Suffer the Little Children (Commissario Guido Brunetti Mysteries) | 
| Author: Donna Leon
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 2031
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.9 x 4.2 x 1
ISBN: 0143113615
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780143113614
ASIN: 0143113615
Publication Date: April 29, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
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Product Description
A riveting new mystery from international bestseller Donna Leon
Donna Leons Commissario Brunetti series has made Venicea city thats beautiful and sophisticated, but also secretive and corruptone of mystery fans most beloved locales. In this brilliant new book, Brunetti is summoned to the hospital bed of a respected pediatrician, where he is confronted with more questions than answers. Three men had burst into the doctors apartment, attacked him, and kidnapped his eighteen-month-old son. What could have motivated an assault so violent that it has left the doctor mute? And could this crime be related to the moneymaking scam run by pharmacists that Brunettis colleague has recently uncovered? As Brunetti delves deeper into the case, a story of infertility, desperation, and illegal dealings begins to unfold.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
 Suffer the Little Children May 14, 2008
The familiar and enjoyable elements of Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti novels--trenchant observations of the beautiful and corrupt city of Venice, and an engaging and humane hero with rich collegial and family relationships --are abundantly present in "Suffer the Little Children." Unfortunately Ms. Leon has thrown the book off balance: her understandable distress at the situation she is depicting (the sale of babies for adoption) overpowers the story. It seems more something we are being educated about, rather than something exposed naturally in the course of Brunetti's investigation. We are not allowed to develop our own sense of indignation and sadness at what people will sink to and what terrible decisions we make--Leon does it all for us.
Although "Suffer the Little Children" is better than some of her recent work, it does not achieve the high standard Ms. Leon set for us in the earlier Brunetti novels.
Good But Not Her Best April 12, 2008
Once again we visit the wonders of Venice alongside Commissario Guido Brunetti. The theme this time around is the racket in illegal adoptions of children, usually from abroad or foreign mothers in Italy.
All of the Brunetti books are excellent, but I had one problem with this one. Every single sensible person in the story thinks it was completely wrong to take a toddler away from the family who has brought him up for 18 months after an illegal adoption and to turn him over to social services (and presumably an orphanage). The implication is that breaking the law should be ignored, and the possibility that social services might find a loving family to legally adopt the child is not even considered. But considering the point made about the demand for children, one would think that there should be no problem finding suitable parents.
Moreover, there seems to be an immediate leap from bad news at fertility clinics to buying a baby from an illegal immigrant. Perhaps in Catholic Italy there are no surrogate mothers, but if that is so, it would have been nice for someone to comment that such an alternative didn't exist.
Sometimes the conversation seems a bit forced as well, as if Donna Leon was in hurry to get the book written. On the other hand, the depiction of a very unsavory right wing extremist anti-immigrant political party is very good, and somewhat frightening.
There are some surprises at the end, and the book is a fine read. Just not as good as some of the previous stories in the series. There could have been more as well about the baby buying racket. We really only get an insight in one particular, and apparently untypical, case.
 Adults Behave Badly Where Children Are Concerned March 25, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Suffer the Little Children looks at the harsh side of how adults take a cavalier attitude toward the best interests of children, especially babies. In that sense, it's like an expose of the evils of modern society where adults are more concerned about their convenience than about the young.
If you would like to read such an expose, Suffer the Little Children will go down well.
But if you want a murder mystery, you'll look in vain for one in this story. In fact, the main mystery relates to how the carabiniere caught wind of an illegal adoption. Even that mystery is answered without much effort when Commissario Guido Brunetti finally focuses on the question.
The book starts off promisingly enough. A pediatrician and his wife in Venice fall asleep after making love. Their slumber is interrupted as a carabiniere team invades their home, smash the husband in the head, and take their adopted son away. At the hospital, Brunetti tries to find out what's going on and gets a few clues from the carabiniere captain who led the assault.
The whole issue soon begins to fade as the pediatrician's wounds heal and the guilt of his illegal adoption becomes more apparent. Curiously, no one seems to be very upset about the child being taken away to an orphanage but the pediatrician.
Separately, Vianello uncovers some illegal payments being taken by physicians and pharmacists. In the process, Vianello finds more than he expects.
Brunetti also finds out more than he wanted to know about the political influences that the police kow-tow to in Venice.
I found the book to be slow, tedious, and lacking enough focus to be interesting. The continual emphasis on the irony of adults treating babies like merchandise soon wears thin.
Unless you feel like you need to read all of the books in this series, you could definitely skip this one and not miss anything.
 powerful but sad February 22, 2008
Another great book from Donna Leon. The subject matter was a little disturbing, but the writing was terrific.
 Crime and punishment January 17, 2008
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
Donna Leon's Inspector Brunetti takes on another of society's evils in each of her books. In Suffer the Little Children, it's illegal adoption and misuse of medical records. The title is a misnomer - in the biblical quote, "suffer" means "permit" rather than "experience pain." Nevertheless, it conveys Leon's intent, which is to look at the pros and cons of black market adoption. It's chilling to realize that babies are sometimes sold as involuntary organ donors. It's also chilling to recognize how, in many cases, victims are criminalized, while moral transgressors are covered by the law. Brunetti and Paola, Elettra and Vianello, are their reliable, trustworthy selves here, and Brunetti's work, personally painful to him, is contrasted sharply with the beauty that is Venice. Another thoughtful, well crafted mystery from one of the top writers of fiction at work today.
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