I love epistolary novels. Something about the format—though I am sure it’s incredibly challenging for authors—gives me a sense of reality that straight exposition rarely does. Epistolary novels drop readers right into the story, leaving them to figure out what’s going on from context clues, and the plots race from letter to letter. I’m glad some contemporary authors are using emails, texts, and other digital ephemera to bring the genre back to life. Laurent Binet’s Perspective(s) is an epistolary novel in the old style, complete with an introduction in which B. finds and purchases a packet of letters and translates them for a contemporary audience.

B. offers only their brief introduction and a dramatis personae before leaving the letters to tell a strange story about a murdered artist, his scandalous frescoes, an even more scandalous painting, politics, intrigue, love, and loathing. (It’s truly astonishing how Binet develops so many subplots using only letters.) The letters begin in January 1557, when the body of Jacopo Pontormo is found in San Lorenzo, where he had been working on a series of frescoes that are rumored to rival what Michelangelo created in the Sistine Chapel. There are also rumors that the frescoes are full of nude figures, much to the displeasure of the Duchess of Florence, Eleanor of Toledo. When Pontormo’s lodgings are searched for clues, a painting of Venus and Cupid sparks an even bigger controversy because the face of Venus looks an awful lot like Eleanor’s daughter, Maria.

Eleanor, however, is never considered the murderer. Instead, suspicion falls on Pontormo’s assistants or perhaps a rogue artist. Florence in the 1550s is full of artists at loose ends, all clamoring for commissions and fame. Duke Cosimo de’ Medici commissions Giorgio Vasari to find out what happened to Pontormo. Vasari’s letters to and from Michelangelo, Agnolo Bronzino, and Benvenuto Cellini, among others provide further clues about what happened that night in San Lorenzo. Meanwhile, we also get letters to and from Maria de’ Medici to her relative, Catherine de’ Medici, and between Catherine and Pierro Strozzi, add a highly entertaining scheme involving the Venus and Cupid to discredit Cosimo. Further letters from Pontormo’s pigment grinder introduce a scheme to launch a proletarian rebellion in Florence. There’s a lot going on and, yet, I had no trouble keeping track of all of this—even when I hopped online to try and figure out how much was actual history and how much was Binet coloring outside of the lines.

As much as I enjoyed Perspective(s), I have major issues with the conclusion. I’m not going to spoil the mystery for readers who are intrigued by the premise and the cast of characters. There really is a lot to admire in this novel, so I’ll only say that I found the revelation of the murderer and their motive too implausible to make sense. I recommend reading this book for the history and the art, rather than the mystery itself.

Perspective(s) – Laurent Binet
Binet once again proves himself a master of intellectual storytelling, weaving a narrative that challenges the way we see the world. With his signature wit and philosophical depth, Perspective(s) plays with multiple viewpoints—both literal and figurative—to create a reading experience that feels fresh and thought-provoking. Fans of metafiction and mind-bending narratives will appreciate the clever twists and expertly crafted prose.

"A pulse-quickening murder mystery set in Renaissance Florence by the renowned author of HHhH.

As dawn breaks over the city of Florence on New Year's Day 1557, Jacopo da Pontormo is discovered lying on the floor of a church, stabbed through the heart. Above him are the frescoes he labored over for more than a decade - masterpieces all, rivaling the works of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. When guards search his quarters, they find an obscene painting of Venus and Cupid - with the face of Venus replaced by that of Maria de' Medici, the Duke of Florence's oldest daughter. The city erupts in chaos.

Who could have committed these crimes: murder and lèse-majesté? Giorgio Vasari, the great art historian, is picked to lead the investigation. Letters start to fly back and forth - between Maria and her aunt Catherine de' Medici, the queen of France; between Catherine and the scheming Piero Strozzi; and between Vasari and Michelangelo - carrying news of political plots and speculations about the identity of Pontormo's killer. The truth, when it comes to light, is as shocking as the bold new artworks that have made Florence the red-hot center of European art and intrigue.

Bursting with characters and historical color, Laurent Binet’s Perspective(s) is a whodunit like no other - a labyrinthine murder mystery that shows us Renaissance Florence as we've never seen it before. This is a dark, dazzling, unforgettable read."

I'm here for everything Florence, but throw in Catherine de' Medici, and I'm wild for it!

PERSPECTIVE(S)

Our storyteller, while vacationing in Tuscany, purchases a bundle of dusty old letters from an antique shop. They tell a fantastical tale.

Set in 1557 Renaissance Florence Italy, the artist Jacopo da Pontormo is found dead in the chapel of San Lorenzo. He had almost completed the beautiful frescoes that he had been commissioned to paint by Cosimo de’ Medici, Duke of Florence. They are said to rival the artwork of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. What follows is the unraveling of a complex murder mystery, lead by famous author Giorgio Vasari. To complicate matters, a distorted and compromising portrait of the Duke’s young daughter, Maria, is discovered and is being used for political blackmail.

