The Medusa's Smile

by Laura Brylawski-Miller

Book Overview

An Italian woman,married to an American, returns to Venice, her native area on the collapse of her marriage. The recent upheaval in her life is bringing her to come to term with something that... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0931846846
• ISBN13: 9780931846847
• Release Date: December 2006
• Publisher: Washington Writers' Publishing House
• Length: 206 Pages

Customer Reviews

An engrossing coming of age tale

All good storytellers pull us into their world. Laura Brylawski-Miller lifts the veil to a Venice imbued with a shimmering air of unreality. Her narrator, Marina, returns for a winter visit during a time of marital crisis and reflects on a long ago summer at Venice's Lido beach in the company of wealth and glamour where much was illusion and deceit - "beyond the curtain of snow lies that summer at the Lido...blue and gold and bloody forever. " Brylawski-Miller's descriptions are masterful. Her sense of place is only surpassed by her finely delineated characters. After my daughter-in-law finished reading the book in one gulp, she commented "I was really sad to put it down.. I am definitely going to look for her other novels because the characters in this one stayed with me for days - and I really missed them." An engrossing coming of age tale - and so much more...

More than a story

I read The Medusa's Smile twice. The first time rather fast just to see what really happened. But well before the end I was falling in love with the 17 year old Marina and the elusive sophisticated Marco Albrizzi. I had also the feeling that I was missing something. That there was more than the story in the book. So I read it again, slowly. And then I was able to enjoy the atmosphere, the emotion, the restrained melancholy. Is really more lasting the love that has not been totally fulfilled? Is an old friendship the ultimate consolation? Read the book and decide by yourself.

Readers Of This Novel Will Not Be Disappointed

For everyone who has visited and loved Venice this intriguing novel will hold special delight and meaning. The author's descriptions are breathtakingly real, sensitive and provocative. The juxtaposition of the heroine Marina's present and past life and the contrasting worlds of Venice in the winter and summer are compelling. The story is particularly unique in the time-frame it spans. Italy of the 1950's and 1960's is captivating as it comes alive with the author's intimate knowledge and skillful writing. The surprise ending holds pathos, tenderness, and the poignant reality of love lost and yet forever there. Readers of this novel will not be disappointed.

The Medusa's Smile by Laura Brylawski-Miller

This is a novel of juxtaposition: Venice, shuttered in the cold light of winter and opulent in the heat and passion of summer--beauty, masking ugliness--innocence, becoming the handmaiden of guilt. Marina Renier Anderson,after the breakup of her 23-year marriage to a prominent American surgeon, returns to her native country, Italy. She goes to Venice and begins to relive events of a summer spent there when she was seventeen--events which culminated in a tragedy. In mythology whoever looked at the face of the Gorgon, Medusa, was turned to stone. That summer, the modern version of Medusa, beautiful and horrifying, turned hearts to stone. Marina is hoping for healing and release from her guilt. She must, however, learn to accept what cannot be altered. This novel is a tour de force, skillfully managed by a writer whose love affair with words brings to life a magical place and unforgettable personalities.