It was stated early in this nonfiction work that rather than looking at the town of Venice, Berendt would be looking at its people. While he does this, he seems to focus on the burning of the Fenice, an opera house. The event, which occured three days after his arrival in the city, causes him to stay in Venice longer - to report on the Fenice and to talk with Venetians.

The storyline regarding the Fenice is spread throughout the work. In between, Berendt has included shorter works - if you will - looking at interesting people from or living in Venice. Yet, I cannot help but make a small complaint about how Berendt went about recording the lives of these people. He dedicates ample time to the Fenice, but usually only gives a chapter to an interesting story which could easily have been made into a longer work. It seems as if he didn't have quite enough about the Fenice, nor quite enough about each of his stories, and while they are well told, I want to know more about all of it - the Fenice and the people.

That being said, the story was interesting and Berendt is a wonderful writer. I don't think this was as good as Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, but it had the same effect - with Midnight, I wanted to go to Savannah and with The City of Falling Angels, I wanted to go to Venice.

This was a very interesting novel. The story revolves around Lydia, a girl from South Boston who marries a medical student - Henry Wickett - and follows her through her marriage, her losses during WWI, and the Spanish Influenza epidemic. Very good look into the time period. There are a few sub-plots/stories that run the course of the novel and add depth to the main story.

Probably a 3.5 star book. It was interesting, but I wished I would have read it prior to seeing the movie. I could only picture Hugh Grant, and I think Will's character would have been better perceived had I not. Still, very interesting and insightful.

Couldn't help myself. I had to buy and read this.

And it was worth it. While not as good as the first novel in the series it was still very entertaining.

Four and a half stars. This was incredibly well written and very clever. The story was interesting and the characters well developed.

Two small issues:
1-The ending, while good, was summed up too neatly. While there were both good and bad things that occured in the end, and without giving anything away, the manner in which the author concluded was just too neat for my liking.

2-Oddly enough, as much as I liked the entire story, it wasn't like other novels that I loved and could not put down. I could put it down. I wanted to know what happened, but I didn't have that "I need to finish this now" feeling.

I would say that this would make a FABULOUS movie. Very vivid imagery, interesting people, creatures, and scenery. Lots of magical and fantastic elements.

I have finished rereading (at least rereading the part I earlier read) this novel. I have to say that I am definitely more aware of the satire than I was years ago. I think it is a strong, smart novel. However, I think the ending is too sudden - no big event happens and the reader is left pondering Patrick and his psychosis.

And, the worst part - I HAD SEVERAL NIGHTMARES ABOUT MUTILATION while reading this novel.

***NOTE: THIS NOVEL IS NOT FOR THOSE WHO ARE OFFENDED BY GORE, SEX, OR VERY, VERY DESCRIPTIVE GORE OR SEX SCENES.

Probably 3.5 stars. I don't know if I read this too late within my education, but apart from a few good ideas, most of this was not new information. Wong has organized his book very well and reminds the reader of the "build up" to the first few days of school - days he deems most important for any given school year. Yet, I cannot help but think that Wong is egotistical and get annoyed with his strange way of including himself in his own text. I had to read this for New Teacher Academy for the school district I work for.