I felt like this book was written very similarly to “Midnight” but that’s what I love so much about Berendt’s writing style! He tells the story of a city or a place; he has a voice for local color like I’ve never experienced in any other book. By the end, I felt like I had gotten a whole picture of what Venice is, more than you could ever gather as a visitor. As I’m sure he intended, it made me want to go back to Venice and really see it. Not only that, Berendt’s writing makes me want to experience all places as he does: with eyes wide open.

Its over!!! This book was slow going. I was hoping for an eye-opening view of Venice, but I didn’t think this book came anywhere near the intriguing descriptive language of Berendt’s first book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Just a disclaimer: I read that one when I was about 14, so perhaps my tastes have just changed. I found many parts of this book boring including the story line (was there an ending?), the character development (how many characters? 56?), and the bland portrait of Venice. Can’t say I’d recommend this over anything else I’ve read recently, but perhaps I’ll feel less strongly about that after some time…