No comments about Leonardo Da Vinci's Note-Books - Arranged And Rendered Into English.

5 comments about The Memory Cathedral: A Secret History of Leonardo Da Vinci.

1. "The Memory Cathedral" joins the small but distinguished company of "Lord of the Flies" and Katherine Dunn's "Geek Love" as one of those books I could neither put down nor bear to read any further. I must concur with the previous reviewer, this is a truly brilliant novel, but the squeamish and sensitive would be best advised to steer clear. If you are more inured to sex, violence and general darkness than we more delicate souls, give this book a try. It is a glorious and disturbing masterpiece, all the more powerful for the author's obviously painstaking research into the people and environment of Leonardo's Italy and the Middle East, not to mention the life and works of the protagonist himself.



2. This book caught my eye because of its interesting premise: What if Leonardo Da Vinci's flying machine had really been created and had worked? This is an obviously well-researched, albeit far-fetched, study of the life of this great visionary of the Renaissance. I must say that it was the historical detail in this novel that kept me with it. It was otherwise saturated in blood, sex, and death. Dann's style of writing is fairly decent - and the book offers a unique peek into the life of the great Leonardo Da Vinci. Yet, no matter how well you love history, you had better stay away from this one if you get queasy by the sight of blood.



3. The Memory Cathedral is a fantasy disguised as a historical novel. The disguise is very convincing--author Jack Dann has done a great job setting the scenes of his story. In Italy we have torchlight processions, raving mobs, daggers and poisons, sunny Tuscan uplands, cluttered artists' studios, decadent nobility, and etc. In the Levantine lands, we have double- and triple-crosses, parades of cavalry, sumptuous banquets of whole beasts on rice, scheming slavegirls, wholesale slaughter of innocents, and so on.

   We also have an improbably gifted hero, only our belief is willingly suspended because Leonardo really was improbably gifted. In this novel, he is not the emotionless man of impersonal genius we think of today. Rather, he is very like his fellows: a man of hot italianate passions, excelling in many fields like most of his colleagues did. One feels upon reflection that the real Leonardo must have seemed thus to people around him--maybe more single-minded in his work, maybe a few shades more accomplished in his art, but not seeming out of place in the Renaissance, a time when "a man may do all things if he will." It was only later that Leonardo was esteemed as a genius practically from another world.

   There is plenty of action, lust, and intrigue, some of it bumping up against many readers' comfort threshold. These, and the marvelous scene setting, carry the novel's entertainment value. The character development is strictly standard fantasy fare. The bonds between the characters are shown mainly by having one group set off somewhere, and another character demanding to be allowed to go along. Suspense is achieved by having Leonardo demand to know where somebody is, or where he himself is being taken. He also, despite receiving frequent veiled and unveiled death threats from the powerful, becomes their trusted confidant.

   So if this sounds interesting, go ahead and enjoy it. The weaknesses were not apparent to me until second reading, so strong were the book's strengths. I shall remember this feat of imagination for a long time.




4. Jack Dann weaves a compelling vision of Da Vinci as strategist and swashbuckler that makes for a fascinating read. The work itself is dark and not for the faint-hearted, or those inclined to only those stories with no blood and sedate happy endings, but that's what makes this work so riveting, as it doesn't shy away from the viciousness of life in the 16th century.
   
   The overall tone of the story is akin to that of the narrative of a schizophrenic. At times there is a disconnect in the plot that can be jarring, which is consistent with the nature of the mnemonic plot device that the author uses as an undercurrent throughout the book. A reader may have to give pause at certain moments to re-ascertain what just transpired in the plot; the way Jack Dann writes it, this is understandable and not at all vexing.
   
   The hardcover is lovely; the paper and typeset are good to the eyes, the quotes are fitting, the illustrations are well chosen. My first copy of this book was a gift, and it became a gift to someone else. This book is treasured on my shelves, and I much recommend it to anyone with the inclination for it.



5. I wish I could say something constructive about this book, but, frankly, I can't.
   
   This essentially is a volume of poorly researched, sloppy writing and embarassing sex scenes that made me cringe. Few of the events are even remotely possible, and the chronology is muddled and malaligned. I strongly discourage buying it.

5 comments about Leonardo's Chair.

1. DeSimone writes of a quest for Leonardo's chair. Labeling this novel a mystery sells it short. Leonardo's Chair is a story about redemption born out of the human frailties we know as greed and superstition.



