{"id":5539,"date":"2015-11-29T18:20:13","date_gmt":"2015-11-29T23:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=5539"},"modified":"2020-06-08T15:31:53","modified_gmt":"2020-06-08T19:31:53","slug":"falling-in-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5539","title":{"rendered":"Falling in Love"},"content":{"rendered":"

Falling in Love<\/a><\/em> (2015) Donna Leon<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>And now, I have read and re-read all the published Donna Leon, Commisario Brunetti books.<\/p>\n

We return once again to the Opera and Flavia Petrelli. La Fenice is putting on Tosca, and Flavia has the lead role. Brunetti and Paola meet her after the opening night, and invite her to dinner–at Paola’s parents–on Sunday. It is there that Brunetti notices that Flavia is on edge, and she eventually admits that she has an unknown admirer who is frightening her.<\/p>\n

There is far less mystery here, and more interplay and conflict between the characters–Signorina Elettra is finally actively in opposition to Lieutenant Scarpa–but I was totally okay with that. I like this series because of the characters–the mysteries are almost secondary.<\/p>\n

As usual, Patta is Patta, but he is far less horrible here than he was initially, and in fact Brunetti actually thinks some positive things about him.<\/p>\n

Colleagues of his in other cities and provinces continually told him of the sort of men and women they worked for, hinting \u2013 though never daring to say it outright \u2013 that some of them had given their allegiance to an institution other than the State, something that could not be said of the Vice-Questore.
\nPatta had given his, Brunetti had discovered over the years, to his family. Without reservation, without reflection or restraint: Brunetti liked him for it. Patta was vain and lazy, selfish and at times foolish, but these were not active failings. There was a great deal of bluster in the man, but there was no deep malice: that was left to Lieutenant Scarpa.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There was also a very interesting passage:<\/p>\n

\u2018Isn\u2019t it interesting,\u2019 (Paola) said in the voice she used for speculation, \u2018that longing is so often expressed in physical terms: hunger, thirst, physical safety?\u2019
\n\u2018What should we long for instead?\u2019 Brunetti asked. \u2018Universal peace?\u2019
\n\u2018That\u2019s not what I\u2019m saying,\u2019 Paola insisted. \u2018I find it interesting that longing is usually expressed in physical terms rather than in spiritual or intellectual ones.\u2019
\n\u2018It\u2019s more immediate,\u2019 Chiara said. \u2018You suffer from physical need: water, food, sleep. You feel it.\u2019
\n\u2018You suffer more from the lack of freedom or peace of mind, I\u2019d say,\u2019 Brunetti offered.
\nRaffi continued with his cake, as if he found it far more interesting than this sort of speculation.
\n\u2018But physical pain hurts,\u2019 Chiara insisted. \u2018Nobody dies of a broken heart.\u2019
\nPaola placed a hand on her own anguished heart. She reached across the table and grabbed at Brunetti\u2019s hand. \u2018Guido, we\u2019ve raised a savage.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’ve noted in the past that physical pain tends not to bother me much (when I broke my ankle, I told the ER nurse I only rated my pain about a 4 or so) but I have found myself prostrated by mental and emotional pain. So I’d say that I could not disagree more with Chiara’s statement. <\/p>\n

Was this one of the better mysteries? No, it honestly wasn’t. Did I enjoy it thoroughly? Yes, I honestly did.<\/p>\n

If you’re looking for a complex mystery, or have never read the Commissario Brunetti seires, don’t start here. But if you’re looking to spend time with characters, and already know Brunetti and Paola and Signorina Elettra, then it’s a pleasant time spent.
\nRating: 7.5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published by Atlantic Monthly Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Falling in Love (2015) Donna Leon And now, I have read and re-read all the published Donna Leon, Commisario Brunetti books. We return once again to the Opera and Flavia Petrelli. La Fenice is putting on Tosca, and Flavia has the lead role. Brunetti and Paola meet her after the opening night, and invite her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[194,8,42],"tags":[97,96],"class_list":["post-5539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-7-5-10","category-mystery","category-police","tag-commissario-guido-brunetti","tag-donna-leon"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-1rl","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5449,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5449","url_meta":{"origin":5539,"position":0},"title":"Acqua Alta","author":"Michelle","date":"October 11, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Acqua Alta (1996) Donna Leon The fifth book in the Commisario Brunetti series finds the city of Venice a major character, as the Acqua Alta threatens the city with flooding. We also return to Flavia Petrelli and Brett, the women from the first book. Brett has returned to the city\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Acqua-Alta.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3995,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3995","url_meta":{"origin":5539,"position":1},"title":"Acqua Alta","author":"Michelle","date":"August 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Acqua Alta (1996) Donna Leon This story returns to Brett and Flavia, who we met in the first book, Death at La Fenice. Brett has returned from China, only it appears that someone is not happy for her to have returned. It is the time of acqua alta, or high\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Acqua-Alta.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2024,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2024","url_meta":{"origin":5539,"position":2},"title":"A Question of Belief","author":"Michelle","date":"October 19, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"A Question of Belief (2010) Donna Leon It's summer in Venice, and Brunetti wishes that all criminals would take a vacation with the rest of the country, to allow them to escape the oppressive heat. But even if the criminals were to take a break, two different problems that may\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mystery"","block_context":{"text":"Mystery","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/mystery"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Question-of-Belief.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20171,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/20171","url_meta":{"origin":5539,"position":3},"title":"Give Unto Others","author":"Michelle","date":"August 7, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Give Unto Others (2022) Donna Leon (Commissario Brunetti) This is the 31st Brunetti book. It seems weird this series has been running for 30 years. Partially because at some point she stopped aging Brunetti and his family, so his eldest has been on the cusp of adulthood for more than\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Give-Unto-Others.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":584,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/584","url_meta":{"origin":5539,"position":4},"title":"Acqua Alta","author":"Michelle","date":"May 31, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Acqua Alta (1996) Donna Leon In Acqua Alta we return to two of the characters that Guido met in the first mystery, Death at La Fenice. Brett Lynch is beaten in the doorway of her own apartment. When Guido discovers what has happened he goes to her hospital where he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mystery"","block_context":{"text":"Mystery","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/mystery"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Acqua-Alta.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":735,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/735","url_meta":{"origin":5539,"position":5},"title":"Friends in High Places","author":"Michelle","date":"October 29, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Friends in High Places (2000) Donna Leon Apparently, Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti books are not being published in the US following European copyright dates. Friends in High Places has a European copyright of 2000, but was published in the US only recently. Not that this particularly matters in the grand\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mystery"","block_context":{"text":"Mystery","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/mystery"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Friends-in-High-Places.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5539\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}