In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant * * *
This book was a disappointment. It started out great. Exciting. However, I was eventually let down. It was like sex without orgasm, which for a book about a courtesan is ironic. The story isn't really about the courtesan. I think that's where I was first disappointed. I was promised a courtesan. I expected sex. A story of a woman selling her body but making it look like art. It was written by a woman! Instead, I got the narrative of a cynical imp. It wasn't so bad. He was funny at times, and saw the world around him for what it was. But it wasn't what I was promised! Funny thing, the Hungarian title is much better. It's "The Courtesan and the Dwarf”. Much more fitting. The narration was mostly good. The author presented me with a lot of historical details. The streets and settings came alive. However, it did sometimes ramble on, freezing the story too long for thoughts and descriptions. If I wasn't listening to an audiobook, I would have skipped a lot. The ...