The Sonnet Lover

by Carol Goodman

Book Overview

For how thy memory has lingered on In spite of cruelest winter s drear and howl By inner mirror seen; I ve dwelled upon, I must confess, my treachery most foul. Did Shakespeare pen a series of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345479572
• ISBN13: 9780345479570
• Release Date: June 2007
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 350 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Magical descriptions, sonnets, mystery, and Italy

This contemporary tale involves a comparative literature professor, Rose Asher, at a small liberal arts college in New York City. When one of her students dies, she is drawn back to Italy and her past intersects with her search for poems by an Italian woman who may be Shakespeare's Dark Lady. Players include a movie producer working on a film based on her student Robin's screenplay, her formeI lover and his wife and son, the dean and her current lover, another professor and his wife, and the owner of the villa where the school's Italian program resides. The author's descriptions made me really see the places and objects in her stories.The precious stone inlay floor (pietra dura) of rose petals/ blood was particularyly resonant to me. I don't know what it is about her writing, but I have this response to almost all of her books. I enjoyed the story, and unlike some of the other reviewers, I found the characters to be be believable. I could relate to Rose. This book was obviously well researched and I really enjoyed reading it and was sorry when it was over. I look forward to her next book.

I just loved this book!!

I have never read anything written by Carol Goodman before and after reading this book, I've ordered 2 more of her books. I love her descriptions of the characters and the descriptions of Italy. I always felt because of the way she presented the scenes that I was there right along side the character or characters. What a lovely story and I love the history too! This is one you won't want to miss!

FAR TOO GOOD TO MISS

Every once in a great while along comes a book that I don't want to finish, simply because of the letdown when it ends. There's so much enjoyment in the reading - lush and evocative descriptions, graceful prose, characters that spring to life from black printed lines, undercurrents of mystery, an imaginary bridge between today and years long past, plus romance. So much to savor! In Carol Goodman's hands there is often the deft turn of a phrase, a telling detail capturing both eye and mind. Or, one finds a described scene more vivid than a painting. An extraordinarily capable writer, this author blended all of the above into one remarkable book - The Sonnet Lover. The bare bones of the plot: Rose Asher is a literary professor at New York's fictional Hudson College. As she notes, "The most thankless job on the planet may well be teaching Renaissance love poetry to a group of hormone-dazed adolescents." Nevertheless, there are other perks - she is involved in a love affair with Mark Abrams, the college president, and she has a star pupil - Robin Weiss who has written a prize winning film. Sadly Robin's potential is not to be fulfilled as he falls to his death from a balcony following the interruption of a college party. Was it an accident, was he pushed? To try to answer these questions Rose agrees to return to La Civetta, a Tuscan estate near Florence which has been loaned to Hudson College as a teaching institution. She joins Mark, other faculty members, and possible producers of a film who believe that Robin may have discovered a sonnet written by Shakespeare's mysterious Dark Lady. This is quite a cast - from Mark who begins to act strangely to Mara, the wife of the head of the film department, an always acquisitive buyer who finds the beauty of Tuscany in Hermes scarves. Waiting at La Civetta is Bruno Brunelli, the first and greatest love of Rose's life. Waiting with him is his wife. As said earlier, these are the "bare bones" of the plot. The reading pleasure is found in the way Goodman puts flesh on these bones. Sonnets woven throughout are by the author's husband, Lee Slonimsky. Granted, a pivotal meeting Rose "chances" to overhear in the church of Santa Margherita and the denouement do seem a bit contrived. But an author who writes as engagingly as Goodman is forgiven all. As one who has never entered a bookstore she didn't love the overflow of books at our house falls into three categories: donations to libraries, loaners, and keepers. The Sonnet Lover is most definitely a keeper! - Gail Cooke

Another wonderful novel

I have read all of Carol Goodman's books and love the mysterious literary aspects of them; as a librarian, I love literature and also mysteries. My only complaint about the novel isn't really a complaint; I would have loved for her to add end notes about how she came up with this idea and the inspiration about Shakespeare behind the story. Also, some recommendations of Italian women poets of the Renaissance would have been wonderful as the novel certainly peaked my interest in sonnets!

Then, as a further treat, take a look at the other books in her body of work.

Carol Goodman is one of those extraordinary writers whose novels get better and better. Her newest work, THE SONNET LOVER, is rich in history, literature, art, poetry, theater, visual arts, word pictures, mystery and corpses. The action moves back and forth in time, chronicling past events with verve and a narrative of its own. Subplots, behind-the-scenes skullduggery, a love triangle, suspicious secrets, betrayal and a final reckoning at a writers' retreat in Italy keep the plot hot and readers riveted to the edge of their chairs. Goodman understands that with so much going on and with so many characters, she must tie everything together into a cohesive whole. THE SONNET LOVER poses an interesting theory: Did William Shakespeare, at 17, arrange a clandestine meeting in Florence, with his "Dark Lady," the woman to whom he wrote sonnets? Scholars and others have pondered over his sonnets numbered 127-152 for any clues as to who this "sonnet lover" could have been and if she existed beyond the Bard's imagination. If this cache is really the lost documents of a woman who knew and loved Shakespeare, then history could be turned upside down. Readers are led to believe that her "responses" in poems and sonnets are to her lover "Will," and they are at the heart of the novel. Rumor has it that these 16th-century works could be hidden somewhere in La Civetta. Rose Asher is a teacher of Renaissance poetry at Hudson College in New York City. She is having an affair with the school president, Mark Abrams, and is also very close to one of her students, Robin Weiss. While Rose is disappointed that Robin has changed his major to filmmaking, screenwriting, playwriting and directing, she is still his mentor. Thus, when he comes to her just before a student film competition in which he entered one of his projects, he asks to speak to her. "...You were at La Civetta when you were in college and I wondered if some of the same teachers were there. I'm going back...and I am trying to decide what classes to take." La Civetta is an exquisite villa in Tuscany, and its owner, Cyril Graham, a former Hudson bigwig, allows students to take classes there every summer. Rose was there when she was a student, and in some ways her life both began and ended that summer. She is sure that the man she was in love with is in Rome and nowhere near the grounds. When she tells Robin this he says, "Bruno Brunelli, right? He's back." Rose cuts the conversation short and promises to meet up with Robin after the evening's entertainment. Back in her office, she primps as she "puts her face on" before making her appearance at the celebration of new films by young filmmakers. Mark silently enters her office and sneaks up behind her. They chat for a few minutes, and then he drops his "bomb." He is going to be at La Civetta for the summer, and Cyril Graham has asked that Rose accompany him. Rose knows that Cyril Graham is cunning and amuses himself by dangling his legacy, La Civetta, in fron