2. Vincent LaBont is a world-class artist who attributes his creative ability to a very special char that he claims was created and empowered by none other than Leonardo Da Vinci. When his home catches fire, Vincent is severely burned trying to rescue the chair. It's only later that he discovers that the chair was stolen before the fire was set. Distraught, Vincent send his son Paul (a painter like himself) to Italy where the chair is suspected to have been taken. Is the chair truly a metaphysical source of artistic power? If so, should it be used to recreate one of Leonard's paintings. What is the chair true power and purpose? Leonardo's Chair is a riveting novel from first page to last and will led the reader on a roller coaster ride leading ultimately to an appreciation of what truly inspires an enduring artistic greatness.



3. Paul LaBont's artistic skills are eclipsed by his father's genius. When their home catches fire, Vincent LaBont is severely burned and a mystically empowered relic, a chair once created and owned by Leonardo Da Vinci, is stolen. Distraught that his creative abilities no longer exist without the chair, Vincent LaBont sends his son halfway around the world to Italy in order to restore the priceless antique.
   
   Paul sets out for Italy, skeptical that the chair possesses any powers yet hopeful that the return of the chair will aid in his father's recovery. En route to Italy, Paul is in an accident and is taken to the nearby castle of a duke. Accepting the duke's hospitality, Paul learns that Leonardo's chair is confined within the castle. The duke is desperate to find a way to end the chair's evil curse. Paul meets Isabella, herself a painter, who is the duke's daughter and confronts the evil-minded Stein.
   
   I emailed John DeSimone wanting to know how he had managed to write such a suspenseful book, one rich in its tones of Old World Italy set against fast-paced Laguna Beach, California. He shared that, while Italy remains a destination he desires to travel to, the textured detail found in Leonardo's Chair came from thorough research and a vivid imagination. I felt the dust of the ancient country and the chill of the great halls Paul LaBont walks in his search for Leonardo's chair.
   
   John DeSimone succeeds in crafting a novel that pulls the reader in and holds him. You will imagine yourself in Savoy along with Paul, viewing masterpieces, tasting temptation, and confronting evil. Leonardo's Chair will definitely keep you up at night.
   (...)



4. Other reviewers have addressed the facts--I'll stick with the actual writing.
   
   John DeSimone paints with a master's touch in this debut novel, providing beautiful description while still being a compelling storyteller--you can tell he loves to write. This is one of those rare novels that I'm hardpressed to find fault with--any fault, for that matter. Sure, Leonardo's Chair is not as fast-paced as most suspense novels. Instead of running through the story like a Porsch on the open road, it's more like touring Paris with a friendly local. I've never been to Italy, or California for that matter, but thanks the author's lush description, I now feel like I have an insider's look at the places he describes (I must say, following Paul's travels was a lot like going on an actual trip myself).
   
   However, this is not to say that the story is not good. It is one of the top five books I've read in the past year (and I read a lot of them, too), and again, unlike other books, did not have a single character that wasn't believable. Or any of those annoying sub-plots that simply detract from the main story. When an author takes interesting characters, a believable plot, mystery, romance, history, and suspense and throws them together there can be nothing but success--and that's what DeSimone gets. I couldn't stop reading this book once I started. It has the accessibility of a modern novel, with the depth of a classic.
   
   Are you still reading? Go buy the book already!



5. Leonardo's Chair holds mystical power that has been passed down through generations. It also evokes a curse. The story kept my attention to the end because I couldn't figure out how the author was going to explain that power. I thought it was a great story with compelling characters.
   
   The epilogue opened the possibily for a sequel, but I personally would rather have the loose ends tied up. But that's a personal preference.
   
   I hope we hear more from this author soon!

No comments about Leonardo da Vinci: Drawings of horses and other animals from the Royal Library at Windsor Castle.

No comments about Leonardo da Vinci (Giants of Science).

1 comments about The Stolen Smile.

1. With The Stolen Smile, artist Gary Kelley and author J. Patrick Lewis journey to 1911 Paris in their second picturebook, where the Mona Lisa has gone missing from the Louvre museum. An Italian knows the secret of the missing painting in this story, spiced with the proud thief's insights and based on true events surrounding the disappearance of the Mona Lisa from one of the world's most famous museums.

No comments about Da Wild, Da Crazy, Da Vinci (Time Warp Trio).

No comments about Leonardo's mystery: an interview with Umberto Eco.(Leonardo da Vinci)(Interview): An article from: Queen's Quarterly.

No comments about Leonardo and the Mona Lisa Story: The History of a Painting Told in Pictures.

No comments about Leonardo Da Vinci.