So Shall You Reap

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I found the book uneven. Some parts were fascinating; others I found myself skimming from boredom. For example, several of the vignettes are about Venice. I was less than impressed by reading about her friend constructing a gondola. The story of Artu, the singing dachshund, was at least humorous. But I was fascinated by the pollution and the destruction that the cruise ships are causing.

The process of memory is odd, isn’t it? Do we remember things because we were there and saw them, or because we’ve been told them so often that they’ve been forced to become real?” Leon] has never become perfunctory, never failed to give us vivid portraits of people and of Venice, never lost her fine, disillusioned indignation.”— Ursula K. LeGuin, New York Times March is one of my favorite months because that is usually when Donna Leon’s latest Commissario Guido Brunetti book is published. I was fortunate enough to read an #ARC of 2023’s book. In Donna Leon’s sure hands, the crime novel becomes an instrument for exploring social justice and universal truths about human behavior while beautifully telling a compelling story. (The Guardian)Donna Leon is a top thriller writer, on a par with Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Patricia Highsmith and Ruth Rendell. Women, so it would seem from literary history, have always been in their element with the genre of murder and violence.” — Sonntags Zeitung (Zurich) Brunetti studied the empty spaces on the shelf, wondering how he could fill them. Before an answer came, his phone rang. He started to give his name, but a voice he recognized as Vianello’s spoke over his, asking, ‘Guido, can you meet me at The sophisticated but still moral Brunetti, with his love of food and his loving family, proves a worthy custodian of timeless values and verities.”— Wall Street Journal Written in her 80th year, and told through a series of vignettes, Leon recalls her very colorful history in the United States, teaching in Iran, China, and Saudi Arabia, and settling in Italy. A short book, I’m not going to try to detail the various accounts as I couldn’t possibly do them justice. Just know that she writes with humor and warmth about her quirky family (aren’t they all?), friends, and life in her adopted countries.

Author Donna Leon is specifically known as the best-selling author of one of the most beloved and enduring crime series in the world --- the Commissario Guido Brunetti novels set in the wonderous city of Venice, Italy. WANDERING THROUGH LIFE is her first memoir about her own life and, in typical Leon fashion, is put together in a very original way. Things soon take a more serious turn when a hand is seen in a canal and the body of an undocumented worker is soon found. This is the most disappointing of the 32 books, for me, but many others sincerely enjoyed it, so it may just have been the mood I was in while reading, and perhaps I'm too critical.Leon] has never become perfunctory, never failed to give us vivid portraits of people and of Venice, never lost her fine, disillusioned indignation.” —Ursula K. LeGuin, The New York Times In WANDERING THROUGH LIFE, Donna Leon tells the personal and extremely interesting story of her life in a delightful manner. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect as she grows and moves around the globe. On a cold November evening, Guido Brunetti and Paola are up late when a call from his colleague Ispettore Vianello arrives, alerting the Commissario that a hand has been seen in one of Venice’s canals. The body is soon found, and Brunetti is assigned to investigate the murder of an undocumented Sri Lankan immigrant. Because no official record of the man’s presence in Venice exists, Brunetti is forced to use the city’s far richer sources of information: gossip and the memories of people who knew the victim. Curiously, he had been living in a small house on the grounds of a palazzo owned by a university professor, in which Brunetti discovers books revealing the victim’s interest in Buddhism, the revolutionary Tamil Tigers, and the last crop of Italian political terrorists, active in the 1980s.

En una fría noche de noviembre, Brunetti recibe una llamada del Inspector Vianello comunicando que ha aparecido una mano en uno de los canales de la ciudad. Poco después es encontrado el cuerpo, y se asigna a Brunetti la investigación de la muerte del hombre, un inmigrante de Sri Lanka con un sorprendente interés en el terrorismo italiano ocurrido durante los años 80. La investigación transportará a Brunetti a su etapa de estudiante y a aquellos ideales perdidos y errores de juventud en los que podría encontrarse la solución al caso. Why does Brunetti go through the trouble of changing his suit for his meeting with Vice-Questore Patta? How does he behave during their conversation? Is he effective in his encounters with his boss, and why or why not? In any event, we learn a little of her relatives-someone who seemed a little quirky in an interesting way, more about her love of opera and tennis and some about her love of literature. She seems skilled in many areas of life. Commissario Brunetti’s investigations place Donna Leon very high in the hierarchy of crime writing.” — Le Figaro (Paris) The latest Donna Leon book is titled Trace Elements, published in early 2020. Currently, there is a Donan Leon TV series adapted from her Guido Brunetti books to the German television, title Commissario Brunetti. The TV show, produced in 2000 by ARD, has also been aired in Spain and Finland. In fact, close to 20 novels have been produced as broadcast dramas by German television.

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I struggle to think of other series authors who are as dependable as the excellent Leon.” —Maxine Clarke, The Philadelphia Inquirer Like all of Leon's novels, it ultimately feels like a glorious invigorating holiday.' Daily Express Brunetti paused a moment and searched his memory for any protest threatened for that weekend. Not the train drivers, not the remaining No-Vax, not the workers at Marghera – who seemed in a perpetual state of protest – and not medical professionals, who had protested two weeks before.

Drawing Conclusions (Forthcoming in 2011 from William Heinemann, London, and Atlantic Monthly Press, New York) What I was expecting - perhaps what I was hoping for – was something that would, at least in part, lead me through the journey the author went on whilst writing the Brunetti books: what inspired her, how she gathered information on how policing works in the city, what the catalyst for some of her stories was. In fact, there was only one short section that touched on these books, and this only in passing.Even if you have never read any of her books, you may well enjoy these slices of Leon’s life, specific to her, but also many that can be generalized to others.