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Benedetto Casanova: The Memoirs
No doubt you have heard of Casanova, the famous womanizer, and maybe you’ve seen the movie, or read the account of his life. But did you know he may have had a gay brother? Benedetto, a few years Giacomo’s junior, was pressed into service of the Church, to follow the famous lover of women through the courts of Europe. On the way he had amorous adventures with countless men, but, unlike his brother, fell in love and kept alive a romantic relationship with a strapping German soldier over time and distance. Benedetto Casanova’s (fictional) memoirs were discovered only in 1881, when an English traveler rummaging through a private library in Rome found them glued to the pages of a book. They were written in Italian and have never before been published in English. Marten Weber delivers a wonderful "translation" of this challenging text, full of linguistic cunning and his usual talent for breathtaking eroticism.
414 pages, Paperback
First published March 18, 2011
18 people are currently reading
140 people want to read
About the author
Marten Weber
12 books23 followersI am of mixed parentage (a man and a woman) and have lived in more countries than I can count on hands and feet together. I speak several languages, and believe in multiculturalism, tolerance, and free champagne also in economy class.
I dislike bigots and fanatics of all denominations. I am hugely uncomfortable with labels, even seemingly benign ones such as 'gay,' 'straight,' or 'sugar-free' and prefer instead to judge people by their sense of humor and shoe size. I believe that everybody, regardless of race or gender, income or size of genitals, should be gay for a year.
Over the past two decades, I have published hundreds of stories and novellas and set them free on the Internet, not always under my real name. Some of them have mated with other texts, music and videos, to produce the most curious offspring. One story has left the known universe and is currently a best-seller on Pharus II.
Most of my recent books concern the lives and adventures of men, both today, in history, and in the future.
I dislike bigots and fanatics of all denominations. I am hugely uncomfortable with labels, even seemingly benign ones such as 'gay,' 'straight,' or 'sugar-free' and prefer instead to judge people by their sense of humor and shoe size. I believe that everybody, regardless of race or gender, income or size of genitals, should be gay for a year.
Over the past two decades, I have published hundreds of stories and novellas and set them free on the Internet, not always under my real name. Some of them have mated with other texts, music and videos, to produce the most curious offspring. One story has left the known universe and is currently a best-seller on Pharus II.
Most of my recent books concern the lives and adventures of men, both today, in history, and in the future.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
March 2, 2012
This was my introduction to Marten Weber but be assured that it will not be the only book I read, written by him. So glad I read Benedetto. He will remain in my memory for the remainder of my days.
Give it a go. You won't be sorry.
Give it a go. You won't be sorry.
October 27, 2012
Funny and charming and delightfully frank on the topic of love between men
Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.
Rating: 10/10
PROS:
- Weber is an incredible writer. He has a wonderful command of the English language: his turn of phrase is often pithy and succinct, and he makes use of a large vocabulary that had me using my Kindle’s dictionary function fairly regularly.
- I often found the narrator’s comments hilariously funny. Benedetto is, quite simply, adorable. Loving and kind-hearted and naïve without being annoying, not to mention wholeheartedly devoted to the man he falls in love with, even when the two are apart for a period of many years with nothing more than a few letters exchanged between them now and then.
- It’s obvious that the author researched the story’s historical time period in depth. He paints a well-rounded and sumptuously detailed picture of a large number of European cities during the 18th century. And the best part, for me, is that Weber details not just the parties and the opera houses and the drawing-rooms of polite society (which are so often depicted in modern works about that time period), but also the clandestine meetings between men who had to hide their sexual nature for fear of torture or death. The 1700s were hardly a good time for a man to reveal his desire for his own sex, yet the book doesn’t dwell on the hardships of Benedetto’s situation: it focuses instead on the cheeky methods by which he identifies like-minded men and manages to surround himself by them.
- There’s a lot of sex in the book (although not so much that those scenes seemed to overtake the plot by any means). What’s so great about the sex scenes is that there’s such variety in them: some are funny, some are serious; some are sweet and romantic, others are wild/primal, still others are almost clinical; some are mentioned in passing, some described in loving detail; etc. I think that regardless of what type of sex scene does it for you in a book (besides BDSM, that is), you’re likely to find several here that you like very much.
