Infinite Books

“Perspective(s)” is the new fiction book by Laurent Binet. I was drawn to this mystery by an intriguing description, but the book was different than I expected. It comprises 180 letters written by various people living in Florence in 1557, mostly well-known historical figures like Duke de Medici, Catherine de Medici, Michelangelo Buonarotti, and others.  At the beginning of the novel, Jacopo da Pontormo, an artist, is found dead,  with a chisel embedded in his chest, in front of his fresco of Flood; strangely, some frescos seem to be touched up, likely by another artist or maybe even by his murderer. The Duke orders Giorgio Vasari to investigate the story in a delicate matter because the initial visit to Pontoromo’s house revealed that he had a painting of Venus and Cupid, where a naked Venus has the face of Maria de Medici, The Duke’s oldest daughter.

The story is written exclusively in letters circulating between different people, not all of them particularly interested in solving the murder; for example, Maria is falling in love with a young man and sharing her feelings with her aunt, while other artists are often more fascinated with discussing a perspective method. Thus, in the title, we see the story told from different perspectives or points of view, but we also connect it to perspective as an artistic method.

I’m not a die-hard historical fiction fan, but I enjoy an occasional story written in this genre, especially when it’s heavily “fictionalized,” like in “The Marriage Portrait” by Maggie O’Farrell. It brings those historical figures closer to us and makes them more interesting. At the same time, we can see how different people’s lives were just 400 years ago. It’s hard to imagine that it was almost impossible for a woman to become a painter in the Renaissance. Two nuns in the story support Savanarola’s ideas, and one of them is a painter; however, she can only imagine how male models may look and how to show their bodies in her paintings.

I was surprised by this book’s unusual form but got used to it and followed the story with interest—not the kind of interest I reserve for a typical thriller or mystery novel but rather the exploration of different ways of thinking and rationalizing in the Renaissance area. This was a fascinating experiment in writing that was probably enjoyable for the author and subsequently became rather satisfying and educational for the readers.

 PERSPECTIVE(S) by Laurent Binet, translated from French by Sam Taylor, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2025