I finally finished reading The Girl From Venice last week. Whew! It took me two months. For me, that is a long time to finish a book. Which really sets the tone for this review. If you follow me on Instagram (which you should!) you already know how I felt about this book. But a review is necessary nonetheless.
The Girl From Venice Book Review
The Girl From Venice is a historical fiction book set during the end of World War II when the Republic of Salo was collapsing and Mussolini would be killed in a few short weeks. The story follows the unexpected meeting of Cenzo, a fisherman from Pellestrina, and Giulia, the daughter of a wealthy Jew. Sounds interesting right? In a sense it was. Obviously I finished the book because I had to know what happened after Cenzo rescued Giulia from the waters where he was fishing one night, sent her off to be hidden after spending a few days with her, and then chases after her at the request of his famous actor brother who spends his time promoting Mussolini and Hitler.
Are you confused yet? Well strap in, because I spent almost the entire book wondering what the hell was going on. The story jumps around quite a bit and some of the storylines seem extremely pointless. Oh and let’s not forget to mention that Cenzo’s famous brother stole his wife and then she was killed by an air raid while filming a movie. So the whole time you’re dealing with Cenzo and his brother not getting along but not ever really addressing any issues.
Overall, had I not been reading this book for the blog, I would’ve just googled the ending. This was not one of my favorites.
Rating: C
xx, Dani
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