CON:
- Because I’m fairly unfamiliar with not only Giacomo Casanova’s memoirs, but also the entire historical time period in which this book is set, I found brief stretches of the story to be a little heavy on politics, philosophy, religious expostulation, etc. and thus to be a little dull. However, I think readers who are more versed in the story’s historical setting are less likely to have this problem.
Overall comments: This is a delightful book: the narrator’s comments are flavored simultaneously with frank cynicism and wide-eyed innocence, and his observations about love between men are particularly amusing. There is a slight tendency throughout toward despondency--Benedetto even admits, toward the end of the book, that he suffers from “a strange melancholy and sadness I can never quite shake off, and which seems to permeate every fiber of my being.” Overall, though, I found the book to be a jovial and light-hearted little read. Or BIG read, rather, since it’s quite long and Benedetto’s philosophical musings encourage thoughtful perusal rather than rapid consumption.
Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.
Rating: 10/10
PROS:
- Weber is an incredible writer. He has a wonderful command of the English language: his turn of phrase is often pithy and succinct, and he makes use of a large vocabulary that had me using my Kindle’s dictionary function fairly regularly.
- I often found the narrator’s comments hilariously funny. Benedetto is, quite simply, adorable. Loving and kind-hearted and naïve without being annoying, not to mention wholeheartedly devoted to the man he falls in love with, even when the two are apart for a period of many years with nothing more than a few letters exchanged between them now and then.
- It’s obvious that the author researched the story’s historical time period in depth. He paints a well-rounded and sumptuously detailed picture of a large number of European cities during the 18th century. And the best part, for me, is that Weber details not just the parties and the opera houses and the drawing-rooms of polite society (which are so often depicted in modern works about that time period), but also the clandestine meetings between men who had to hide their sexual nature for fear of torture or death. The 1700s were hardly a good time for a man to reveal his desire for his own sex, yet the book doesn’t dwell on the hardships of Benedetto’s situation: it focuses instead on the cheeky methods by which he identifies like-minded men and manages to surround himself by them.
- There’s a lot of sex in the book (although not so much that those scenes seemed to overtake the plot by any means). What’s so great about the sex scenes is that there’s such variety in them: some are funny, some are serious; some are sweet and romantic, others are wild/primal, still others are almost clinical; some are mentioned in passing, some described in loving detail; etc. I think that regardless of what type of sex scene does it for you in a book (besides BDSM, that is), you’re likely to find several here that you like very much.
CON:
- Because I’m fairly unfamiliar with not only Giacomo Casanova’s memoirs, but also the entire historical time period in which this book is set, I found brief stretches of the story to be a little heavy on politics, philosophy, religious expostulation, etc. and thus to be a little dull. However, I think readers who are more versed in the story’s historical setting are less likely to have this problem.
Overall comments: This is a delightful book: the narrator’s comments are flavored simultaneously with frank cynicism and wide-eyed innocence, and his observations about love between men are particularly amusing. There is a slight tendency throughout toward despondency--Benedetto even admits, toward the end of the book, that he suffers from “a strange melancholy and sadness I can never quite shake off, and which seems to permeate every fiber of my being.” Overall, though, I found the book to be a jovial and light-hearted little read. Or BIG read, rather, since it’s quite long and Benedetto’s philosophical musings encourage thoughtful perusal rather than rapid consumption.
September 17, 2019
clever premise and, at times, imaginative. but this book really needs radical editing to tightening it up. it's needlessly meandering and loses both steam and direction. The one recurring bit about philosophy seems forced and pedantic.
September 14, 2011
Wonderful Amazon Review by Charly Anchor:
Rating: 10/10
PROS:
- Weber is an incredible writer. He has a wonderful command of the English language: his turn of phrase is often pithy and succinct, and he makes use of a large vocabulary that had me using my Kindle's dictionary function fairly regularly.
