Tracy's Reviews > The Birth of Venus

For some reason, I always feel the need to apologize when giving a high rating to a book that is not marvelously written from a technical standpoint--I think I've been privy to too many technical writing conversations. While this book is not a classic of literary style, it was a very good read. Its strengths rest in its emotional honesty at difficult moments. Dunant has an eye for those small defining gestures that convey volumes.

As a historical novel, it also covers some interesting territory. The novel takes place in Florence, Italy during the fall of the Medicis and the brief rise of the monk Savonarola, and that place and time (and the role of the Church in it) are central characters. As the monk cracks down on all who run counter to his theology (including the pope), Alessandra, an intelligent, art-loving girl of 16 from a well-to-do merchant's family, rushes into marriage to escape exile to a convent, only to quickly find herself in a situation that is hardly the stuff of women's dreams -- but then, Alessandra had unconventional dreams to begin with. For a woman of the time, relationships within the family substituted for relationships to the entire world. Alessandra's family allows a complex consideration of the messy betrayals and redemptions of love. This novel addresses social class, sexuality, beauty, despair, relationships between men and women, and the relationship between God and the Church. Not bad for a 391-page novel.