Blood From A Stone Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, and our BookBrowse Review of Blood From A Stone.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. What is the picture of Venice that emerges in the book? How is the story driven by the history and geography of the city? Did you feel catapulted into the life of the canals, even into the map of the frontispiece? How does Brunetti's own appreciation of his city seduce the reader? See page 77: "Palazzi swept by on both sides, the drunken promiscuity of their styles competing for his attention."
   
    
2. " 'Who'd want to kill a vu cumpra?' Rizzardi asked" (p. 11). What are the attitudes of the citizens of Venice toward these street people? Are they tolerated by official insouciance, a general shrug about illegal immigrants? Brunetti had assumed they functioned under the arm of organized crime. Is there evidence of that?
   
    
3. Even though we never know the name or even the proven nationality of the murder victim, how are we led along with Brunetti to a gradual sympathy with him and other vu cumprà trying to survive in Venice? Does the description of the bag sellers as beautiful, tall, straight, even happy people set up the victim as sacrificial? Do these Africans represent some simpler, golden age as compared to the sophisticated corruption of the Italians?
   
    

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Penguin. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.