- I often found the narrator's comments hilariously funny. Benedetto is, quite simply, adorable. Loving and kind-hearted and naïve without being annoying, not to mention wholeheartedly devoted to the man he falls in love with, even when the two are apart for a period of many years with nothing more than a few letters exchanged between them now and then.
- It's obvious that the author researched the story's historical time period in depth. He paints a well-rounded and sumptuously detailed picture of a large number of European cities during the 18th century. And the best part, for me, is that Weber details not just the parties and the opera houses and the drawing-rooms of polite society (which are so often depicted in modern works about that time period), but also the clandestine meetings between men who had to hide their sexual nature for fear of torture or death. The 1700s were hardly a good time for a man to reveal his desire for his own sex, yet the book doesn't dwell on the hardships of Benedetto's situation: it focuses instead on the cheeky methods by which he identifies like-minded men and manages to surround himself by them.
- There's a lot of sex in the book (although not so much that those scenes seemed to overtake the plot by any means). What's so great about the sex scenes is that there's such variety in them: some are funny, some are serious; some are sweet and romantic, others are wild/primal, still others are almost clinical; some are mentioned in passing, some described in loving detail; etc. I think that regardless of what type of sex scene does it for you in a book (besides BDSM, that is), you're likely to find several here that you like very much.
CON:
- Because I'm fairly unfamiliar with not only Giacomo Casanova's memoirs, but also the entire historical time period in which this book is set, I found brief stretches of the story to be a little heavy on politics, philosophy, religious expostulation, etc. and thus to be a little dull. However, I think readers who are more versed in the story's historical setting are less likely to have this problem.
Overall comments: This is a delightful book: the narrator's comments are flavored simultaneously with frank cynicism and wide-eyed innocence, and his observations about love between men are particularly amusing. There is a slight tendency throughout toward despondency--Benedetto even admits, toward the end of the book, that he suffers from "a strange melancholy and sadness I can never quite shake off, and which seems to permeate every fiber of my being." Overall, though, I found the book to be a jovial and light-hearted little read. Or BIG read, rather, since it's quite long and Benedetto's philosophical musings encourage thoughtful perusal rather than rapid consumption.
Rating: 10/10
PROS:
- Weber is an incredible writer. He has a wonderful command of the English language: his turn of phrase is often pithy and succinct, and he makes use of a large vocabulary that had me using my Kindle's dictionary function fairly regularly.
- I often found the narrator's comments hilariously funny. Benedetto is, quite simply, adorable. Loving and kind-hearted and naïve without being annoying, not to mention wholeheartedly devoted to the man he falls in love with, even when the two are apart for a period of many years with nothing more than a few letters exchanged between them now and then.
- It's obvious that the author researched the story's historical time period in depth. He paints a well-rounded and sumptuously detailed picture of a large number of European cities during the 18th century. And the best part, for me, is that Weber details not just the parties and the opera houses and the drawing-rooms of polite society (which are so often depicted in modern works about that time period), but also the clandestine meetings between men who had to hide their sexual nature for fear of torture or death. The 1700s were hardly a good time for a man to reveal his desire for his own sex, yet the book doesn't dwell on the hardships of Benedetto's situation: it focuses instead on the cheeky methods by which he identifies like-minded men and manages to surround himself by them.
- There's a lot of sex in the book (although not so much that those scenes seemed to overtake the plot by any means). What's so great about the sex scenes is that there's such variety in them: some are funny, some are serious; some are sweet and romantic, others are wild/primal, still others are almost clinical; some are mentioned in passing, some described in loving detail; etc. I think that regardless of what type of sex scene does it for you in a book (besides BDSM, that is), you're likely to find several here that you like very much.
CON:
- Because I'm fairly unfamiliar with not only Giacomo Casanova's memoirs, but also the entire historical time period in which this book is set, I found brief stretches of the story to be a little heavy on politics, philosophy, religious expostulation, etc. and thus to be a little dull. However, I think readers who are more versed in the story's historical setting are less likely to have this problem.
