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audreyvm's review against another edition
4.0
Rendezvous in Venice is a short book, divided within itself into four smaller sections, each of which reads like a story on its own. In the first Pierre, a young art historian perusing the possessions of his dead uncle, with whom he worked for 15 years, discovers a notebook. In its pages the dead man reveals a long hidden side to himself; a passionate love affair with a younger woman, the discovery late in life of the exuberance of love, and a joie de vivre which the nephew had never glimpsed. Later, in the second part, the nephew realizes he is face to face with this long lost lover of his mentor, and must confront his unwelcome and unexpected jealousy. In Part 3 the story continues as Pierre falls in love with the daughter of his uncle’s lover only to lose her, and in Part 4 all things play out to their, in hindsight, inevitable close (or is it beginning?)
So easy to describe, and yet so difficult to do justice. Underlying the story here is a recurrent theme: we cannot know the secret lives within. We can peer at a painting or the face of a stranger on the street and build a story for them, a destiny of sorrow or joy, but the people sitting right beside us, the people with whom we share our lives, will have their own internal worlds and histories we could never imagine. The story is framed by art and the city of Venice gives the perfect background to this theme, overrun by tourists but yielding its hidden treasures to the lovers who take the time to seek them out. The paintings, like the city and the people within it, ask us to look closer, to make time to imagine the story behind the story.
Rendezvous in Venice is a story about falling in love, and the joy and pain that it can bring. It is also a story about art, and about people. Pierre’s unbidden jealousy when he realizes that Judith, his uncle’s former lover, shares memories that he thought were his alone, was powerfully rendered. Charles’ secret life convinced me. If there was a flaw to the book for me, it was Pierre’s character. He seemed too old. I didn’t believe that he could be in his 30s. Perhaps I have had too frivolous a life and he too serious! But it was pleasure to read, and I suspect will yield more enjoyment on the second time around.
So easy to describe, and yet so difficult to do justice. Underlying the story here is a recurrent theme: we cannot know the secret lives within. We can peer at a painting or the face of a stranger on the street and build a story for them, a destiny of sorrow or joy, but the people sitting right beside us, the people with whom we share our lives, will have their own internal worlds and histories we could never imagine. The story is framed by art and the city of Venice gives the perfect background to this theme, overrun by tourists but yielding its hidden treasures to the lovers who take the time to seek them out. The paintings, like the city and the people within it, ask us to look closer, to make time to imagine the story behind the story.
Rendezvous in Venice is a story about falling in love, and the joy and pain that it can bring. It is also a story about art, and about people. Pierre’s unbidden jealousy when he realizes that Judith, his uncle’s former lover, shares memories that he thought were his alone, was powerfully rendered. Charles’ secret life convinced me. If there was a flaw to the book for me, it was Pierre’s character. He seemed too old. I didn’t believe that he could be in his 30s. Perhaps I have had too frivolous a life and he too serious! But it was pleasure to read, and I suspect will yield more enjoyment on the second time around.
poppymaeve's review against another edition
3.0
I feel like I missed the beauty of this. No, not missed it. I saw the beauty, could smell and touch it, yet it didn't quite resonate with me.
Spoiler
I was hoping/expecting Sarah to be Uncle Charles' daughter. That was just where I assumed Beaussant to go. I can't say whether it was any worse/better for Sarah not being his daughter, however it did then make the end sense contrast nicley, with Sarah and Pierre expecting a baby, making up for what Charles and Judith didn't have.abookishtype's review against another edition
3.0
Philippe Beaussant’s novella, Rendezvous in Venice, is told in four parts that circle elegantly back into each other. Pierre Voisin discovers a diary his uncle wrote before he died. Pierre thought he knew everything about his art historian uncle, but the diary reveals that Charles had a lover some decades before Pierre started working for him...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration.
hramona's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars
I didn't not like it but it didn't really strike me. It had elements that I enjoyed but mostly I found it to be a bit, all over the place and honestly? Quite boring.
I didn't not like it but it didn't really strike me. It had elements that I enjoyed but mostly I found it to be a bit, all over the place and honestly? Quite boring.
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