In the waning days of WWII in Italy, a fisherman retrieves a girl from a lagoon and finds out she is an escapee from a converted asylum holding Jewish prisoners. He teaches her about fishing and decides to help her find sanctuary. When she disappears, he searches for her, and his journey takes him to Salo, Italy, where he encounters administrators, police, Nazi collaborators, resistance fighters, diplomats, and a friend of Mussolini’s mistress. The fisherman’s brother is a well-loved actor; however, there is no love lost between the brothers, and their backstory is a significant subplot.

I very much enjoyed the first half of this book. However, in the second half, after the girl has disappeared, it loses momentum and is set adrift in a sea of too many side stories. I usually do not care for mature men romancing teenage girls, and in this case, the girl is eighteen, so it appears less love story and more hero worship of someone who rescued her. Speaking of heroes, the protagonist is a bit of a MacGyver – he can do “everything” and will do it all by the time this is over.

So, this book has a promising premise, an interesting setup, and a compelling first half, but it falls on the weight of too many side plots and implausibility. The ending is a letdown. Three stars.
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WWII is nearing an end and Venice is still occupied. Cenzo, a fisherman from nearby Pellestrina is stunned when he is out in his boat one night and sees a young girl floating in the water. He initially thinks she is dead, but in fact the young Venetian girl, Guilia, is far from dead – she is on the run from the Nazis who have killed her family.

He decides to try and protect her, which leads both of them into dangerous adventures, where they are never quite sure who can be trusted, and their lives are always on the line.

Compared to the last book I read by Martin Cruz Smith, the more famous Gorky Park, this was a lot lighter in tone, despite the subject matter. It’s very much plot rather than character driven, with most of the characters not being particularly fleshed out. That said, I did like the world-weary Cenzo very much – drawn into all kinds of situations when he would really rather just be fishing, he had a wry sense of humour and I definitely wanted a happy ending for him.

This is no-frills storytelling – the tale is told scene by scene, with no wasted words, and for some that might not be enjoyable. I liked it; I didn’t get immersed in it, but I enjoyed it overall and I thought the ending was just right. ( )

Cenzo, the fisherman, is a wonderful character, a wonderful human being. It is rare when a character in a novel gets me to root for him so completely. His self-effacing responses to rude and sometimes hostile interactions with other characters in the story cannot cloak his intellect and sense of humor. I was especially entertained by the fishing part of the story. And when it has to be, he shows himself to be a brave man of action, demonstrating for everyone that he is a man to be admired.

The dialogue between characters addressed an aspect of Italian life near the end of the war that is rich meaning. The way that the Italian men who fought for the Fascists earlier in the war, Germany later and then found their way home raised the themes of patriotism, loyalty and bravery and the possible lack of each in the characters. Cenzo and his friends' way of dealing with being on the losing side of the war with out being able to openly admit t had to summarize the way it was for many Italians at the end. The competing feelings surrounding this situation were masterfully treated in this story.

Giula, the Jewish teenage refugee, was engaging. I could see why she captured Cenzo's heart.

The dynamic between brothers Cenzo and Giorgio with the secrets that they share provides a great sub-plot. However, it was needed to carry the story.

The character, DaCosta/Otto Klein, did seemed forced. It seems hard for me to accept that an Italian collaborator who could betray Jewish refugees to the SS and the Fascists could transform himself into the Swiss Klein so easily. The man as an Italian or as a Swiss lived too public a life to hide his former identity and adopt a new one while still living in the Venice. (less) [edit]

Venice is occupied nearing the end of WWII. A fisherman named Cenzo finds a girl in the water when he is fishing. She is jewish and escaping the Germans. Cenzo is a common fisherman who has a famous brother. who we can never quite figure out if he is one of the good guys or not. Most of the novel continues on this vain as we meet collaborators, partisans etc. the characters are intriguing and the dialogue very smart but this novel was only okay to me. The depth of plot just wasn't there. ( )

By a coincidence I had just finished a Donna Leone book that also dealt with the island of Pelistrina. The era is completely different and the image presented of the fishermen much different but it does expand my grasp of Venice's geography. This is both a lover story and a story of intrigue at the end of World war two in Italy. I found it a clever story. ( )