Overall comments: This is a delightful book: the narrator's comments are flavored simultaneously with frank cynicism and wide-eyed innocence, and his observations about love between men are particularly amusing. There is a slight tendency throughout toward despondency--Benedetto even admits, toward the end of the book, that he suffers from "a strange melancholy and sadness I can never quite shake off, and which seems to permeate every fiber of my being." Overall, though, I found the book to be a jovial and light-hearted little read. Or BIG read, rather, since it's quite long and Benedetto's philosophical musings encourage thoughtful perusal rather than rapid consumption.
May 30, 2011
I thought I was simply reading a fun, trashy, campy romance novel, but it ended up being an enjoyable work of historical fiction that was well rehearsed and filled with a wide array of delightful characters, many actual historical figures.
October 26, 2015
2011 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention (5* from at least 1 judge)
May 21, 2012
The set-up of this novel mirrors historical memoirs after the scholars have had a chance to translate, annotate, and comment. The ruse is extremely well done: the book could easily be mistaken for a real memoir, complete with forwards and translator’s notes, and little breaks in the text where “a fragment of a page” has been lost. The style is chatty and a bit rambling – Benedetto more or less follows the course of his life, stopping to make pithy observations of the human condition, the Church, the treatment of men of “his species,” politics, or a fine dish of rhubarb.
His adventures are many—Benedetto is recruited by the Church to follow his more famous brother around, spying on his activities. Italy is not a united nation at this time in history and the Papal States are a political entity, not a philosophical organization. Who allies with whom matters greatly to the Pope’s political sway, and Giacomo is feared to be organizing political upheaval.
The famous womanizer seldom appears on the page with Benedetto, who is having a great time on the Pope’s payroll, although they do interact indirectly, whether it’s chasing through Venice or Benedetto’s secret assistance in springing Giacomo from prison, a good deed that goes completely uncredited, as Giacomo “rewrites history” to take all the credit himself. One can hear the irritation and the pride over the famous brother’s exploits everywhere but with the ladies. He contrasts his brother's sexual escapades disdainfully with his own: relations between men are purer in his eyes for not carrying the baggage of titles, money, social position, or children.
Mirroring Giacomo’s memoirs, Benedetto frequently mentions his exploits with the legion of men who are willing to break with convention—seldom do six pages go by without at least a mention of a handsome shop boy or a willing soldier, although a few of his chosen companions stay with him for months or years, and he is fond of them and their talents. Benedetto claims to love, but conflates it with sex, although he clearly can perceive a more emotional attachment. Anything resembling constancy to one lover, no matter how dear, simply does not happen in this story: he’s far more likely to have a third, or a fourth, man join him and his beloved.
The endless gossip and rubbing elbows with the movers and the shakers of the day comes with catty asides which range from hysterically funny to scathing to revolting, and feel in the style of Samuel Pepys. It’s engaging: we see with the eyes of history but Benedetto just had a conversation, and sometimes his conclusions are entertainingly wrong, such as his dismissal of Handel’s music in favor of Porpora. His observations on daily life run the same range; one feels immersed in the period. Unless...
Where I was less than pleased with the book was the typography of the dialog. The book is very light on dialog, relying instead on exposition, which suits a memoir of the “period.” What little there is uses nothing as mundane as a quote mark, relying instead on dashes to set off the lines. Ignoring modern convention may have been a nod to the eighteenth century, but it is an unpleasant jolt for the reader, and the periodic drops into modern slang break the spell entirely. The French are “touchy-feely,” a prospective partner “shakes his package,” and the reader is forcibly reminded that this is a novel after all. The “translator’s note” at the beginning indicates that this is intentional, but I do not thank the author for it; it feels sloppy.
My reservations aside, this was an enjoyable and amusing read, with a side of education slipped in, and even incorporates a romance, allowing for the proclivities associated with the name “Casanova” which Benedetto possesses in full measure. I think the blurb’s claims of “breathtaking eroticism” are overblown, but it was good fun.
His adventures are many—Benedetto is recruited by the Church to follow his more famous brother around, spying on his activities. Italy is not a united nation at this time in history and the Papal States are a political entity, not a philosophical organization. Who allies with whom matters greatly to the Pope’s political sway, and Giacomo is feared to be organizing political upheaval.
