The Silent Gondoliers (Paperback)

I am big fan of Goldman, but in reveiw after review you people seem to think Goldman really researched Morgenstern. Not So!!!!!! Morgenstern is a fictitious. Take a look at The Pricess Bride. The countries are Florin, and Guilder. Never have these countries existed. They are forms of currency. Looks like Goldman truly spins a great story, because you were fooled!! Read you History!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone once knew that the gondoliers of Venice were the best singers in the world -- so amazing, in fact, that the great Enrico Caruso was overwhelmed when he heard them singing. One talented young gondolier with a "goony" smile, Luigi, is incredibly skilled as a gondolier and wins the heart of the girl he adores. But when he tries to sing, chaos reigns. People pelt him with vegetables and dead fish, even when he isn't singing.

Out of necessity, poor Luigi is drummed out of the gondoliers. His girlfriend dumps him, and he ends up washing dishes in a tavern with only his dreams to sustain him. Can Luigi overcome his terrible singing voice and realize his dreams?

This is a cute little story, though "fable" might be the wrong description for it because there is no firmly-defined lesson in it. Is it the special-rubbing-off line? Never give up on your dreams? Be an insane optimist? I never really figured it out. The outlines of it are rather uneven, especially the entire chapter devoted to the history of surfing. This might work in a book three or four times "Gondoliers"'s length, but in a story this short it merely feels awkward. And for the record, the translation of "pizza" is not "pizza," but "pie."

Nevertheless, Luigi is a sweetie, with his goony smile and obsessions with being a gondolier. The reader really does want him to succeed, and boos enthusiastically at the unsympathetic The Great and the aptly named "John the Bastard." The line drawings add a nice touch, very pretty in most cases. And the author manages to make Venice sound like one of the loveliest places in the world.

A nice little book, good for passing twenty minutes on a rainy day.