false 3690187 4 A wildly original novel (what else would we expect from this fearless and funny writer?) that explores the underbelly of erotic fulfillment and spiritual yearning. <br>Every two years the international art world descends on Venice for the opening of the Biennale. Among them is Jeff Atman—a jaded, dissolutely resolute journalist—whose dedication to the cause of Bellini-fuelled party-going is only intermittently disturbed by the obligation to file a story. When he meets Laura, he is rejuvenated, ecstatic. Their romance blossoms quickly but is it destined to disappear just as rapidly? <br><br>Every day thousands of pilgrims head to the banks of the Ganges at Varanasi, the holiest Hindu city in India. Among their number is a narrator who may or may not be the Atman previously seen in Venice. Intending to visit only for a few days he ends up staying for months, and finds—or should that be loses?—a hitherto unexamined idea of himself, <i>the </i>self. In a romance he can only observe, he sees a reflection of the kind of pleasures that, willingly or not, he has renounced. In the process, two ancient and watery cities become versions of each other. Could two stories, in two different cities, actually be one and the same story? <br><br>Nothing Geoff Dyer has written before is as wonderfully unbridled, as dead-on in evocation of place, longing, and the possibility of neurotic enlightenment, as irrepressibly entertaining as <i>Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi. <br></i> 3733629 14 4 2009 Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi total:207|5:34|4:82|3:59|2:21|1:11| 207 728 458 90 4 3 false false Wed Jun 03 08:08:12 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 13 12:19:18 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Mon Sep 07 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 07 13:33:46 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 07 13:43:22 -0700 2009 1 Some of my favorite lines include:
"Dying is an art like everything else. We do it exceptionally we...more...]]> 4 2 false true Wed Aug 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 12 14:58:13 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 13 12:39:14 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Jun 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 03 20:06:45 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 03 20:21:45 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false true Wed Jun 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 08 05:46:05 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 12 05:42:30 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jun 01 07:39:19 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 01 08:03:07 -0700 2009 A play on Thomas Mann's novella Death in Venice (1912), about a middle-aged male writer who seeks spiritual enlightenment in Venice but instead finds carnal doom in a young boy, Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi is many things at once: a detailed, entertaining, travelogue; a philosophical treatise o...

more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Jul 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 20 12:33:57 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 26 14:23:56 -0700 2009 would not get this book if I had not read Mann's Death in Venice, Mary McCarthy's book on Venice, or all of Vedic scripture. Well, I haven't read any of those, and I did not get this book. I read the who...more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Apr 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 31 12:33:17 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 10 21:04:16 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jun 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 10 01:50:38 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 17 04:29:15 -0700 2009 Yoga for People Who Can't Be Bothered to Do It...more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Jul 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 17 10:33:13 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 08 11:10:38 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 0 false false Wed Aug 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 15:24:10 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 15:24:10 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 01 13:15:52 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 01 13:23:13 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Jun 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 26 20:27:21 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 28 18:39:25 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Sep 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 29 06:29:57 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 26 15:45:30 -0700 2009 Yoga for People who Can't be Bothered to do it, I was amazed to find a remarkably similar protagonist in this fictional one - the traveler enjoying the expatriate party scene across the globe. Yet, even with all of the oh so post-modern (or post-post-modern?) Je...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Aug 18 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 07:47:37 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 07:52:47 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue May 26 13:58:40 -0700 2009 Tue May 26 14:07:32 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jul 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 07 14:46:43 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 09 16:27:07 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jun 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun May 10 19:08:05 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 09 23:12:36 -0700 2009
Jeff in Venice is a love story about ...more...]]> 2 1 false false Thu Apr 09 16:46:08 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 06 04:20:13 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 09 16:46:08 -0700 2009 Jeff in Venice, we witness the rather depressing scene of journalists and art critics gathering in that wet Italian city for the Biennale where they drink themselves silly (as if they need the help) and sear...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun May 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 29 10:26:04 -0700 2009 Sun May 10 23:52:27 -0700 2009
It – they (is this one book or two?) is a perfectly readable airport book, the sort of thing it would be fun to take with you when visiting either location...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=3690187