"The Birth of Venus" by Sarah Dunant

Read: 3/6/09

3/5 stars

I thought this book would be similar to The Girl with a Pearl Earring, meaning a fictional account of the backstory behind a classic painting. Not so.

Though the story is set in Florence at the height of the great Florentine painters and artists, circa 1530s, the story was not about Botticelli's painting, nor about Botticelli. Venus simply referred to a girl, Alessandra, whose fullness of womanhood is achieved even amidst the strict rules governing her fair sex at the time. Alessandra who comes from a prominent merchant family wishes to paint. But the options open to a girl of her age and stature at that time were to marry or go into the convent. Her family hires a painter, unnamed throughout the book, commissioned to paint the walls of her family chapel. Of course, Alessandra is drawn towards this mysterious and brooding character, though nothing comes of it until after Alessandra's marriage to a refined gentleman. The love story and Alessandra's character develops against the backdrop of Savonarola's rise to and fall from power.

I thought that Dunant very conveniently placed 21st century issues in 16th century characters. But I thought that it pandered to our century too much. The language was too modern, even if it was supposed to be English translations of the original Italian. However, there were a lot of English idioms that definitely could not have come from the Italian. Also, her characters did not strike me as sincere. By that, I mean reflective of true 16th century sensibility. They smacked so much of the present to me. Once in a while, Alessandra talks of God and faith. However, in the end, her religion is of the body, and there did not seem to be too much of an internal conflict in her character considering the dichotomy. It just seemed that, for one who was raised as she was, she would have had more of a conflict shifting loyalties like that.

Spoilers to follow:

The ending, too, did not strike true. Things seemed smoothed out too much, not developed enough. After her husband's planned disappearance, she fortuitously finds a convent, raises her child without any apparent discomfort, is reunited with her lover, relinquishes her daughter to her lover so that the child may live the life that she could not, and plans her own death. All within the span of 30 pages. At this point, it seemed more of a narration of events than the unfolding of a story.

All in all, though, the book was entertaining read, the best parts being the sections that seemed odes to the city of Florence. Also, it was educational for me to read the commentaries on paintings and art, not being an artist myself. Unfortunately, these strong points aren't enough to make me want to pick up another Dunant. At least, not yet.