The famous womanizer seldom appears on the page with Benedetto, who is having a great time on the Pope’s payroll, although they do interact indirectly, whether it’s chasing through Venice or Benedetto’s secret assistance in springing Giacomo from prison, a good deed that goes completely uncredited, as Giacomo “rewrites history” to take all the credit himself. One can hear the irritation and the pride over the famous brother’s exploits everywhere but with the ladies. He contrasts his brother's sexual escapades disdainfully with his own: relations between men are purer in his eyes for not carrying the baggage of titles, money, social position, or children.
Mirroring Giacomo’s memoirs, Benedetto frequently mentions his exploits with the legion of men who are willing to break with convention—seldom do six pages go by without at least a mention of a handsome shop boy or a willing soldier, although a few of his chosen companions stay with him for months or years, and he is fond of them and their talents. Benedetto claims to love, but conflates it with sex, although he clearly can perceive a more emotional attachment. Anything resembling constancy to one lover, no matter how dear, simply does not happen in this story: he’s far more likely to have a third, or a fourth, man join him and his beloved.
The endless gossip and rubbing elbows with the movers and the shakers of the day comes with catty asides which range from hysterically funny to scathing to revolting, and feel in the style of Samuel Pepys. It’s engaging: we see with the eyes of history but Benedetto just had a conversation, and sometimes his conclusions are entertainingly wrong, such as his dismissal of Handel’s music in favor of Porpora. His observations on daily life run the same range; one feels immersed in the period. Unless...
Where I was less than pleased with the book was the typography of the dialog. The book is very light on dialog, relying instead on exposition, which suits a memoir of the “period.” What little there is uses nothing as mundane as a quote mark, relying instead on dashes to set off the lines. Ignoring modern convention may have been a nod to the eighteenth century, but it is an unpleasant jolt for the reader, and the periodic drops into modern slang break the spell entirely. The French are “touchy-feely,” a prospective partner “shakes his package,” and the reader is forcibly reminded that this is a novel after all. The “translator’s note” at the beginning indicates that this is intentional, but I do not thank the author for it; it feels sloppy.
My reservations aside, this was an enjoyable and amusing read, with a side of education slipped in, and even incorporates a romance, allowing for the proclivities associated with the name “Casanova” which Benedetto possesses in full measure. I think the blurb’s claims of “breathtaking eroticism” are overblown, but it was good fun.
April 25, 2012
I got this book in a giveaway on Goodreads, and I could not actually finish the book. I don't think this is a "bad" book, if such a thing exists, but it contained some things that annoy me.
Most of all, I feel this book overuses sex. Every now and then, the book will depict a sex scene that lasts about three-fourths of a page. The sex is quickly over, and topic changes drastically. There's little examination of the sex itself, or sex as a state of being. It feels as if the sex is described, and then ignored, as if the sex were added as an afterthought.
Now, the main character, and the memoirs format of the novel lend themselves to numerous sex scenes. The main character would not be likely to think about sex as anything but sex, at least not near the beginning. However, as the narrator, Benedetto depicts the sex with unnecessary detail. For me, it breaks the realism of the memoir format. For a character who has as much sex as he does, he doesn't take the sex for granted, but in the story, he never gives any other indication that he doesn't take the sex for granted. I felt as though sex was such a prevalent theme throughout the book, but it never felt as though anything was being said about sex. It was merely there, a distraction from the story. This all culminates into a sense that the sex scenes were forced.
My other thought is that Benedetto feels like an unbelievable character for the time period he's acting in. Especially near the beginning of the book, he has a tendency to hold opinions that would be very unpopular at the time, and announces them with total conviction. This is one of the biggest traps in writing historical fiction.
