Florence (The Writer & the City)

Rating:
Summary: Pompous, Boring, Never Elegant ...what was he thinking?
Review: A slim volume on one of the world's great foreign destinations, so one would expect something elegant, insightful, witty perhaps, something evocative of the place.

Unfortunately, I don't there is a paragraph in his book that evokes anything about what it is like to visit or live in Florence. It's certainly not worth reading as literature and it doesn't take you there from your arm chair.

This book is just a boring rendition of sort-of famous people who lived or live in Florence, coupled with David Leavitt's intention of showing you all the famous or important people he knows. He evidently thinks people will one day be writing about his life there.

This isn't about Florence -- it's about the author's evident obsession with effete men of letters and his desire to be one.

Rating:
Summary: FAR FROM RUN-OF-THE-MILL
Review: Edmund White's THE FLANEUR, A STROLL THROUGH THE PARADOXES OF PARIS is not your ordinary guide book for Americans visiting Paris. And so, another Bloomsbury edition, David Leavitt's FLORENCE, A DELICATE CASE is not your "run-of-the-mill-go-visit-this-museum-and-then-have-pasta-in-this-trattoria" travel book. (It is actually the third volume in Bloomsbury's "Writer and The City" series.) Both White's and Leavitt's books are extremely personal, sincere takes on one of the authors' favorite cities. Naturally, since Leavitt has chosen to live in Italy and to study Florence, he knows the city very, very well. Interestingly, he knows the literary and social history of the city. Even more interesting to me is his knowledge of how and why Florence has appealed to any number of artists from Tschaikovsky to E.M. Forster and fellow "travel" essayist, Mary McCarthy. This is a beautifully written and beautifully produced book. The jacket design and photograph are particularly handsome.

A good deal of this very small volume is spent on homosexual tradition and history in Florence, naturally enough since homosexuality informs all of Leavitt's writings, fiction and non-fiction, either in the forefront or on the back burner.

And almost best of all, at the book's close, Leavitt treats the reader to an index bulging with titles and short descriptions of guide books, novels, memoirs, poems, etc. all of which have Florence as their spring-board. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED both for the plane-hopping traveller and the one stuck in an armchair.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating
Review: Florence, A Delicate Case is the most interesting book about the City of the Lily since Mary McCarthy's The Stones of Florence. Leavitt has written about aspects of Florence's history that even history itself has tended to overlook, and so he illuminates this city for anyone who has ever been there, or plans to go there, or even just hopes to go there. Although this is far from being a "guide book," it so uniquely maps out a lost Florence, and records the names of so many of its ghosts, that it should be in every suitcase bound for Italy. In sum: a wonderful book from a wonderful writer.

Rating:
Summary: Mixed feelings
Review: I have mixed feelings about this book. I found the chapter on homosexuality in Florence interesting, but a tiny phrase let it down. In the lesser space accorded the lesbian population, Mrs George Keppel is described as the mother of "yet another" lesbian. As if by there being four or five renowned lesbian inhabitants amongst the far more numerous gay males, they were forming a disproportionately large segment of the population! I found that quite odd.

I also found it difficult to reconcile Leavitt's bitchiness about the lack of contact the earlier generations of ex-pats had with the locals (to the point of "like many" not knowing any Italian) with the lack of presence of any contemporary Florentines in his narrative, given that he is a part-time resident himself.

I loved the chapter about the "mud angels", brief as it was, and would have enjoyed more about the relationship between locals and expats alike with the art of this wonderful city.

Having said all that, I did enjoy the book overall and it is a welcome addition to the background literature of Italy which I read voraciously.

Rating:
Summary: Banal
Review: I was surprised to find this slim, well researched volume so banal. Mr Leavitt has only skimmed the frivolous surface of life in Florence. Yes, for this book he's done his literary research, all to prove his point of the bitchy gay gossipy life of the city. He is quick to point out that he's not been, nor does he want to be part of the continuation of that life, then lists his social conquests. The only part that involved real Italians, and real life there was when he talks about the flood. He clearly didn't get into the life of the city he claims to know so well. This book is so full of missed opportunities that I don't understand what the editors had in mind. Is this a gay guide? Is it a memoir? Is it a conciet? Don't bother buying this book.

Rating:
Summary: ho-hum, florence ...
Review: Possibly the most boring, pointless book I've ever read (and I do read a lot) - - no flow, not interesting, and the book does a dis-service to a fascinating town, despite the un-fascinating "celebrity" stories that Mr. Leavitt goes on and on and on about ...

Rating:
Summary: This is not, "Turn Right At The Fountain"
Review: There used to be a series of travel books written for Americans making their first trips to Europe - they were called (I think) "Turn Right At The Fountain." This book by David Leavitt is, well, different. Mr. Leavitt tells us about a Florence that you can only experience by living in the city and becoming one with it. He helps get us past the quick bites of the galleries, statues, churches and bridges that most us take during our visits to Florence. Instead, he offers us a feast of detail about the hidden history - recent and past. His is a book about a city whose character and charm is like a lot of interestng people - not what it seems on the surface. I could have done without the section on homosexuals and their lives in Florence. However, he makes a point that the impact of these residents are a part of what makes this city attractive to many in the world. This probably isn't the first book or the only book you should read about Florence, but if you have been there or are going, grab a copy and read it for an eye opening account of one of the world's most beautiful and fascinating cities. Certainly, not light reading but worth the effort.

Rating:
Summary: Not Impressed
Review: There used to be a series of travel books written for Americans making their first trips to Europe - they were called (I think) "Turn Right At The Fountain." This book by David Leavitt is, well, different. Mr. Leavitt tells us about a Florence that you can only experience by living in the city and becoming one with it. He helps get us past the quick bites of the galleries, statues, churches and bridges that most us take during our visits to Florence. Instead, he offers us a feast of detail about the hidden history - recent and past. His is a book about a city whose character and charm is like a lot of interestng people - not what it seems on the surface. I could have done without the section on homosexuals and their lives in Florence. However, he makes a point that the impact of these residents are a part of what makes this city attractive to many in the world. This probably isn't the first book or the only book you should read about Florence, but if you have been there or are going, grab a copy and read it for an eye opening account of one of the world's most beautiful and fascinating cities. Certainly, not light reading but worth the effort.