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Italian Fever |
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 Italian Fever byValerie Martin Random House Canada (Vintage Books) 272 pages, May 2000 ISBN 0375705228 Reviewed by Morgan Ann Adams Lucy Stark is the assistant to a best-selling author she calls DV. Though she likes the job, she considers DV's books to be far less than true literature. When DV dies while working on his most recent debacle in Italy, Lucy is given the job of traveling to Italy to tie up the loose ends of her boss' life. What she finds during this task is a romantic adventure filled with more mystery and excitement than all of DV's books combined, although what she thinks she has found is not representative of reality. Massimo is Lucy's Italian translator and eventual lover. He is the stereotypical Italian lover, dark, handsome and quietly forceful. Lucy is not too distracted by this affair to wonder at the odd circumstances surrounding DV's death, and she believes he has been murdered. Lucy finds DV's unfinished manuscript to be unlike any he has written. DV's patent self-confident leading man is gone, replaced by a story of ghosts and lost love. Lucy embarks on her own limited investigation, learning more about herself and the concept of art than about DV. This novel is far richer than a simple plot summary could show. Lucy's romantic quest for adventure is immediately engaging. She is, like many, searching for a life to equal the visions of her deepest imaginings. Martin's words are beautiful and tell a story written with grace and passion, using wonderfully apt descriptions of art and literature as metaphors. More than a romance, stronger than a suspense novel, Italian Fever is about the impact of art on society. Lucy's wanderings through the galleries of Italy are as absorbing as the surrounding plot, as she strives to understand the nature of art in her life. And although she works for an author whose work she does not respect, Lucy learns that as in life, art is not always as it seems. Italian Fever incorporates the best attributes of several genres. It is a delicate yet highly successful blend of suspense and quality literature. The setting of the Italian countryside is as extravagant as the food and the sculpture. Rarely does a book come along that unites so succinctly entertainment and true art. |
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