For example, at one point near the beginning, he declares that one woman could prove that women are not inferior thinkers to men. We know now that there is no correlation between gender and intelligence, and there's an impulse to judge characters who believe there is. Historically, however, that was a belief. When writing historical fiction, the novelist must find some way to reconcile two problems. If they make the character have a belief that is unpopular today, they risk losing sympathy for the character. However, if the character accepts our modern norms and values, the novelist makes the character risk looking out of place in that time period, and unbelievable. Benedetto feels like the latter. As far as norms go, he doesn't feel "ahead of his time", he feels like a time traveler.
This book does have some really good strong points to it though. Most notably, I found the story compelling, sufficiently complex, with just the right amount of scope. Character interaction and dialogue are nearly flawless, and the setting is depicted incredibly well.
In the end, I felt too much dissonance to continue reading this book all the way through. Even though this is a great story to tell, I feel as though Benedetto is the wrong character to tell it, and that he is in the wrong time period entirely. Overall, a good story told by the wrong character.
Lastly, I felt I have to note that I could not bring myself to read this in public. The back cover seemed too racy, even for a modern liberal arts university.
Most of all, I feel this book overuses sex. Every now and then, the book will depict a sex scene that lasts about three-fourths of a page. The sex is quickly over, and topic changes drastically. There's little examination of the sex itself, or sex as a state of being. It feels as if the sex is described, and then ignored, as if the sex were added as an afterthought.
Now, the main character, and the memoirs format of the novel lend themselves to numerous sex scenes. The main character would not be likely to think about sex as anything but sex, at least not near the beginning. However, as the narrator, Benedetto depicts the sex with unnecessary detail. For me, it breaks the realism of the memoir format. For a character who has as much sex as he does, he doesn't take the sex for granted, but in the story, he never gives any other indication that he doesn't take the sex for granted. I felt as though sex was such a prevalent theme throughout the book, but it never felt as though anything was being said about sex. It was merely there, a distraction from the story. This all culminates into a sense that the sex scenes were forced.
My other thought is that Benedetto feels like an unbelievable character for the time period he's acting in. Especially near the beginning of the book, he has a tendency to hold opinions that would be very unpopular at the time, and announces them with total conviction. This is one of the biggest traps in writing historical fiction.
For example, at one point near the beginning, he declares that one woman could prove that women are not inferior thinkers to men. We know now that there is no correlation between gender and intelligence, and there's an impulse to judge characters who believe there is. Historically, however, that was a belief. When writing historical fiction, the novelist must find some way to reconcile two problems. If they make the character have a belief that is unpopular today, they risk losing sympathy for the character. However, if the character accepts our modern norms and values, the novelist makes the character risk looking out of place in that time period, and unbelievable. Benedetto feels like the latter. As far as norms go, he doesn't feel "ahead of his time", he feels like a time traveler.
This book does have some really good strong points to it though. Most notably, I found the story compelling, sufficiently complex, with just the right amount of scope. Character interaction and dialogue are nearly flawless, and the setting is depicted incredibly well.
In the end, I felt too much dissonance to continue reading this book all the way through. Even though this is a great story to tell, I feel as though Benedetto is the wrong character to tell it, and that he is in the wrong time period entirely. Overall, a good story told by the wrong character.
Lastly, I felt I have to note that I could not bring myself to read this in public. The back cover seemed too racy, even for a modern liberal arts university.
May 31, 2011
On the positive side, the writing is good, and the premise an interesting one: this is the (fictive) memoir of Giacomo Casanova's gay younger brother Benedetto. At times it gathers enough momentum to be a page turner. But something was just a bit off about this book for me. I found it strongest in the first part, when the hero is living in Bologna, and finding his path in life.
Though the story is essentially a picaresque, it doesn't seem to end up going anywhere. Benedetto is supposedly acting as a spy, hired by the Vatican to observe his brother's comings and goings in the glittering royal European courts. This is really a device for the main character to sleep his way around the continent, following in his brother's wake. The peripatetic nature of the story gives the main character the chance to rub elbows with prominent artists, musicians and writers of the day, some of whom I'd heard of, some I hadn't, and learned about as a result. That was a very good addition. So were the narrator's views on philosophy and religion.
