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Casanova

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Casanova

Written by: Giacomo Casanova
Narrated by: Benedict Cumberbatch
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Born in 1725 to Italian and Spanish parentage, Giacomo Casanova lived a long and exciting life. A scholar and an adventurer Casanova travelled widely throughout Europe and Russia associating with rulers and Kings. For a time he was in the service of the army and he became a great political stirrer. But he vacillated between fortune and misfortune and often resorted to gaming and fiddling too. Of course Casanova is most well-known for his womanizing and he reveals time after time how he just couldn't help falling in love! His eloquence and charm will not be lost on the listener either: the writing is remarkably modern, accessible and funny too. It took Casanova eighteen years to write his memoirs and a further one hundred for them to be classified as genuine. Available now for the first time on audio and brilliantly brought to life by the effervescent Benedict Cumberbatch, in this first volume of his memoirs Casanova charts his childhood and life as a young man in Venice and Italy.

Benedict Cumberbatch is one of Britain's brightest young actors. He starred as Stephen Hawking in the BBC's celebrated Hawking and plays the lead role in Michael Apted's 2006 film Amazing Grace. As well as his screen credits, Benedict has worked extensively in theatre and radio drama and recently as Sherlock Holmes in the popular TV series.

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Based on the cover of this audiobook, I'd assumed (wrongfully) that this was the "book version" of the movie. The movie, unlike the actual Giacomo Casanova's story, makes him seem like less of a pedophile, and more of a "lover of women", who eventually finds love and hangs up the proverbial womanizing towel, passing the torch on to another guy who takes on his identity. But the *real* story of Casanova is one of STDs, pedophilia, perversion, and dying alone. Some of this might not appear in this audio book, but read the man's biography... When he was 50, he paid for sex with a 12 year old. And that wasn't the first time he'd done it (also in his 20s, 30s, and 40s...). He also spoke about how attractive his former lover's 9 year old daughter was, and how she didn't rebuff his attentions. The guy was sick.

The "Venetian Years" is a bit misleading, as he doesn't spend a whole lot of this audiobook in Venice. But that was the least of my concerns. All this is, is a story of a sex-crazed man searching for as many women to sleep with as he can, and with each woman, he proclaims his "love" for her. I'm pretty sure that Casanova had no clue what love actually was; all he knew was lust, because as soon as another woman came along, he completely forgot about his "love" for the previous one...even when he promised her that he'd meet her in a different town and marry her. Scumbag. The guy was deluded, and the only thing that he was absolutely certain about in his life was the fact that he "loved" women.

The *only* reason that this is getting 2 stars instead of one, is because of the narration. I adore Benedict Cumberbatch. His spectacular voice is the only reason that I kept listening. Seriously, I could listen to him read the encyclopaedia or list the ingredients in all of the food at the grocery store, and I'd be perfectly content.

Misleading, But With Amazing Narration

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