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Grace Miller is an American widow living the high life in Venice, where her son Adam joins her after completing his stint in the army. (He was previously a part of the team investigating war criminals.) When he learns that his mother has taken up with an old friend Dr. Gianni Maglione, he forms his own opinions on the romance, and his worst fears come to light when he meets a young Jewish woman, Claudia Grassini, who publicly denounces the high society Romeo as a fiend who condemned her father to death.
Kanon lavishly describes the shallow opulence of the upper class, with their glittering balls, exotic foods and wine, yet balances it brilliantly with the undercurrents of society and dirty secrets of the principal characters. With the passionate romance between Adam and Claudia as a catalyst, the story reaches its peak with a brutal murder, and then lazily meanders through the subsequent lies, cover-ups and deceptions, until building to a deadly but understated climax.
A bit on the long side, but a good, albeit sordid tale.
Crime and Punishment
Adam and Claudia hide
The truth under wraps
Amanda Richards
Into this milieu comes Grace Miller, an American widow, and her son Adam, just released from the US Army as part of a de-Nazification team in Frankfurt. Grace is about to marry Gianni Maglione, a Venetian doctor, and Adam wonders about Gianni's past. Soon Adam meets Claudia Grassini, a young Jewish woman who survived internment in Fossoli, and they begin a passionate affair. When Claudia is introduced to Gianni at a party, however, she recognizes him immediately, telling Adam that Gianni betrayed her very sick father to security forces rounding up Jews.
Using his past army connections to get further information about Gianni, Adam investigates, but violence soon changes the focus of his energies, and the nightmare involving Adam, his family, and Claudia intensifies. Adam's extreme introspection as he helps the police investigate broadens the scope and focuses attention on important themes of crime and justice, and Claudia's vulnerability as a result of the Holocaust gives added poignancy to her similar self-examinations.
With a setting so vivid that one cannot imagine the story taking place anywhere else, the reader sees Venice shining, but beneath the surface it is a decaying city, literally sinking under its own weight. War crimes, hate crimes, crimes of passion, crimes committed for altruistic reasons, and crimes committed in self-defense all play a part in the plot. Kanon also raises questions about the punishments, if any, associated with these crimes. Are some crimes less "serious," or even justifiable, if they balance the scale of justice? Is the murder of a criminal excusable? Does justice depend on who wins? Ultimately, a chase scene through the canals of Venice, leads to a stunning conclusion, filled with twists, though whether justice is truly served remains an open question. Mary Whipple
This is tangible, almost visible Venice, city of beautiful facades and dark byways. Grace Miller, an American widow, is revisiting memories of a happier Venetian stay, Harry's Bar, the Gritti Palace, cocktails and parties in the thirties, dancing to Cole Porter tunes. Many of her old cronies remain; they introduce her to Doctor Maglione a wealthy widower. A marriage is in prospect. The idyll is disrupted by the arrival of Grace's son, Adam, recently released from his role as an army investigator in de-Nazifying Germany. Adam meets, and falls in love with, a Jewish girl, Claudia. Soon the prospects of well-adjusted happiness are disrupted. Doctor Maglione may not be all he appears. Bertie, the urbane lotus-eating Irishman, disseminates gossip but seeks to allay concern. The policeman, Inspector Cavallini, is relaxed but has a murder to investigate. Where in all this are Adam and Claudia placed? Centrally, it transpires.
Joseph Kanon peels away layer after layer of a dark and troubling tale that doesn't quite end with the final page.
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