But the narrator doesn't seem to know himself that well: he says he is shy by nature, and melancholy. Yet he's constantly just walking right up to strange men and propositioning them; and what he calls melancholy comes off more as sulky fits of pique. Perhaps he's just immature, or an unreliable narrator. But it comes off as a little, well, sloppy.
There's a good bit of sex here - sometimes it's genuinely hot. Other times, it's merely by rote. And while the main character supposedly sticks up for women and tries to advance their station in 18th century Europe by founding girls' schools, there is a thread of misogyny in his attitudes. That's in keeping with the time period, but if the character is so enlightened about the idea of men loving men, couldn't that enlightenment have carried over to his views on women? I could have lived without some of the narrator's "girls are gross" sentiments.
Our hero finds true love along the way; but this felt hollow somehow. The reader gets little sense of who Benedetto's lover really is - he displays not much personality. There are secondary characters who are more vivid. The lover remains a cypher, more or less a fantasy man. Maybe that's a trope of romantic fiction, but I would've liked to have seen more of an effort to get the reader to fall in love with Carl Anton when Benedetto does.
If it seems that I'm being overly critical, it stems from disappointment. More fiction is needed telling stories of LGBT life, and it's great to read historical fiction, particularly, in which a gay character is front and center. I really appreciated that, and it earns the book an extra star. Overall, this is worth reading, and Weber's prose is concise and sometimes humorous. In the end however, I was left wanting more growth from the main character, or at least a journey that had a destination other than his cardboard lover's arms.
Though the story is essentially a picaresque, it doesn't seem to end up going anywhere. Benedetto is supposedly acting as a spy, hired by the Vatican to observe his brother's comings and goings in the glittering royal European courts. This is really a device for the main character to sleep his way around the continent, following in his brother's wake. The peripatetic nature of the story gives the main character the chance to rub elbows with prominent artists, musicians and writers of the day, some of whom I'd heard of, some I hadn't, and learned about as a result. That was a very good addition. So were the narrator's views on philosophy and religion.
But the narrator doesn't seem to know himself that well: he says he is shy by nature, and melancholy. Yet he's constantly just walking right up to strange men and propositioning them; and what he calls melancholy comes off more as sulky fits of pique. Perhaps he's just immature, or an unreliable narrator. But it comes off as a little, well, sloppy.
There's a good bit of sex here - sometimes it's genuinely hot. Other times, it's merely by rote. And while the main character supposedly sticks up for women and tries to advance their station in 18th century Europe by founding girls' schools, there is a thread of misogyny in his attitudes. That's in keeping with the time period, but if the character is so enlightened about the idea of men loving men, couldn't that enlightenment have carried over to his views on women? I could have lived without some of the narrator's "girls are gross" sentiments.
Our hero finds true love along the way; but this felt hollow somehow. The reader gets little sense of who Benedetto's lover really is - he displays not much personality. There are secondary characters who are more vivid. The lover remains a cypher, more or less a fantasy man. Maybe that's a trope of romantic fiction, but I would've liked to have seen more of an effort to get the reader to fall in love with Carl Anton when Benedetto does.
If it seems that I'm being overly critical, it stems from disappointment. More fiction is needed telling stories of LGBT life, and it's great to read historical fiction, particularly, in which a gay character is front and center. I really appreciated that, and it earns the book an extra star. Overall, this is worth reading, and Weber's prose is concise and sometimes humorous. In the end however, I was left wanting more growth from the main character, or at least a journey that had a destination other than his cardboard lover's arms.
September 13, 2011
Marten Weber is the most exciting new voice in gay fiction. His novel "Shayno" should win a price and be on the New York Bestseller list!
His Benedetto is more fun and entertaining, but also believable and incredibly well written. Historical accurate without being too old-fashioned in style, it made me fall in love with the main character Benedetto, a young Italian, brother of the real Casanova, who follows his brother around Europe. The parallels to Casanova's memoirs are obvious, and the book contains an amazing amount of facts, details, historic events. It is also a wonderful gay love story. The relationship to his lover is not fleshed out in detail in the style of soppy romance novels, mainly because they ment and spent so many years apart due to war. Benedetto is torn between his love and his youthful horniness. He is torn between his philosophical ambitions and his lust for adventure. Marten Weber manages to create the feeling of a personal diary or memoirs, that means breaks, jumps, and sometimes incoherent narrative, while at the same time delivering an erotic masterpiece that is a pleasure from beginning to end.
