A Thousand Days in Venice: An Unexpected Romance
by Marlena De Blasi
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Read in August, 2007
Marlena De Blasi was a chef in St. Louis who traveled to Italy and fell in love with Venice and a man named Fernando. He visited her in St. Louis, where they decided to marry, she sold her house, got rid of most of her possessions, and moved to Venice, marrying a man whom, throughout the book, she calls "the stranger".
A Thousand Days In Venice tells the story of her first meeting with Fernando through their wedding and on into the time that they decide to leave Venice and try somet...more
A Thousand Days In Venice tells the story of her first meeting with Fernando through their wedding and on into the time that they decide to leave Venice and try somet...more
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Read in June, 2008
I got this as a gift several years ago and shelved it, thinking it was a fluff romance, but then was happily surprised to find out it's a real story. It's a light and interesting read that follows the author through her fast romance and moving to venice for awhile. The best part is that she's a cook and does a wonderful job writing about meals she cooks and eats and markets she visits. She also does a great job of writing about cultural and personality differences and what it feels like to live ...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
anyone dreaming of starting a new life.
My non-fiction reading continues and concludes (for now) with a return to de Blasi and the beginning of her story. Before moving to Orvieto (in The Lady in the Palazzo), de Blasi moved to Venice after meeting Fernando, the man of her dreams. Happily, she is also the woman of his dreams (literally, as it turns out).
This book traces three plot lines. First, there is de Blasi's move to a new country and way of life and, second, Fernando's growing self-awareness and new beginning in life. Th...more
This book traces three plot lines. First, there is de Blasi's move to a new country and way of life and, second, Fernando's growing self-awareness and new beginning in life. Th...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
middle aged ladies still looking for love
This book should win an award for having such a great title. A Thousand Days in Venice -- it sounds like such an adventure. Unfortunately, I only read half of it before my snore reflex kicked in. Like a lot of memoirs, this made me ask myself at the start of every chapter, "Why am I reading this again?" What lesson am I supposed to be learning, what great question of life is it answering? Why am I still following this narrator around? This is because the story was more just a rel...more
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Read in May, 2005
Started ho-hum. Wasn't even sure I'd finish it. A memoir: romantic, lush with food and Damask and descriptions of Italy--chiefly the waterways and lagoons of Venice. Everything has a golden hue--even the man with one sharp front tooth! The author paints with words describing her adventures in meeting and marrying an Italian man, giving up everything and moving to Venice. She, a renowned chef and writer from St. Louis. How wonderful it would be to tour beginning in St. Louis and visiting all of t...more
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Read in January, 2008
I throughly enjoyed this book. It started a bit like a romance novel but Marlena de Blasi writes very inteligently and page after page I discovered something more than that. It`s a really beautiful story about love in a mature age. I loved the light-hearted way of telling it. I was impressed by what she said about the tower of pain-how we accumulate pain and keep it within ourselves to show off. That was exactly the thing she managed to avoid in her story.It sounded fresh and light,as a real new...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommended to Katy by:
Noel
I enjoyed the Author's story, but had a hard time keeping up with her writing style. It was very much a stream-of-consciousness style of writing. One minute you would be in present-day Venice, and then half way down the page you'd be in St. Loius, 10 years earlier.
It was interesting to see this marriage depicted. I felt that the author compromised so much of herself to move half way across the world to marry a stranger, and I was expecting the book to include more of her personal journey an...more
It was interesting to see this marriage depicted. I felt that the author compromised so much of herself to move half way across the world to marry a stranger, and I was expecting the book to include more of her personal journey an...more
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Read in June, 2008
This was a little hard to rate, because in order to read it, you have to put up with some of the most purple prose I've read in a long time. But if you soldier on, the story is actually rather interesting and the descriptions of Venice are enjoyable for their personal focus. I think the style may improve a tad as the book goes as well--either that or I just got used to it.
