Reviews for Through a Glass Darkly (Guido Brunetti Series #15)

The average rating for Through a Glass Darkly (Guido Brunetti Series #15) based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-11-02 00:00:00 Khary Bethea Donna Leon's 15th book in her Commissario Brunetti Series and once again we are back in the beautiful city of Venice. It's springtime and Commissario Brunetti asked by his assistant, Vianello, to help him rescue his good friend who has being arrested for taking part in an environmental demonstration. But there may be more to the arrest and soon Brunetti and Vianelli become suspicious when they hear that someone might want to harm the friend. Most of the story takes place in the secretive island of Murano, home of the world-famous glass factories, where a murder of a furnace worker is discovered in one of the glass factories. Environmental concerns , pollution, corruption, politics, greed, vanity, food, family life, Dante's Inferno........and a fantastic and well-researched history of the age-old art of glass making. Signorina Elletra is just as fabulous and Vice-Questore Patta, Brunetti's boss, just as stupid and vain. I adore the way the characters have developed throughout this series. We have become very familiar with them. A new character, Paolo Foa, is introduced to replace the Questura's boat pilot, Bonsuan, who was killed in book #10 and he's quite an interesting character and I look forward to his future appearances. The plot was fairly slow - the actual murder doesn't take place until halfway through but we do get to enjoy the glassmaking information, the sunny spring days in Venice, eating and drinking and reading Dante's Inferno. An enjoyable addition.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-10-18 00:00:00 Mimi Shkalim Donna Leon has essentially given up on writing mysteries and/or police procedural books in favor of writing whatever's on her mind that day. This book is not a mystery - Brunetti wanders around for the first half of the book wasting police time even more egregiously than usual, until someone he's talking to is conveniently murdered - and it ends in the least satisfying way possible. As I've said before on far too many occasions, I luckily do not read the Brunetti books for their mysteries, but rather for passages like this: Brunetti found himself back in the court of the Emperor Heliogabalus, one of his favorite monsters. Ah, the excess of it, the violence, the utter corruption of everything and everyone. The lasagne had layers of ham and thin slices of artichoke hearts interleaved with layers of pasta that he suspected might have been home made. He would have preferred more artichokes. He shared his table with decapitated senators, evil counsellors, barbarians bent on the destruction of the empire. He took a sip of wine and ate another bite of lasagne. I know that this is not compelling reading for 99% of the people on this planet, but I EAT THIS UP. For whatever reason, these books tickle me and act as the perfect palate cleanser between two books I actually want to read. This book took me six days to finish, which would be alarming with any other mystery and/or novel but for Leon is par for the course. I can now safely move on from Navajo wars to YA steampunk. Favorite features of this installment include: - The time devoted to lunch at Nanni's on Murano, where the waiter is careful to recite the menu slowly only if you're with locals - The very enjoyable two pages in which Brunetti eats lunch with Gibbon (see above) - The long and detailed description of drinking done by Italian workmen, from un'ombra at 11 to the grappa before bedtime - The number of times Brunetti reflects on Veneziano vs. Italian, which to many older Venetians is a foreign language they don't care to speak - Signorina Elettra practicing English with Patta ("does this bus go to Hammersmith?") - The long, detailed descriptions of the glassblowers on Murano going about their business See you in a couple weeks, Leon!