Stone Virgin

A disappointment after Unsworth's  SACRED HUNGER . A British restorer works on an early quattrocento Madonna on a Venetian church. In doing so, he becomes psychically complicit in the unknown sculptor's passion for his original model, and eventually physically involved with the model (and wife) of a contemporary sculptor who is later found dead. The three parallel stories dealing with the various periods (1432, 1793, and 1972) interleave but do not truly interlock. Fortunately, more time is spent on the modern story than the two earlier ones, which are told in an epistolary style that never catches fire. Unsworth's descriptions of Venice and its lagoon nicely catch its character, especially in the less visited areas, and his unfolding of the art-historical mystery is not without interest. But the people in the book seem created to animate their setting as in a Canaletto canvas, rather than leading independent lives on their own.There are other novels which weave a fiction around real or imagined works of art, such as Tracy Chevalier's  GIRL WITH THE PEARL EARRING  and Iain Pears'  THE RAPHAEL AFFAIR . Both these authors also wrote books set in multiple historical periods: Chevalier's  THE VIRGIN BLUE  and Pears' masterpiece  THE DREAM OF SCIPIO . All of these belong to the 1990s. Published in 1986, Unsworth's book seems a comparatively early example of such trends in what one might call the quasi-erudite popular novel. Though not challenging either Chevalier or Pears at their best, THE STONE VIRGIN easily eclipses most other derivatives of the genre, such as Dan Brown's dreadful THE DA VINCI CODE or the entire oeuvre of Arturo Pérez-Reverte.Finally, a quibble. I suppose it was inevitable that Norton should have put a sculpture on the paperback cover, but I believe that the one they chose is a couple of centuries too late to be the one in the book!

Stone Virgin is trash -- high-level trash, but trash nonetheless. The title character, a madonna statue, is incidental to the story, and the author plagiarizes "The Agony & The Ecstasy" to reveal that the sculptor saw the finished statue already in the piece of marble, just as Michaelangelo saw the statue of David within the large piece of marble in the earlier Irving Stone novel. The three female characters in the novel, in three time periods are anything but virgins, and seem to be sexually insatiable. Their three male partners in the novel seem to walk around with a constant erection. I found the extensive use of untranslated Italian, obviously to provide authenticity, a major turn-off. And finally, I marveled at how the author turned what is arguably the most beautiful city in the world, Venice, into a filthy, polluted cess pool of toxic atmosphere and toxic water. The entire story is contrived, derivative and pointless.

I’ve been turning to books that have been on my shelf seemingly forever. This was one such.The location, the plot summary and the premise was what attracted me to buy this initially, along with a vague sense of the supernatural. I also like Barry Unsworths writing style.In the end this was about 2/3 of a very disjointed book, which left many loose ends and didn’t seem to use the mystery and elusiveness of Venice to any great advantage. It also had bits and pieces of historical flashbacks that were vaguely intriguing but didn’t seem to add much. The historical flashback conceit has gotten tiresomely prevalent since this was published in 1985. Some have done it well. This wasn’t done particularly well, unfortunately.There’s always something you learn or find intriguing from novels like this. But I’m not sure I can recommend this one.

Barry Unsworth excels at re-creating bygone eras and ways of thinking in novels like “Sacred Hunger” and “Pascali’s Island.” Perhaps his best foray into the past is “Stone Virgin,” a novel about art and history set in Venice in the 15th, 18th and 20th centuries. A statue of the Virgin Mary is chiseled into life by a rising young Renaissance sculptor, who finds his attraction to his fleshly model curiously sparked by his proximity to the stone he’s animating. Centuries later, a Venetian rake recalls his own lusts and loves as he contemplates the unattended statue. Finally, a modern-day art restorer removes the polluted encrustations from the ancient statue, finding his own romantic urges accelerated. It’s the old story of Pygmalion and Galatea, in which the statue doesn’t come alive for its carver but seems to inspire very lively romantic feelings. The 15th and 18th century sequences are tragic and comic fables, respectively, while the 20th century section is more like a murder mystery. Throughout, the writing is virtuoso.

