Vaporetto 13: A Novel

I read this quite some time ago when I was searching for mysteries set in Venice. It was a nice enough read but not remarkable. If you are hungering for the atmosphere of Venice, I would recommend this book.

Love this book

One of the pleasures of friendship is coming to know someone well enough to recognize flashes of personality in their style. With confidences and intimacy and time spent together, you find yourself able to predict when a friend will respond enthusiastically to a particular artisan's jewelry, a specific architectural style, or an eclectic work of art. Even when the bauble at hand is not one which appeals to your own yens.I was reflecting on this as I considered Vaporetto 13. Sometimes I read a book which I come to love for its originality, lyricism, and depth; it's simply a great novel. And sometimes I read a book which I cannot help but love because it pushes all of my personality buttons; so much so that it is difficult to set aside the emotional appeal and make an unclouded judgment. Me, I think you are allowed to love a book for whatever reasons seize you. But if one is jotting down impressions for other potential readers, and the personal appeal card is on the table, I feel a responsibility to flag it.And so we come to Girardi's tale of Jack Squire, a corporate American Golden Boy sent to Venice to report on Italy's political and financial climate. Practically in the act of stepping into the seductive ambiance of Italy's most notorious merchant city, Jack is waylaid from his mission and coaxed into intrigue by a caped Venetian woman who wanders the canals barefoot by night, feeding cats. It was naturally impossible for me to avoid falling under the thrall of this story, and it's only fair to tell you that from the outset.Girardi paints Venice gorgeously; as he does the cultural disorientation which befalls every stranger brave enough to open themselves to a foreign city. He understands how certain places caste spells. He quotes Sarpi, the clever Venetian priest who stood against the Pope in defense of Venice. Sarpi, whom I first discovered in Winterson's work through his crafty motto: "Never lie to anyone; but do not tell the truth to everyone." As one who tends to tell stories in snippets, I've felt a kinship with this sly Italian priest from the first.Girardi writes of the glittering face of Venice, and the darkness lurking behind her mask. He writes of events which cannot be completely explained, and leaves the loose threads dangling untied, just as life does. He writes of hidden private clubs and fabulous liquids in valuable bottles. He observes straight-faced that true Venetians are as terrified of Disney as they had been of the Nazis. This is a tale of focused American commerce colliding squarely with a Jungian world of light and shadow, and that is the intersection I've been drawn to all my life. So I loved this story. If your proclivities run along similar lines, you might love it too. If they do not, well. Whether you elect Girardi's guided tour of Venice is up to you.To make up your mind, I offer you this snippet of Girardi's writing:“I could not sleep in Venice. At first it was jet lag and an unfamiliar bed, then something more sinister. The beauty of the city was unsettling to my nerves. Every evening the sun dropped round as an onion behind the big green dome of the Salute, turning the Giudecca channel a fantastic shade of deep rose; the facades of the ancient, delicately crumbling palazzos glowed with muted sadness in this forlorn, beautiful light. It was unbearable. Beauty has a place, of course-between the pages of a book, in pictures on the walls of museums, in high and inaccessible mountain valleys-but a daily diet of beautiful things can be difficult for the aesthetic digestion. American's banal landscape of fast-food chains mall, parking lots, high voltage transformers, and glass-rounded office towers is, in the end, easier on the soul. The Venetians call the hour between six and seven pm l'ora d'oro, the golden hour, when the dying light paints the whole city the color of longing.”Decide for yourself. But I would cajole especially anyone who loves travel to open these pages and surrender to Venice through Girardi's eyes.

Having been to Venice, I loved the detailed description he gave of the city and even the history of it. Very good book in terms of all the descriptions of Venice life. It IS a beautiful rotting city that is turning into a Disney land of sorts as the locals can't afford to live there and all tourism keeps it 'afloat' (no pun intended). The buildings can't afford to be renovated and if they do they have to go by strict Historical Society guidelines. Young people wont move to Venice because of these reasons. It's an amazing beautiful city though and I do hope to get there again.As for the rest of the book, Caterina was mysterious and sad and I enjoyed her backstory. I admit I didn't quite realize she was a ghost until I read other folks reviews here. I was still thinking Vampire (too many Anne Rice books for me I guess!). I liked that entire storyline of Jack and Caterinas doomed romance, but then the book just sort of 'ends'. It seems like it skipped so much leading up to Jack's final decisions, how he came to terms with those decisions, how he felt about not seeing Caterina again and leaving Venice. I enjoyed reading so much of Jack's dilemma in the financial trade world and how he was just so sick of that lifestyle and coming to terms with money is NOT everything, I would have wanted to have been a part of 'hearing' his decisions and how he changed his life for the better. Next thing you know he's all of a sudden opening a brewery in Maine and you are left feeling like.. Jack drank beer? he was interested in Maine? He wants a brewery? With a business partner we never heard about ? It just split on an odd tangent at that point that didn't connect to the rest of the story and left me feeling disappointed.Because of the quick anticlimactic 'lets tidy this book up ending' I rate it "Just OK".

This was an off-beat, beautifully written story that took you to Venice and made you smell the rotting city as if you were there. This was also a strange and wonderful love story, and a story about finding authenticity in one's life. Girardi is a superb craftsman, a joy to read.

I loved this book and lent it to a friend who didn't give it back. I knew the book would be second hand but I was a little dissapointed to find comments written in pencil in the book.

Girardi creates a thriller of unusual ideas. It leaves the reader wondering right up to the end and after.It also provides a wonderful perspective of Venice which will change your views of the city forever

Robert Girardi is one of the unrecognized minor masters of the supernatural literature and "Vaporetto 13" may be his masterpiece.

Book in excellent condition.