Filled with palace and political intrigue, the story is told entirely through the correspondence among an eclectic cast of royals, artists, assistants, rebels, nuns and even Pope Paul IV. Each of the 176 letters is a page or two and it is written in a current, easy to read style. Drama, humor, and salacious details add to the historical background making this a fun and educational read.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Laurent Binet, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Wow, I have never read a book like this before! I had so much fun reading all the letters (though admittedly at some point I started taking notes to track who was who), and, as it takes place in a time and place I know very little about, I found the book incredibly informative even when that wasn't the point. A surprisingly fast-paced and political mystery. I had a wonderful time.

For me “Perspective(s)” was clever and, although perhaps a bit confusing at the start, became easy to follow as the narrative progressed. I have a deep love for history, art, and the humanities in general, so was quite excited at the opportunity to read this novel in advance. I loved that the story was told in a series of letters from a variety of historical correspondents. I felt that the tone of the time and the details included were accurate for the period during which the novel was set. I’ve seen some reviewers remark that the political aspects were too heavy-handed or confusing, but to me they felt relevant and necessary for the narrative, especially considering the setting. The inclusion of a murder and a whodunnit element provided additional incentive for me to fly through the story, which I finished in one sitting. I highly recommend this novel to lovers of art and history.

Someone on Goodreads compared reading Perspective(s) to being a tennis ball smacked back and forth on the Florentine court, and I can’t think of anything else better to describe what it was like reading this book. The way this book is set up is so unique compared to every other book I’ve ever read, formatted in letters sent to and from classic Renaissance painters, royalty, nuns, and other entertaining figures to discover who murdered painter Jacopo da Pontormo. The only issue I found was testing my memory on who was writing to whom. 😅

This story is a classic “who-dun-it” set in Florence 1557, and I couldn’t help but think about the Spider-man meme where all 3 versions are pointing at each other. True to its name, this story is full of perspectives as to who could possibly be the murderer as it all “floods” (😉) to one singular perspective: who dun it!

Made up of 180 short letters, this story is an easy page turner full of action, humor at all the right places, and so much research that I almost feel like I need to do my own research into each of the correspondents (not characters!).

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for my advanced copy of Perspective(s).

This had all the makings of a brilliant historical murder mystery—Renaissance Florence, political intrigue, and real historical figures caught up in the drama. The setting and historical details were top-notch, and the use of letters to unravel the mystery was a nice touch. It really captured the art and chaos of the time.

But while the premise was solid, the execution didn’t quite hit the mark. The story got bogged down in political maneuvering, making it more about power plays than the actual murder. The shifting perspectives and dense historical context made it feel more like a history lesson than a mystery at times. And while the characters were interesting, they didn’t always feel fully fleshed out, making it hard to stay invested.

A solid read for those who love Renaissance history, but as a murder mystery, it lacked the tension and momentum to make it truly gripping.

Thank you to Netgalley for this arc. This is Historical Fiction and a murder mystery all wrapped into one. If either of those are your vibe then I highly suggest reading this book.

Laurent Binet always writes novels I want to read, whether it's about Heydrich, Atahualpa or Michaelangelo.

This latest one is a detective story, and may not be for everyone, but for me few things are more exciting than an epistolary murder mystery set among the top politicians and artists of Renaissance Florence.

The year is 1557, Duke Cosimo de Medici rules Florence and the painter Jacopo Pontormo is found murdered in the San Lorenzo chapel, where he had been working for ten years on frescoes that were supposed to become Florence's answer to Rome's Sixtine Chapel. In the chapel, a portrait of a nude Venus with the head of Maria de Medici, the Duke's daughter, is also found.

The Duke tasks Vasari (yes, the author of 'the Lives') with the investigation, who in turn questions a host of painters, including Michelangelo. In parallel, the queen of France Catherina de Medici and her loyal condottieri Strozzi and Benvenuto Cellini (what a character!) believe there is political gain to be had from the murder and the compromising portrait.

The novel consists of 180 short letters, which make it a propulsive and quick read.

It is full of action, it's fun to read, the research is impressive and Binet's writing is as good as ever. Especially recommended if you love Florence!

I can't say I enjoyed this much. In this epistolary novel, Binet does a good job of walking the fine line of using early modern language without making it seem overwrought to today's readers, but the form resulted here in a very slow pace and the characters all had the same voice. The conceit of using the epistolary form to introduce multiple viewpoints is good, but because of the sameness and slowness, it didn't deliver. In addition, the "famous person solves mysteries" genre didn't work for me in this case--it never seemed particularly believable.

This French epistolary novel in translation opens with the putative author from the 19th Century declaring that he has discovered, and now translated, a cache of letters from 16th Century Tuscany, and wants to reveal their contents. The tale they set forth takes place in Florence in 1557 to 1558, and centers around the death of the painter Jacopo de Pontormo. [(He was an actual painter from the Florentine School. The Uffizi website notes that the actual name of Pontormo was Jacopo Carucci (sometimes spelled Carrucci). He was an influential artist in the 16th century style of Mannerism and also, as Wikipedia points out, represented “a profound stylistic shift from the calm perspectival regularity that characterized the art of the Florentine Renaissance.”]