I enjoyed this book, but with reservations. I felt the author was asking us to take on too much. Or maybe I should say that he was too ambitious in taking on so much. Either way, there was so much information that it was difficult to take it all in. The names of all the people, more difficult because they were surnames, rather than first names; the Italian both names and places and little bits of dialogue; and the three different stories, set in different time periods, all contributed to the confusion. The diary of the old man, Ziani was very detailed, and not helped by the change in font in the book. I was tempted to skip some of it. Barry Unsworth gave us a clue right at the end - the power of three. Yes, it is sometimes useful to divide novels up into three parts, or three stories, but I couldn’t always remember what had happened before, when moving on to between the stories.The plot is that Simon goes to Venice to clean up a corroded statue of the Madonna, and becomes intrigued about her history. The two back stories include the Madonna’s history - telling what happened to the sculptor, his love affair with his beautiful model, how his statue was placed in an ignominious position away from most eyes, and how she once again received acclaim and was moved to a position more suited to her beauty.There is also the question of Simon’s newly discovered brain condition. Is he seeing things that don’t exist, or is there something supernatural going on? This is left open for the reader to decide. I found the writing a bit too detached, and couldn’t get close enough to the protagonists, certainly not enough to be moved by their respective plights. I think the book would have benefited by the removal of some of the wordiness, perhaps a little less flesh on the bones. But the bones of the story were good. I wanted to find out the answers, despite the - to me - ambiguous ending. 7 out of 10 perhaps and 3 to 4 stars.

This was my first Barry Unsworth novel, and although not an easy read, it proved very satisfying. The main plot involves Simon Raikes, an English expert in the restoration of stonework, who devotes months of his life to rescuing a beautiful fifteenth century Madonna, now severely corroded by pollution. There is an element of magical realism, as Simon starts having dizzy turns while in close proximity to the statue, and imagining visions which we learn are part of its history. For example, he 'sees' the face of a beautiful drowned woman whom we learn was the original model. She was murdered by her powerful jealous lover who framed the innocent sculptor. Descendants of this evil man appear through the years and Simon falls in love with Chiara, who is a present day scion of the same family. This plot evolves rather surprisingly into a murder mystery which is very tautly told towards the end of the book.If you know Venice well you will no doubt love the precise topographical scene setting. I've only been a couple of brief times so only a few places were familiar to me, but the atmosphere and beauty of Venice are well conveyed. There is also a lot of Italian vocabulary but mostly it is fairly obvious what it means, even if like me you are unfamiliar with the language.My main gripe was Unsworth's presentation of women. He seems rather a misogynist, to put it mildly, and there is barely a likeable woman in the book, other than Simon's elderly Venetian landlady. The title, which has many resonances, would reinforce this impression!I found this book quite a slow read, as it was complex and required concentration, but I felt it repaid the time I spent, and I intend to seek out more by this author.

Very clever story. Three stories in one that link several hundred years apart. Very absorbing and interesting and, if you have been to Venice, a real treat as he captures the light and atmosphere of Venice and the lagoon absolutely perfectly. I can see myself reading it several times just to remember Venice.

Stone Virgin is a complex and intriguing novel. There are three stories, set in three historical Venetian periods and each one linked intimately to the Stone Virgin (the Annuciation). Were there conspiracies? Yes, clearly in the two earlier periods but what about the 20th century? There was a murder, surely. But then why does Raines seemingly ignore the implications that the woman he loves must have been involved? Or does he? This is an intricate and fascinating work.

I am a fan of Barry Unsworth and have read several of his novels and I had high expectations of this one. However the book seemed incredibly slow with too many references to Italian works of art and artists. Finally the story got started became interesting and then just died. Disappointing.