{"id":9050,"date":"2017-04-25T18:40:16","date_gmt":"2017-04-25T22:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=9050"},"modified":"2018-04-26T09:36:04","modified_gmt":"2018-04-26T13:36:04","slug":"earthly-remains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/9050","title":{"rendered":"Earthly Remains"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earthly Remains<\/a><\/em> (2017) Donna Leon<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The 26th Brunetti mystery sees nothing of Brunetti’s children, and very little of Paola. Although there is of course food.<\/p>\n

It seems like the corruption in Venice has finally gotten to Brunetti. In order to save Pucetti from himself, Guido pretends to fall ill, and then is unable to stop the chain of events that puts him into the hospital.<\/p>\n

\u2018I can\u2019t stand it any longer, doing what I do,\u2019 Brunetti surprised himself by saying. \u2018I had to fake all this and end up here in the hospital, with doctors prodding and poking at me, just because I have to protect the people I work with from reacting to the work they do.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So Brunetti takes his doctors advice–and the advice and prodding of Paola–and gets out of the city for awhile. He ends up spending his days on the laguna, with the man who keeps the house where Brunetti is staying, and the physicality of it is good for his spirit and soul.<\/p>\n

Seeing the perfect balance of his motion, back and forth, back and forth, hands effortlessly in control of the oar, Brunetti thought that no man his own age or younger would be able to row like this because he would spoil it by showing off. The drops from the blade hit the water almost invisibly before the oar dipped in and moved towards the back. His father had rowed like this.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If you’re looking for the mystery to start from the get-go, this is not the book for you. This book is for long-time fans of Brunetti who wonder how he hasn’t broken prior to this, and don’t mind spending days on the laguna.<\/p>\n

When Brunetti remarked on the generosity of the fishermen they met, Casati said fishermen were always generous, far more so than farmers. To Brunetti\u2019s question, he explained that fishermen knew their catch would last no more than a day, so it was easy for them to give it away: give it away or watch it rot. Farmers, however, could store what they reaped and so had a tendency to keep it or even hoard it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Because of that, it’s almost a shock when the death does come, even though you know someone is going to be murdered, because this is a murder mystery.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s always the odd, unpredictable things that set us off, Brunetti thought. Grief lies inside us like a land mine: heavy footsteps will pass by it safely, while others, even those as light as air, will cause it to explode.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As I said, this book is more about Brunetti than about the murder that eventually comes, so I wouldn’t recommend it to a first time reader searching for a police procedural, but it really is a good story. It also reminded me a great deal of Through a Glass, Darkly<\/em> and Death in a Strange Country<\/em>, with the look at pollution and corruption.
\nRating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Earthly Remains (2017) Donna Leon The 26th Brunetti mystery sees nothing of Brunetti’s children, and very little of Paola. Although there is of course food. It seems like the corruption in Venice has finally gotten to Brunetti. In order to save Pucetti from himself, Guido pretends to fall ill, and then is unable to stop […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12,8,42],"tags":[97,96],"class_list":["post-9050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","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-2lY","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5729,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5729","url_meta":{"origin":9050,"position":0},"title":"The Waters of Eternal Youth","author":"Michelle","date":"March 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Waters of Eternal Youth (2016) Donna Leon This is the 25th book in the Guido Brunetti series, which shouldn't surprise me, yet somehow does. Brunetti remains as astute as ever, with many sharp little comments on life. Contessa Lando-Continui had always been polite to him, at times even warm,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mystery"","block_context":{"text":"Mystery","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/mystery"},"img":{"alt_text":"The-Waters-of-Eternal-Youth","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/The-Waters-of-Eternal-Youth.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5500,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5500","url_meta":{"origin":9050,"position":1},"title":"About Face","author":"Michelle","date":"November 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"About Face (2009) Donna Leon I clearly remembered parts of this book, which meant I wanted to re-read it. Guido and Paola are invited to a dinner at her parents', and Guido meets a woman who captivates his attention. 'I beg your pardon.' Brunetti answered, stalling. 'You beg my pardon\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\/11\/About-Face-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":956,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/956","url_meta":{"origin":9050,"position":2},"title":"Suffer the Little Children","author":"Michelle","date":"February 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Suffer the Little Children (2007) Donna Leon Brunetti is called to the hospital for an assault case, where it turns out that a citizen of Venice has been injured, only the assault isn't what he was expecting, and draws Brunetti into a case of illegal adoptions. I'd been saving Suffer\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\/Suffer-the-Little-Children.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5536,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5536","url_meta":{"origin":9050,"position":3},"title":"By its Cover","author":"Michelle","date":"November 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"By its Cover (2014) Donna Leon At last, we reach the books I had not yet read. The 23rd book finds Brunetti called to investigate the theft of both books and pages cut from old and rare books. Old books had always filled Brunetti with nostalgia for centuries in which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/By-Its-Cover.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5539,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5539","url_meta":{"origin":9050,"position":4},"title":"Falling in Love","author":"Michelle","date":"November 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Falling-in-Love-by-Donna-Leon.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5477,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5477","url_meta":{"origin":9050,"position":5},"title":"Willful Behavior","author":"Michelle","date":"November 2, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Willful Behavior (2002) Donna Leon The eleventh Commissario Brunetti book finds both Guido and Paola involved in the favors and requests that pervade Venice (and Italy). \u2018But you have to let me do something for you.\u2019 \u2018All right, you can,\u2019 Brunetti said immediately. \u2018Good. What? Anything.\u2019 \u2018The next time we\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\/11\/Willful-Behavior.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\/9050","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=9050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9050\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}