Novel set in Venice (the girl of the bridge)

4th August 2018

Losing Venice by Scott Stavrou, novel set in Venice.

“..seeking roots in a watery city that supported itself on nothing more than submerged wooden piles…”

Mark Vandermar has had a little indiscretion with his boss’s wife and has summarily been dispatched from California to Venice, where he works for the tourist authority. It is post 9/11, Bush is still in control, war is being waged by the Americans and the author sets his novel against the backdrop of the era, reflecting on the egregious and occasionally up-lifting acts that happen on a world stage. And on Mark’s personal stage too…

Once in Venice, Mark struggles to keep himself gainfully occupied at work, so he becomes adept at learning to entertain himself, often under the influence of alcohol. His late afternoon starts at Campari-o’clock when the sun disperses a reflection of the Irn Bru-coloured alcohol onto one pre-ordained key on his computer (a sort of modern-day sun-dial really), he knows it is time to unscrew the bottle top. There are many jolly japes, like a drunken rearrangement of Campo restaurant furniture in the middle of one night, or the theft of a 600 year old painting with a horse (which he names Rocinante, which of course is named after Don Quixote’s horse) from a church in San Pantalon, which becomes part of the fabric of his home… even though he fully intends to return it immediately the next day, but doesn’t. Directing rude Americans in the wrong direction has him and the barman reflecting on tourism in the city and just for the fun of it, he invents an alter ego (a count no less) to try and glean some details on a missing person. He even tumbles into one of the canals, which I would have thought might mean an untimely end for this young man, bearing in mind some of the bodily liquids and detritus (not to mention rat droppings and the like) that have landed in the canals over the centuries.

Photo © Scott Stavrou

He meets an artist (the girl of the bridge) for whom he falls, even though she will not tell him her name. After her disappearance and parting note which she leaves for him, he starts to languish once again. But the doldrums are broken up with a quick visit to Prague where there is a little ceremony (no spoilers) that is intended as a goodwill gesture but has implications for him further down the line.

He is of course in the travel industry and once a week the ferry to Corfu in Greece passes by his window, the Greek Siren calling him to distant shores every time he spots it. His wanderlust keeps being reignited.

Yes, this is a bit of not-so-young man’s (35, is that young?) romp around Venice, but it is more than that. The observations of place (mainly Venice but also Prague and Hydra ) are on point and perceptive, Mark lures his readers down the side streets and literally into the canals from his home base at Campo Santa Margherita in the Dorsoduro, where you can feel “..the beating pulse of the real life of Venetians.”

In terms of TripFiction this novel is a little gem… the author is like a personal guide to the city, steering his readers perhaps to Codroma, an Osteria that he frequents (off the beaten track, please note!), over to Torcello and to Mestre for “normal” shopping…. The storyline, well, that is a little loose and can feel sometimes like a medley of assembled observations that the author is keen to share. They are often very informative, but don’t always necessarily bind together to make a forward moving story. Sound bytes, what would the literary equivalent of that be, I wonder….Overall it is well written and an enjoyable novel.

I am just off for a Campari! Saluti!

“Venice is one of the most touristed and under-explored places in the world” …

Tina for the TripFiction Team

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