Particularize Books Concering Stone Virgin
| Original Title: | Stone Virgin |
| ISBN: | 0393313093 (ISBN13: 9780393313093) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Setting: | Venice(Italy) |
Barry Unsworth
Paperback | Pages: 309 pages Rating: 3.68 | 450 Users | 43 Reviews
Explanation During Books Stone Virgin
A mysterious sculpture of a beautiful and erotic Madonna holds the key to the Fornarini family's secrets. When Raikes, a conservation expert, tries to restore her, he is swept under the statue's spell and swept under the spell of the seductive Chiara Litsov, a member of the Fornarini family now married to a famous sculptor. Raikes finds himself losing all moral grounding as his love for statue and woman intertwine in lust and murder.
Declare Epithetical Books Stone Virgin
| Title | : | Stone Virgin |
| Author | : | Barry Unsworth |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 309 pages |
| Published | : | June 17th 1995 by W. W. Norton Company (first published 1985) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Historical. Historical Fiction. Cultural. Italy. Mystery. Art |
Rating Epithetical Books Stone Virgin
Ratings: 3.68 From 450 Users | 43 ReviewsNotice Epithetical Books Stone Virgin
The Stone Virgin is set in Venice in 3 different periods in time, the 1400s, the 1700s and in present day. The story opens in the 15th century with the artist facing his accusers on a murder charge but most of the novel is set present day where Simon Raikes is restoring a statue of a Madonna, a Virgin Mary, and while he works on it he is intrigued by who made the statue and what happened to the statue over the years. I thought it interesting that there 3 stories in 3 different periods allHad a 'written by a man for men' feel for me. Some titillating ott sex scenes. Story took a long time to get going but become more interesting in the last third. Some stuff did not ring true though making it slightly unbelievable at times. Other stuff seemed to add nothing to the plot or storyline.
I have just finished this lovely book. It is not very accessible -Unsworth is a writer who demands a lot of his readers, the tale is dense and complicated and the language is quite difficult in places, but it is immensely rewarding, moving from renaissance Italy in the fifteenth century till the late nineteen seventies. It is a story of artistic endeavour, love, obsession and murder. It is well worth persevering and I hope you will find, as I did, that it seizes your attention and makes you
Simon Raikes is restoring an enigmatic stone Madonna that graces the front of a medieval church in Venice. As he prepares his work, he is overtaken by visions, and he soon becomes obsessed with discovering the history of the unusual, subtly erotic statue. Simons own fate becomes inextricably enmeshed with that of the original sculptor, and he finds himself making choices that would previously been abhorrent to him.Stone Virgin is a complex, proficient morality tale that examines the dark
After being impressed by Songs of the Kings a few years back, I was pretty disappointed with this one. Honestly, the look into the world of art restoration was the most fascinating thing about it; the rest was a pretentious look at male sexual arousal with a bit of paranormal activity thrown in. The modern-day murder mystery might have offered a bit more variety too, so too bad it didn't come in till towards the end of the book and then is pretty glossed over! Finally, the protagonist is an
Structurally ambitious and yet it falls short of its true potential, spending more time with, arguably, the weakest plot-line. From a literary point of view, the author uses too much the motive of the virgin-whore, trying to combine this with some form of the Pygmalion myth and with a dash of supernatural. From all the novel, as others reviews have stated, permeates a strong sexuality, sometimes misplaced.Nevertheless, the author did his homework very well, presenting us with a true to life
A lovely but frustrating book. The story cuts between three time periods but I found that just as each historical section got up a head of steam it would end and we were back with Simon Rakes in modern Venice. The Rakes story is worthwhile and the final third of it is the strongest part of the novel for me but it takes so long to get there that I twice put the book aside completely before coming back to it. There is an enormous amount of time spent on the minutiae of stone restoration and the
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