The Birth of Venus

A Novel

By: Sarah Dunant

Narrated by: Kathe Mazur

Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

Alessandra Cecchi is not quite fifteen when her father, a prosperous cloth merchant, brings a young painter back from northern Europe to decorate the chapel walls in the family's Florentine palazzo. A child of the Renaissance, with a precocious mind and a talent for drawing, Alessandra is intoxicated by the painter's abilities.

But their burgeoning relationship is interrupted when Alessandra's parents arrange her marriage to a wealthy, much older man. Meanwhile, Florence is changing, increasingly subject to the growing suppression imposed by the fundamentalist monk Savonarola, who is seizing religious and political control. Alessandra and her native city are caught between the Medici state, with its love of luxury, learning, and dazzling art, and the hellfire preaching and increasing violence of Savonarola's reactionary followers. Played out against this turbulent backdrop, Alessandra's married life is a misery, except for the surprising freedom it allows her to pursue her powerful attraction to the young painter and his art.

The Birth of Venus is a tour de force, the first historical novel from one of Britain's most innovative writers of literary suspense. It brings alive the history of Florence at its most dramatic period, telling a compulsively absorbing story of love, art, religion, and power through the passionate voice of Alessandra, a heroine with the same vibrancy of spirit as her beloved city.

©2004 Sarah Dunant (P)2004 Books on Tape, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Arresting tale of art, love and betrayal....Dunant's vivid, gripping novel gives fresh life to a captivating age of glorious art and political turmoil." (Publishers Weekly)
"Lush and intellectually gripping novel....This is a beautifully written and captivating work." (Booklist)
"The imaginative energy of the enterprise is clearly warmblooded, playful, even reckless....Dunant puts me in mind of a well-fed cat, quick-witted house cat, crouched before the mouse hole of history. She's not that hungry, but she will pounce upon whatever emerges, just for the fun of chasing is all over the house." (The New York Times Book Review)
"Sterlin invokes excitement in hushed tones and invites one to reflect on poignant moments. Both Dunant and Sterlin catch the excitement of this important period in history." (AudioFile)

Historical fiction at its best

I was glued to this from chapter one to the end. The depth of the characters and historical details are superb.

Excellent

I completely enjoyed this audiobook, so much in fact that I finished it in a couple of days! The story was engrossing, well written, and educational, and the reader was clear, well-paced, and easy to listen to. I disagree with the person who tought the readers's voice was annoying. I found she was able to bring to life all the characters, and her tone never veered towards the boring.

Beautiful novel with excellent characterization

In the Birth of Venus, we nestle inside the mind of Alessandra, a girl on the verge of womanhood, and follow her path through marriage and betrayal. Set in Florence in the late 1400s, this book is a fascinating historical fiction novel as well as being a bit of a love story. It is most definitely not a romance novel, however. It is a more a story of a woman who doesn't fit her time/place/class deciding to rebel, and then learning to live with the consequences that follow her. All of the characters are wonderfully drawn, and the plot moves nicely forward throughout. I enjoyed the narrator's voice--light with no vocal weirdness that you sometimes come upon in audiobooks (mouth sounds, drawn out words, over-drama, no distiniction between voices, etc).

Worth the credit for sure. I even teared up at the ending because I had grown so attached to Alessandra. Enjoy!

intellectually

I chose this book because the last few books I listened to were pretty lightweight entertainment. I wanted something more intellectually "meaty," so this story of a young Florentine girl during the Renaissance immediately caught my attention. Although there were a few parts that I kind of "tuned out," I enjoyed this book very much. Not only did I learn about the history of Florence, but the storyline was excellent. Allesandra's many relationships all had little twists to them. The events were all interwoven and the story kept you wondering what would happen next. I would definitely recommend this book.

Colorfully drawn, breathtaking and brilliant.

I enjoyed this immensely. The story spanned generations and tied it all in nicely. Narrated wonderfully. In fact, with this novel, the narration blended in so nicely with the story, that I scarcely heard her voice, but rather felt the story unfolding. I love well-researched historical novels and this is one! An entertaining story, and a breathtakingly beautiful setting, as seen by my mind's eye. I highly recommend this one.

Worth the time

Tedious to start, but totally necessary for character development. The plot was exciting and colorful once it thickens. Beautiful story… and the ending? Chef’s kiss

Amazingly interesting read!

If you are a history bug like I am for the 15th century this is a must read.

The Birth of a Passion

Everyone learns of the Italian Renaissance in school, but only of certain people. This book is about a family, like many, who help the Renaissance painters on to greatness.

The Cecchi family is one such family that gets to experience the Renaissance first hand. The youngest daughter, Alessandra, is the main character. Smart, strong willed and talented she want to break away from the place life has set for her. She feels she may be lucky when her father brings a painter into the house to work on their family's chapel. Of course, fate plays a dirty trick on her. When the French invade, she's forced to choose between a life in a convent or marriage. She chooses marriage and ends up being married, hastily, to a man who promises to give her everything she wants provided she keeps his secret. His secret, he's a sodomite. During this time Florence is being ruled by Savonarola, a monk who feels everything is wrong. Well, almost everything. The book goes through what it's like to live under a fanatic and tells about the original Bonfire of the Vanities, a time where everyone had to give up their most precious possessions that could be deemed unholy, flashy etc. The books ending is very different from the meat of the book and was a little bit of a let down for me.

I rate this a 7.75 out of 10. The beginning starts off very well. The book is set up in a sort of flashback way. I do like it when I can know what happens and then find out how it happens. I do like Alessandra for the most part. A product of her time I can't blame her for being naive when it comes to certain things.

There is an element of mystery in the book though. A murder mystery that is solved very near the end of the book. I do feel that it was a bit...odd because it had only a small connection with the rest of the book and could have been left out, or could have been expanded upon in my opinion.

Despite the books problems it's well worth the read. It's cemeted my love affair with historical fiction.

Author or narrator?

I adore Sarah Dunant, but I did not like this main character. And while the narrator had a lovely voice, for some reason I hated her portrayal as this main character.

I can’t tell if it’s the character herself I don’t like, or the narrator’s portrayal of her. The character is obstinate and annoying. Not at all what I’ve come to expect from Sara Durant heroines. Perhaps, as others have reviewed, it’s the lackluster delivery that ruins this character for me. Though, I can’t put my finger on it.

I was unable to finish the whole book, though I listened well past the halfway mark. Ultimately, despite putting in all those hours, I was so annoyed with the lead character/narrator that I couldn’t listen to another word.

Very nice, with a surprise bonus

This is a very nice book and I was intrigued to watch myself make time to listen to it beyond my normal hours of listening.

The time setting of the book is very interesting to me, and the author did a great job portraying life at the time.

What I feel is the great bonus in the book is the author's portrayal of Savonarola, who was a priest who turned Florence against itself to the point even great artists burned their art because it was a sacrilege towards God. Here is a "Man of God" who managed to make it look like God was against great art. Savonarola's logic was exquisite and we should watch out for such public manipulation in the present and future days.

Ben