3.5 stars actually. One reviewer was repelled by the descriptions of Catholic priests, nuns, and orders and compared this to Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. I think that comparison a bit far-fetched, since unlike Brown, Leon does not use thoroughly discredited out-of-date source material to attempt a politically correct "new-age" revision of Christianity. I give a lower rating because it is less well plotted than the earlier books and the villainous characters so numerous that no one is fully developed. I am also a faithful observant Catholic, like this reviewer, and I was not repelled but saddened. The descriptions ARE fairly over-the-top, but Leon's gift for unforgettable outrageous portraits of her villains, down to the condition of their fat (loose and suet-y, or muscle turning to bulk), is part of what's fun about her books. I suspect this lady would not mind, were it fundamentalist preachers and their flocks being portrayed...but then, such do not exist in Venice. We do have examples of faith that is lived out in terms of charity, in Vianello's mother and Paola's father. It would be nice if there were more, but that would have made a different book. It's too bad that Opus Dei has such a negative image - I happen to know of at least one compassionate intelligent American Catholic who is a lay member of this order. But perhaps Venetian Opus Dei is indeed sinister. After all, Leon has lived there for 25 years...It's interesting that this was published in 1998, before the wave of sexual abuse scandals in the American church. However, I first heard about abuse of women by priests before I became Catholic, on a visit to Guatemala in 1982, from women who had become Protestants to get away from it. And the hold of the triumphal church was much stronger in European countries than it has been in the United States...the entanglement between secular and church power had much deeper roots, as Pope Benedict has acknowledged in his statements renouncing all ecclesial claim to secular power, as having been and still being a Bad Thing. It seems to me that Leon has done a fine job of portraying a variety of Italian views of Christianity and Catholicism, in the different points of view of these characters. The extreme religiosity of some is not unfamiliar to me as an American Catholic -- maybe our fanatics are #7 whereas Signorina Lerini is #10 on the 1-10 scale. Chiara's sincere questions in her religious ed class seem good ones to me...but I am not sure they would have been welcomed in our parish CCD, if she had expressed them. This is a significant problem, and I think it's time that Catholics acknowledged that the decline of faith DOES have something to do with the way the Church passes on its faith. Not that all parishes have this problem...but some do. And I seriously doubt if the decline of faith in Europe, as in the USA, can all be blamed on people's selfish desires and sinfulness encouraged by modern relativism. Some of it may indeed stem from honest disillusion with a faith that seems to be only surface-deep in many (not all) of its representatives.
"I think it's enough to show what all that crap about religion is really all about."t"And what do you think that is, Sergeant?"t"That it makes her special, makes her stand out from the crowd. She's not beautiful, not even pretty, and there's no indication that she's smart. So the only thing that can make her stand out from other people, the way we all want to do, I suppose, is to be religious. That way everyone who meets her says, 'Oh, watt an interesting, intense person.' And she doesn't have to do anything or learn anything or even work at anything. Or even be interesting. All she does is say things, pious things, and everyone jumps up and down saying how good she is."tBrunetti wasn't persuaded, but he kept his opinion to himself. There had certainly been something excessive and out of tune about Signorina Lerini's piety, but Brunetti didn't think it was hypocrisy. To Brunetti, who had seen his fair share of it in his work, her talk of religion and God's will had the ring of simple fanaticism. He had found her lacking the intelligence and self-involvement that were usually present in the real hypocrisy. (p. 97)tShe got to her feet. "If you've got to be up all night, why don't you try to get some sleep now?"t"'A wife is her husband's richest treasure, a helpmeet, a steadying column. A vineyard with no hedge will be overrun; a man with no wife becomes a helpless wanderer,'" he quoted, happy to have, for once, beaten her at her best game.tShe couldn't disguise her surprise, nor her delight. "It is true, then?" she asked.t"What?"t"That the Devil really can quote scripture." (p. 268)She might have once been pretty, with dark brown eyes and a broad mouth, but time had made her forget about that sort of thing or she had lacked the will for beauty, and so her face had faded and gone dull and soft. (p. 302)
What do You think about Quietly In Their Sleep (2007)?
I was struck by how much time Brunetti spends on business other than that of the police. It then became clear to me that this is how Brunetti copes with the corruption he is powerless to do anything about. He instead, gets involved in unofficial police business where he can make a difference. In this one, Patta is away, and Brunetti receives a visit from Maria Testa, a nun working at the nursing home where his mother lives. Brunetti is inclined to believe her because of his observation of the kindness she's shown not only to his mother, but the other clients as well. She claims a connection between deaths of patients at the home and their contributions to the institution. Brunetti decides to investigate. Testa leaves the order, gets a job in another home, and is in a coma after having been run over. When Patta finds out about Brunetti's activities, he threatens him. Meanwhile, Chiara's catechism teacher is acting strangely, and late one night Paola gets a call from the mother of one of Chiara's' classmates with a complaint about the same priest. Paola tells Brunetti she's going to stop him. And she does with her father, the Count's help. It's unclear to me what happened to Testa after she left the hospital. Brunetti seems to think she escaped from the order that attempted to silence her. I just get that Opus Dei (God's Work) was involved, and everyone is afraid of them. And this book was published in 1997, while the DaVinci Code was published in 2003. Take that Dan Brown!
—Trudy
In this one she tackles the Church, bad priests who take advantage of little girls they're instructing in the catechism and, through a secret society named even murdering those in nursing homes who've been persuaded to leave their money to the church. Once again, the "powers that be" don't allow the guilty to be punished overtly, but society finds a backhanded way to make sure that justice is, in fact, done. There's a really scary secret society called Opus Dei which i had hoped was only a figment of Leon's imagination, but find really exists.
—Susan
Commissario Brunetti is not a religious man, so he is willing to entertain the idea that dying residents of a Venetian nursing home may be under undue pressure to will large sums of money to the religious order that is providing their care. It begins to look as though their deaths may even be artificially hastened along once they have done so. As Brunetti’s mother resides in one of these institutions, he takes a personal interest and persists until he has gotten to the truth.As usual, author Leon takes readers behind the closed doors of palazzos and humble abodes alike--not to mention the prefectura where Brunetti works. I enjoy the series more with each installment I read.
—Kathleen
