In the Company of the Courtesan

In the Company of the Courtesan, by Sarah Dunant

As you can tell from the title, this book is about a successful courtesan, Fiammetta, and her loyal dwarf Bucino. The story begins in 1527 with the sack of Rome by Charles III, the Duke of Bourbon, in the name of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Fiammetta and Bucino lived in Rome at the time, and the first several pages depict their efforts to survive the war zone and escape. The events described, although from Bucino's point of view instead of third person, are roughly exactly as described in Wikipedia, with the names of actual historical figures appearing alongside the fictional characters created for the purpose of the book.

Bucino and Fiammetta escape to Venice, where they attempt to begin their lives again. While there, they meet or are influenced by more historical figures, such as the artist Titian, the writer Pietro Aretino, the architect Jacopo Sansovino, Niccolo Machiavelli, and the healer/witch Elena "La Draga" Crusichi. With the exception of the architect and Machiavelli, these characters play large parts in the plot of the story, and in the end, we discover Fiammetta to be the unknown courtesan who posed for Titian's "Venus of Urbino" which depicts nothing from Urbino at all, but the painting eventually was owned by the Duke of Urbino and received its title from him.

Because the story is written from the point of view of Bucino, this book is unique in that a "deformed" character is the hero. In many books and movies, the hero must be perfect in appearance and morals, unless of course he is an anti-hero, in which case he must be perfect in appearance but a complete jerk. Bucino is neither a jerk, nor perfect in appearance. He is business-like, and can be gruff when business demands it, and occasionally makes mistakes like any human, but on the whole I think that he is a great character, loyal to Fiammetta, and kind to everyone he meets until they give him a reason not to be kind.

I would be extremely interested in seeing this book turned into a movie, if only because there are so many great actors out there who are passed up for the main roles because their growth was stunted or they don't look like Hollywood expects people to look. The exception would be Martin Klebba, who became fairly well-known after Pirates of the Caribbean, but who has since starred in a few projects. But lets face it, there are too few movies out there with abnormal-appearing actors in the main character roles.

For a book about a courtesan, this book is surprising in that there are no sex scenes. Sure, there are some pretty specific descriptions of body parts, but after the first few times, the reader begins to realize that these parts are tools of the trade for the characters and to omit those references would be like a book about a construction worker that omitted any reference to a hammer and nails. In fact, one of the things I particularly like was that the author was often able to use crude descriptions and beautiful poetry within the same sentence. Bucino mentions that this is something Fiammetta is able to do, and says that it is in a way a reflection of herself, however I would venture to argue that it is more a description of the cities of Rome and Venice- beautiful sculpture and architecture, holy and pious cities, that are also known for their corruption and prostitution.

The plot of the book was somewhat rambling, but still entertaining, especially in the last half of the book. It is also interesting to note that all the little adventures or episodes that occur become more intertwined in the last third or quarter of the book, and as the plot progresses, you begin to see how everything actually was connected. I enjoy books like that, although I'm sure it never happens in real life (which is probably why I enjoy books like that).

All in all, I would recommend this book to adults who are interested in non-conventional characters, the history of Italy (specifically Venice), or who have an interest in art with a preference for Titian over, say the artists with Ninja Turtle namesakes.