Review by Matthew Scott Winslow
There are some conceits, that no matter how good, aren't enough to sustain a book. Unfortunately, Midori Snyder's The Innamorati follows its conceit too slavishly. Snyder is a very accomplished and skilled writer, and almost pulls off the impossible, but when all is said and done, The Innamorati is nothing more than a one-idea book.
The idea, in this case, is a book structured like a Commedia del' Arte with the book's characters based on the stock characters of the Commedia. (At one point in the book, they even take on those roles directly -- just in case the reader doesn't get the connection.) The book's forward action is the story of the characters seeking to resolve their "curses" by making their way to and then through the labyrinth at the heart of the city Labirintino. As in typical melodrama, the various pilgrims team up and intermix in order to meet and surpass the challenges that face them in the maze.
Like any good comedy, there are plenty of problems along the way, from an overactive libido to a curse gone wild who haunts the paths of the labyrinth. In the end, though, the protagonists all end up conveniently paired off and living happily ever after.
The book has its moments, and even manages to become a page turner along the way, but in the end the stock characters bring it down. The joy of the Commedia del' Arte is that the characters are two-dimensional. The paradox here is that Snyder is too gifted a writer to be able to keep her characters flat. Throughout the book, they keep on trying to break out of their roles, but each time they are forced back into the mold. Snyder seems torn between sustaining her conceit and writing a captivating book. In the end, both fail because of this tension.
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