- Paperback: 347 pages
- Publisher: Pocket Books; New edition edition (1 Mar 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 074349203X
- ISBN-13: 978-0743492034
- Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.4 x 2.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 580,196 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"Here is Venice for our century where life is lived and recorded by the passionate eye of Paula Weideger...This is an enchanted world and you're in it the moment you open Venetian Dreaming"
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
Who hasn't dreamed, after a particularly mind-numbing meeting, or in the midst of another punishing five-thirty commute, of chucking it all and packing off to the enchanting canals and mysterious alleyways of Venice? Globetrotting writer Paula Weideger not only dreamed the dream; she and her partner actually took the leap. VENETIAN DREAMING charts the course of Weideger's passionate love affair with one of the world's most beautiful cities. Weideger opens her book with the wry, mishap-strewn account of the search to find a place to live which eventually takes her to the world famous Palazzo Dona delle Rose, the only palace in Venice continuously occupied by the family that built it. She weaves the past lives of the family Dona with her own present adventures, creating a tapestry that captures at once the grand heritage and imperilled labyrinth as she gives a lively, riveting and eye opening tour of the city. She explores the centuries old streets, meets locals from noblemen to shopkeepers and artists, makes peace with the ghost of Peggy Guggenheim and explains how Ishmael Merchant and James Ivory almost dislodged her from her home, and more.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I bought this book simply because I love Venice and it looked promising. However, within a couple of chapters I found myself intensely disliking the author and this grew the further I read on.
I would give this book 2 stars for Venice itself - any description of such a beautiful city would be hard to fault. For the narration I would give it zero.
14 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I bought this book to read because I'm hoping to go to Venice later this year. At the end of it I (a) wondered if I really wanted to go at all, and (b) actively disliked the author. It's full of turgid prose, a great many excrutiating details (included, I suspect, to pad out the length of the book) and some very dull descriptions of one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Her treatment of Venice is only slightly less objectionable than her treatment of the people she met there. The book is full of complaints about named individuals who, no matter how awful they actually were, cannot possibly have deserved this treatment. Was it written for revenge? If so, the only person she belittles is herself. I kept reading in the hope it would get better but in vain. It's a brilliant example of how not to write a travel book.
Format:Paperback
How much you enjoy this book rather depends upon where you are coming from. It is inclined to be a little smug and the author obviously moves in rather different circles than most of us - but on the other hand isn't that why we read this type of book in the first place? Sure, there are some occasions in the book when I wince at her approach to life but not enough to stop reading. Some of the "excruciating details" I found rather fascinating and there is no doubting the passion that Weideger brings to her book. If you are looking for tourist information then look elsewhere, but if you might be interested in a quirky account of living in an historic and beautiful city then read this. At least it doesn't suffer from the over the syrupy creative writing style of some other American writers who have spent rather too long under the Tuscan Sun!
Incidentally, am I alone in thinking there is more than a passing resemblance between the author and Gene Wilder as evidenced by the cover photo?
Incidentally, am I alone in thinking there is more than a passing resemblance between the author and Gene Wilder as evidenced by the cover photo?
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