The Birth of Venus

Mr. Boy’s mom was a trifle embarrassed when I noticed she had gotten this romance novel from the library. Then I watched her zip through it in a fast, fascinated read. After the 4-page prologue I also was hooked. It’s got the formula sexual tension of a romancer, but a lot more besides, and it moves fast. A twisty tale of God-obsessed Italy in the late 1400s. Very modern, i.e. secular, in many ways. Sometimes too modern as when author Sarah Dunant has her characters saying things like "Whoa!" But I saw that one only once, and it was the worst, so I was only jarred out of my suspended disbelief that once. What a story. I was so involved, I thought about it when I wasn’t reading it, and I think of it yet. I wanted it to end some other way than the way it did. But it was not a typical romance. It was a tragedy and so had to end tragically.