the chapter, and all of the chapters are wound around the theme of Venice, specifically the Fenice opera house that all but burned down to the ground in 1996.

A few chapters in I'd told someone "It's a good book as long as you're okay that it doesn't have a point." I thought it was just a lot of randomly placed stories about Venice and Venice natives (who, according to Berendt, are both friendly and aloof, generous and gouging, trustworthy and just a smidge pirate. Bribery is a lot more common there than here...or rather they ADMIT to it more there than here. According to Berendt mind you, I haven't been myself, but after reading this book I sure plan to.) Where was I....OH yes, a point. At first I thought it didn't have one, but really, the theme is very subtle, and he weaves together all these people and events, and by the end it's tied up in a neat little literary bow. I was seriously impressed.

It's been years since I read "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" but now I'm gonna have to go back and give it a look, because City of Falling Angels was the first book I've read in months that I was honestly sorry when it ended. I'd like to get back in the boat please! (Sorry, had to tie it all up...like a gondola to the pier...okay okay I'll stop....)

(less)

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Aug 02, 2011 Cyndie rated it 2 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book. Between the fire that destroyed the Fenice opera house to its re-opening after being completely rebuilt the author sandwiches stories of the disparate inhabitants of the unique Italian city of Venice. There was a preponderance of tales of ex-patriots, probably because the native Venetians are a very insular and embattled group. The author did manage to get some of them to reveal their stories and that helped to convey the reason that this book does not have the same intimacy...more

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Jan 16, 2011 Tom Croom rated it 2 of 5 stars

My wife LOVES Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. When we met, I had neither read the book or watched the movie. Since she brought it up enough while we were dating, I decided to give John Berendt a shot.

Loved the book (MitGoGaE) and didn't like the movie (which was disappointing because I love Clint Eastwood and John Cusack.)

The love of that book led me to read this one.

Unfortunately.

The problem with writing novels based on actual events that you are around for is that you run the risk tha...more

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Dec 27, 2010 Alexander Kwok rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book, written by John Berendt, at first may seem a bit confusing. When I first started reading it, I came across the beginning pages, where Berendt writes that this book is a work of nonfiction, and therefore should be considered as one while the reader reads it. However, while going through the book, page by page, I felt that his non fiction historical narrative, seemed to resemble a more mystery/fiction novel that was hard to put down.

In these pages, Berendt starts out with the burning o...more

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Aug 01, 2010 Erin Reilly-Sanders rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: foreign, non-fiction, adult

While technically a piece of non-fiction, the narrative structure of this book makes it seem more an interwoven collection of short vignettes. True to life though, they often have somewhat incomplete endings, although the author has worked them together in a way to give the satisfaction of an overall complete story that tells the real story of the Venice under the glitter and glamour of the tourist culture. While the picture is still presented by an interloper into Venetian culture, his view see...more

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Jun 14, 2010 Melody rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: creative-nonficton-memoir

If John Berendt's most recent creative work lacks the wildly entertaining characters that made Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, it is nonetheless an enjoyable beach read, an engaging exploration of the quirks of Venetian culture and politics. Like Midnight, City of Falling Angels takes the resolution of a public mystery as its (very)loose premise: in this case, the suspected arson of the Fenice, Venice's venerable Opera House.

I found that City of Falling Angels suffers from too many cha...more

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May 20, 2010 Madeline rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: history-nonfiction

In 1996, a fire broke out somewhere inside the empty Fenice opera house in Venice. The opera house was being restored, and was supposed to reopen within a month. When the fire broke out, a million things went swiftly and horribly wrong: the interior of the opera house was littered with open paint cans, chemicals, and cloths, making accidental fire an inevitability, and the fire alarm was disabled. The canal next to the Fenice had been drained recently, and because of this the fire boats weren't...more In 1996, a fire broke out somewhere inside the empty Fenice opera house in Venice. The opera house was being restored, and was supposed to reopen within a month. When the fire broke out, a million things went swiftly and horribly wrong: the interior of the opera house was littered with open paint cans, chemicals, and cloths, making accidental fire an inevitability, and the fire alarm was disabled. The canal next to the Fenice had been drained recently, and because of this the fire boats weren't even able to reach the building at first, and then had no immediate water supply. 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. The fire department had to focus on keeping the fire from spreading to the rest of the very flammable city, and as a result the inhabitants of Venice were forced to watch, weeping, as the centuries-old opera house burned to the ground in front of them.