It's the memoir of an older American woman, a chef, who meets an Italian man in Venice, and ends up in a romantic relati...more
It's the memoir of an older American woman, a chef, who meets an Italian man in Venice, and ends up in a romantic relati...more
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Read in November, 2006
This book had a few enjoyable moments, but unfortunately, the dull moments lasted longer. In a nutshell, the book is about a middle-aged Midwestern woman who travels to Venice, meets an Italian man who she spends a couple of days with, then he goes to visit her in St. Louis for two weeks, then she gives up her entire life to move to Venice to marry him. There have been a couple of sequels, so I know this couple are still together, but I don't think I'll bother reading any other books by this a...more
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Read in February, 2008
This book was pretty good. A little slow in some parts, and the main character was a little obnoxious sometimes...but overall i really liked it. This book allows you to feel the magic of Italy, Venice in particular (obviously), and it guarantees some pretty awesome daydreams of running away to Italy. Another thing I found interesting, the narrator is a cook and her descriptions of food are so exquisite. I can honestly say that I have never craved braised quail before (I don't even know what bra...more
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Read in January, 2005
I got this book for 3.95 from the Daedalus catalog a couple of years ago and enjoyed the true story of Marlena de Blasi's visit to Venice where she met an Italian banker. She was a chef and restauranteur from Denver (or was it Phoenix?) In their fifties, she had a grown son and daughter, he had never married - their romance developed in spite of her not speaking Italian or his speaking English. The story of their marriage and life in Venice, with many cultural and personal difficulties, I foun...more
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Read in June, 2008
I loved the descriptions of Venice and the food. I did not agree with the majority of the choices the main character made and felt through most of the book she was fooling herself. I also have a hard time believing a 50 something woman moves to Italy and the most difficult part was renovating the apartment. I felt she over exaggerated the ease at which their relationship developed and did not take into account the apparent difficulties they both experienced.
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
yes
Her writing is very flowery and almost poetic in her descriptions. The story itself is sweet, and I like her insights on mature love and relationships. But I could never be friends with this woman in real life. She would drive me insane. As a bonus, the recipes in the back are actually really good. The sleeping plums sounded gross, but I've actually craved it since trying it at a friend's house.
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Read in May, 2008
recommended to Larissa by:
book group
I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the next two. Sometimes memoirs like this can be sort of annoying - the author feeling sorry for him/herself or feeling separate and superior to foreign culture - but I found this thoroughly engaging. Her attitude toward Venice and Italian culture demonstrated that she felt different, but not totally alienated, and certainly open to it.
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Read in March, 2008
My Mother-in-law gave this book to me and it took me forever to get through it, because I did not like the way that it was written. But once I could get past that, it was definitely a "feel good about life" type of book. Actually, come to think of it, the only thing I like about this book was the cooking and talk of Italian wines.
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The book is autobiographical and the author has led a very interesting life... but even though she's published (quite a bit) I don't think she's a particularly good writer. To me it's appeal is in the fantasy... being in Venice and falling in love with a romantic Italian, travelling, eating, decorating, etc.
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Read in July, 2008
What an unexpected little treasure of a book! Highly recommend for a quick read, especially if you've been to Venice! Romantic, quirky and truthful. Some of the best quotes I've come across - she sure knows how to capture life poetically.
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Marlena De Blasi strikes me as an eccentric. At times, she uses painfully flowery language to describe something that could be more simply said. Either way its hard to hate a book that is about food, falling in love, and living in Venice.
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Read in July, 2007
recommends it for:
travel literature fans
Travel non-fiction about a woman who goes to Venice and a man meets her, falls in love with her and talks her into moving to Venice to marry him. Very well written and filled with recipes (she's a trained American chef!)
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Read in June, 2007
recommended to Caroline by:
Mom
Former St Louis chef, Marlena De Blasi, packs it up and moves to Venice. Her descriptions of this lovely city and how she finally feels at home there are wonderful. This book will make you want to cook, eat, and travel!
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