Hence the title of this book, “Perspectives,” which not only references the work of Pontormo, but also focuses on the role of perspective generally in art. Additionally, in a meta sense, “perspectives” refers to the different points of views of the various authors of the letters. These authors include many important figures of the day, such as Cosimo de’ Medici, the Duke of Florence his wife Eleanor, their eldest daughter Maria (whose letter begins the chain of correspondence), Catherine de’ Medici, Maria’s aunt and the Queen of France, and a number of artists including Giorgio Vasari (also an influential art critic) and Michelangelo.

As the first letter reports, and subsequent letters discuss, Pontormo died in January of 1557. His body was found with a chisel embedded in his heart, as well as traces of a violent blow to the head. Many of the correspondents offer theories to one another as to how this happened, and who could have done it.

In this process, we learn about the changes in perspective being explored at this time in the late Renaissance. Pontormo is known as an early Mannerist, Mannerism, as noted above, being a reaction against the harmony, proportion, and naturalism in vogue at the time. Pontormo had, instead, as an article in Daily Art Magazine writes, a “disconcertingly unnatural approach to space; slightly elongated or altered figures and spiraling compositions.” Mannerists, the Britannica notes, used “strange and constricting spatial relationships, jarring juxtapositions of intense and unnatural colors, an emphasis on abnormalities of scale, a sometimes totally irrational mix of classical motifs and other visual references to the antique, and inventive and grotesque pictorial fantasies.”

This is also not a bad description of the political and artistic machinations of that time in Florence.

This Renaissance “whodunnit” provides lots of information about the famous characters who exchange letters, wrapping the mystery up neatly at the end. But it will perhaps not be enough for those unfamiliar with the period. Although the book does begin with an annotated guide to correspondents, it could use a lengthy addendum, as have many works of historical fiction, that would offer additional background on this historical era and serve as a guide to which parts were fictional and which were not.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.
A famous painter in renaissance Florence is found dead in suspicious circumstances. The “writer” discovers a trove of letters that reveal the truth of the long unsolved mystery. So goes the set up for this historical fiction novel told almost entirely in letters between famous and not so famous members of the political , religious and artistic elites of the era. By including leading figures of the time and place (including Michelangelo , Medicis and others) , the author spins a tale that highlights the politics and intrigue of the time in a very effective and compact way. He masterfully manages to hit on topics of sexuality, religion , politics ( sexual and otherwise) changing attitudes about art , developments in weaponry and more. With even some action scenes thrown in. Impressive and entertaining

2.5* rounded up. I love epistolary novels, mysteries, and historical fiction, so I had high hopes for Perspectives which incorporates all three genres. I think I was hoping for a kind of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, only set in 16th Century Florence. It was not to be. My main problem was with the characters who appeared in abundance and all seemed to speak in the same voice. I read the book in English and have no idea if this uniformity was a result of the translation or not. The concept was interesting but I just couldn't get invested in the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read perspectives in exchange for an honest review.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus, and Giroux for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Perspective is a solid historical murder mystery, and the non-traditional format – told entirely through letters – makes it an easy read while providing a deeper look into each character’s thoughts and motivations. Binet weaves a complex web of political and personal conflicts, capturing the tension and rivalries of Renaissance-era Florence. The mystery itself isn’t groundbreaking, but is compelling enough to keep you invested, especially with the added depth from the historical and artistic backdrop.

The art and politics of the time are a major focus of the novel, which will likely resonate more with readers with an interest in those subjects. I don’t have much background in Renaissance history or art, so for me it worked as an enjoyable murder mystery, but I think it would really shine for someone with a passion for that area. Overall, it’s an engaging read with a unique format and a well-developed setting that adds to the intrigue of the novel.

This book's concept was really intriguing to me—a historical murder mystery told through a series of letters set in Renaissance Florence. It ultimately was confusing and hard to follow for me, especially hard to keep track of each writer since their writing styles were so similar.

Thank you to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus, and Giroux for this ARC!

A very entertaining read. I'm usually not a fan of epistolary novels, but this one intrigued me enough to hook me in. My only complaint isn't against the author or the publisher, but against myself - and perhaps a word of warning to others preparing to read it on an e-reader - take notes as to who's who - the letters are from dozens of writers, and keeping the players straight was difficult for me; their writing styles weren't distinctive enough for me to easily follow along without having to whip back and forth to the cast of characters.

Ultimately, that's on me. A good read.

A murdery mystery involving an artist in Venice in this time period sounded amazing. However, the story being told through letters provided little entertainment. There are a ton of characters and the author attempted to make them all clear to the reader at the start but it fell flat. I had to DNF due to lack of interest in how the storyline is presents.

The premise of the book sounded great, a historical mystery. What I got was a series of dry letters that were not at all interesting. So dry that I put it down and never picked it back up.

This is a compilation of letters written by various people during the late 1500's concerning the death of an artist, the Duke of Florence and a suggestive painting of his daughter. There is such a vast number of letter writers that at times I felt, it was difficult to follow and be confusing.