The Last Castrato

Rating:
Summary: Farinelli, Cafarelli, & Broschi?
Review: Hey, I enjoyed the book,OK. It bothered me that there was no explanation of the use of the names of real persons for several characters. All right, they're long dead, so probably don't care. Still it seemed there should be a forward, afterward or something. I stumbled onto this book after seeing the movie"Farinelli", so was aware of the significance of the name of the most famous castrato of them all.And it was pretty clever having a guy named Broschi show up to kill off the bad guy. Farinelli was the stage name of Carlo Broschi. Recognizing the names of the old castrati, along with the book's title pretty much took all the mystery out of the story. Still, it would have been nice if the old guys got a little recognition at the end of the book

Rating:
Summary: Contrast & Compare your Castratos!
Review: I haven't read this book yet, but others might also wish to see the more complete collection of mostly more favorable reviews of the hardcover edition. Or you could take the author's invitation and get a 3-chapter sample free on his website.

I don't know him, but wouldn't want a single opinion to make me miss a good read -- if this is one.

Rating:
Summary: Contrast & Compare your Castratos!
Review: If an author sets his story in one of the most colorful cities in the world, the descriptions had better breathe more than the stale air of guidebooks. And if the author wants his heroine to struggle with the feminine mystique and religious faith, then he's going to show the character development through more than long, long paragraphs of maundering musings. And if the author wants his sensitive Italian detective to be sensitive and Italian, he's going to have to write dialogue without the strong flavor of, perhaps, New Jersey. The saving point of The Last Castrato is its author's ambition.

Rating:
Summary: The Arno moves faster than this novel
Review: The plot of this novel is very promising-a serial killer, a castrati, but the continual philosophizing of the characters stalls the pacing. No sense of place is created, no feeling of Florence, Italy and I've been there. The author resorts to cliches ( to hell in a handbasket was used twice). Is that an Italian cliche? If the novel was supposed to be a police procedural, it missed the mark; I got the idea that Abati and his partner made up most of the police ranks and there wasn't much procedure. And the meandering through philosophies just got to be much. A good plot line not handled very adroitly. Try Donna Leon's Venetian policemen; he's good without pointless pilosophical wanderings.