Tuesday, January 03, 2017

The Silent Gondoliers

The Silent Gondoliers. William Goldman. 1983/2001. 128 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: Everyone knows that the gondoliers of Venice are the greatest--correction, sorry--everyone used to know that the gondoliers of Venice are the greatest singers in the world.

Premise/plot: Why are the gondoliers of Venice now silent? Why do they no longer sing as they row? S. Morgenstern (Yes, that Morgenstern who gave us The Princess Bride) has researched this extensively and is sharing with us why. At the heart of this one is Luigi, the one gondolier who could not sing.

Luigi loved, loved, loved to sing. Heart and soul he loved to sing. But he was so bad, so incredibly bad, that he was forbidden to sing. People would see him coming--see him in his gondola--and start to throw things at him just in case he was thinking about singing.

This is HIS story. And it's a great one.

My thoughts: I love this one. I think it would be a great one to adapt to film. I really do. So I definitely recommend you read this little novella if you get the chance. I loved Luigi especially. I loved the story and the storytelling. The climax was something! This one hits the emotions in all the right ways.

© 2017 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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