Most of all, I find it refreshing to find literature with gay characters that does not fall into the awful categories of vampires, sci-fi with planets on which everybody is gay, or bland coming out stories. Benedetto is the most creative gay book in decades, and I hope there will be many sequels.
His Benedetto is more fun and entertaining, but also believable and incredibly well written. Historical accurate without being too old-fashioned in style, it made me fall in love with the main character Benedetto, a young Italian, brother of the real Casanova, who follows his brother around Europe. The parallels to Casanova's memoirs are obvious, and the book contains an amazing amount of facts, details, historic events. It is also a wonderful gay love story. The relationship to his lover is not fleshed out in detail in the style of soppy romance novels, mainly because they ment and spent so many years apart due to war. Benedetto is torn between his love and his youthful horniness. He is torn between his philosophical ambitions and his lust for adventure. Marten Weber manages to create the feeling of a personal diary or memoirs, that means breaks, jumps, and sometimes incoherent narrative, while at the same time delivering an erotic masterpiece that is a pleasure from beginning to end.
Most of all, I find it refreshing to find literature with gay characters that does not fall into the awful categories of vampires, sci-fi with planets on which everybody is gay, or bland coming out stories. Benedetto is the most creative gay book in decades, and I hope there will be many sequels.
May 31, 2011
OK, the premise of Casanova having a gay brother caught my interest, even though this one borders on erotica. It is suggested that the author is merely the translator of a manuscript recently discovered. There's even a "Note from the translator" section at the front where the author tries to explain the differences in his use of language, shifting between a style appropriate to the time period and more contemporary English.
However, I simply could not keep focused on the timeframe in which this "autobiography" supposedly occurs because of such phrases as "she had the hots for me," or "he strutted his stuff," and worst of all, "then he put his hand on his groin and shook his package."
Give me a break! LOL
I only read a few pages before giving up in disgust. The "note from the translator" just came across as an excuse for very little effort to adapt an interesting idea for the appropriate era.
However, I simply could not keep focused on the timeframe in which this "autobiography" supposedly occurs because of such phrases as "she had the hots for me," or "he strutted his stuff," and worst of all, "then he put his hand on his groin and shook his package."
Give me a break! LOL
I only read a few pages before giving up in disgust. The "note from the translator" just came across as an excuse for very little effort to adapt an interesting idea for the appropriate era.
January 13, 2012
The premise for this story is that Casanova, the notorious womanizer, had a gay brother, who had an equally notorious history of affairs. The main character is delightful,unburdened by any guilt about his proclivities, and makes witty, often hilarious comments about people and situations of his time, for example, his rather dry observation that there is such a thing as being too large. The author clearly has done his research and the period details of the story feel historically authentic, although I'm not an expert on late 1700s Europe. The writing is quite good and the story engaging enough to keep turning the pages, even though it was mostly one erotic encounter after another. FYI, the action is not hard-core and the story also contains a long-term love affair. I recommend it for anyone who enjoys gay fiction.
September 3, 2014
So well written (including the occasional archaic or not commonly used word) that I felt I might truly be reading the long lost memoir of Benedetto Casanova, Giacomo’s lesser known gay brother. Weber accurately portrays 18th century Europe and Benedetto’s observations are hilariously funny and often very cynical. I thoroughly enjoyed the brief forays into politics, philosophy, and religion.
Currently reading
June 16, 2011A worthwile read. Very entertaining.
August 5, 2011
Very fun, silly, and erotic tale! This book should be taken with a grain of salt, and alone in the bedroom! Thoroughly enjoyable!
Want to read
April 1, 2012I have not read the book yet,so i cannot comment on it.
Want to read
May 24, 2013It is not easy to find literate gay lit. This apparently is. I will try it.
August 6, 2017
Interesting, but not captivating.
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