In the Company of the Courtesan : A Novel
Registered by rem_XNE-725303 on 6/15/2006
1 journaler for this copy...
By the author of "The Birth of Venus" - an epic novel of life in Renaissance Italy.....from dust cover
SPOILER ALERT - I try not to give anything away, but you may want to wait to read this after reading the book yourself..
As a committed fan of historical fiction, I already know and love Sarah Dunant's writing -- her last book, "The Birth of Venus", was a storming best-seller in 2004. For those who have mostly tended to disregard the historical genre, thinking it either too constrained by dull facts or else too prone to flights of insubstantial romantic fancy, "In the Company of the Courtesan" will come as a breathtaking revelation. Dunant pays great heed to working within the bounds of historical authenticity. She clearly researches the background of her subjects in profound depth and painstaking detail, taking the trouble to provide generous documentation of her diverse sources. Her writing is anything but factually laborious and dry, it is eloquent and evocative, conjuring an impression of the Venice and (briefly) Rome of the mid-16th century - that almost overwhelms the reader's senses. Sights, textures, colors and sounds, flavors and smells tumble from every page, immersing the reader in an experience that is both sumptuous and visceral. There is much to learn about the politics of the times, and less about the "act" of being a courtesan....
Dunant is wonderfully adept in her characterization. She shows outstanding ability to populate her exquisitely tangible world with believable and imperfect personalities, who both belong convincingly within their Renaissance Italian context and yet resonate with the sensibilities of the sophisticated contemporary reader... In the Company of the Courtesan lets the reader see the violence of Rome, and horror of it's being sacked, and the corruption of Venice. I did find the story of LaDraga to be a little predictable, and would have like the story of the Turk to have been developed more, rather than sort of dropped...his character intrigued me and I wish it would have gone somewhere.
Like the best sci-fi, good historical fiction depends for its effectiveness on a combination of a graphically portrayed imagined setting with qualities, traits and motivations in its major protagonists that capture something of the universality of human experience. It is refreshing to find a book that does not mince words. It does not try to gloss over the realities of the day and time. It gives a very expansive view of the world at a time we would like to forget about the hardships, and only view with rose colored glasses. It is not so romanticized as many stories are. This is not always a pleasant book to read in that it is about a hard hard time when life was a struggle, and not everyone survived.
SPOILER ALERT - I try not to give anything away, but you may want to wait to read this after reading the book yourself..
As a committed fan of historical fiction, I already know and love Sarah Dunant's writing -- her last book, "The Birth of Venus", was a storming best-seller in 2004. For those who have mostly tended to disregard the historical genre, thinking it either too constrained by dull facts or else too prone to flights of insubstantial romantic fancy, "In the Company of the Courtesan" will come as a breathtaking revelation. Dunant pays great heed to working within the bounds of historical authenticity. She clearly researches the background of her subjects in profound depth and painstaking detail, taking the trouble to provide generous documentation of her diverse sources. Her writing is anything but factually laborious and dry, it is eloquent and evocative, conjuring an impression of the Venice and (briefly) Rome of the mid-16th century - that almost overwhelms the reader's senses. Sights, textures, colors and sounds, flavors and smells tumble from every page, immersing the reader in an experience that is both sumptuous and visceral. There is much to learn about the politics of the times, and less about the "act" of being a courtesan....
Dunant is wonderfully adept in her characterization. She shows outstanding ability to populate her exquisitely tangible world with believable and imperfect personalities, who both belong convincingly within their Renaissance Italian context and yet resonate with the sensibilities of the sophisticated contemporary reader... In the Company of the Courtesan lets the reader see the violence of Rome, and horror of it's being sacked, and the corruption of Venice. I did find the story of LaDraga to be a little predictable, and would have like the story of the Turk to have been developed more, rather than sort of dropped...his character intrigued me and I wish it would have gone somewhere.
Like the best sci-fi, good historical fiction depends for its effectiveness on a combination of a graphically portrayed imagined setting with qualities, traits and motivations in its major protagonists that capture something of the universality of human experience. It is refreshing to find a book that does not mince words. It does not try to gloss over the realities of the day and time. It gives a very expansive view of the world at a time we would like to forget about the hardships, and only view with rose colored glasses. It is not so romanticized as many stories are. This is not always a pleasant book to read in that it is about a hard hard time when life was a struggle, and not everyone survived.