That's the opening scene of The City of Falling Angels, and it's the best part of the book. Berendt describes people watching the destruction of the opera house as they try to keep their own homes from catching fire, and the most anyone can do is watch the fire and cry, while every now and then we get lines like, "A deafening crash resounded in the depths of the Fenice. The great crystal chandelier had fallen to the floor." (Fair warning: if you don't understand why people would weep at the destruction of an opera house, this is not your book)

Three days later, enter John Berendt, who sees the effects the Fenice fire has had on the residents of Venice, and decides that it might make a good subject for a book. He spends the next eight years living in Venice to interview people about the fire and everything else in their lives, because he's John Berendt and he can do that. He interviews judges, restoration experts, lawyers, and just about everyone who witnessed the fire (they include an Italian count and an elderly glassblower). People suspect that the Fenice fire was arson, possibly the result of the Mafia. The investigation is long and very interesting, and it's the start of a really good mystery.

Only the start of one, unfortunately. If this book had just been about the Fenice fire, the investigation, and the restoration process, it would have been really interesting and illuminating. But Berendt just can't stay focused. He meanders from one plot to the next, like he's trying to keep up with the "Look How Many Zany Eccentrics I Can Find" cred he established in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Although here, "Zany Eccentrics" is replaced by "Obscenely Rich Expatriate Snobs." One man Berendt meets at a party excitedly explains to him how an aristocracy is the best form of government, because then all the good leadership qualities get passed down through one family. Another woman belongs to a family of expats who first moved to Venice in the 1800s when Boston got too goddamned Irish for their tastes (Berendt states this more diplomatically, but that's the gist).

He can't focus his story on the Fenice. He talks about the fire and the investigation for a while, then suddenly he's spending fifteen pages telling us about a glassblower's family drama. Then thirty-eight pages on the previously-mentioned expat family. Then forty-nine pages on Ezra Pound's aging mistress and her efforts to keep his papers and letters from being stolen by the so-called "Ezra Pound Foundation." Here we break for a short revisit to the Fenice fire, and then he spends forty-two pages telling us all about the drama between two guys in charge of the American non-profit group Save Venice. Then thirty pages on a poet who killed himself, or maybe not.

Yes, I counted all of those pages. No, none of those side stories have anything to do with the Fenice fire. No, none of them are even mildly interesting, except maybe the Pound one. Yes, every single conflict Berendt shows us is explored in nitpicking depth, and then dropped without a satisfying conclusion. Yes, it is irritating.

I think, ultimately, the problem with this book was that it was presented wrong. I went into it expecting an in-depth investigation of a real-life mystery: the Fenice fire. Instead, I got a wandering, often overly-detailed look at the inhabitants of Venice and their daily drama. Which is fine - if that's what I'd expected to get out of this book. Had Berendt written this book as a series of essays on Venice, as another reviewer recommended, that would have been good. If he had presented the book as a portrait of Venetians and been more clear about the fact that the Fenice fire was more of a subplot, that would have also been fine. As things are, however, I was not expecting most of what I was shown in this book, and it was disappointing.

That being said, I really really want to go to Venice now. (less)

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About John Berendt

The son of two writers, John Berendt grew up in Syracuse, New York. He earned a B.A. in English from Harvard University, where he worked on the staff of The Harvard Lampoon. After graduating in 1961, he moved to New York City to pursue a career in publishing. He was editor of New York magazine from 1977 to 1979, and wrote a monthly column for Esquire from 1982 to 1994.

Berendt first traveled to Sav...more

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