Scan barcode
eb00kie's review
4.0
This book contains the following stories, all very well written and, I believe, full of meaning and insight into the culture.
1. The Long Crossing / Il lungo viaggio - Leonardo Sciascia - Shocking in its curtness, cutting perspective into human cruelty and despair
2. Italy / Italia - Goffredo Parise - Slow and bland perspective of the life of an Adam-and-Eve couple of Italians
3. The Girl with the Plait / La ragazza con la treccia - Dacia Marini - A tiny sad puzzle, a story of circular fate and a satire of mores, human weakness, loneliness and societal pressure
4. The Last Channel / L'ultimo canale - Italo Calvino - Unreliable narrator trying to find meaning in life, held in an insane asylum, disorganised narration
5. Lilith / Lilít - Primo Levi - A story of friendship in captivity and the role of religious tales in building a culture, light read
6. The Island of Komodo / L'isola di Komodo - Susanna Tamaro - mystery and metaphor, thematically reminiscent of Franz Kafka's [b:Metamorphosis|485894|The Metamorphosis|Franz Kafka|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1359061917s/485894.jpg|2373750] and Mary Shelley's [b:Frankenstein|35031085|Frankenstein|Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1498841231s/35031085.jpg|4836639]
7. Women by the Pool / Donne in piscina - Sandra Petrignani - a story about finding meaning in everyday life in the middle age. Really enjoyed the childhood flashbacks, which provided a basis for comparison and gave dept to the story
8. A Naughty Schoolboy / Un cattivo scolaro - Stefano Benni - Biting satire of the sharpest kind, story of an Italy where the roles and worth of books and television have been reversed and children are made to remember famouse TV quotes for school. Strongly recommend. Also, strikingly accurate rendition of school teachers in Romania and, apprently, Italy, too.
9. Saturday Afternoons / I pomeriggi del sabato - Antonio Tabucchi - a story of how the ghost of the past become superimposed on the present - I think. It's a story of the fantastic.
That being said, read this, if your reading skills in Italian are intermediate or more. The translations by Nick Roberts, the editor, are poor. I hope he keeps his artistic license for whatever vaguely original work he might be tempted to author. For such as he, who seem to consider translation work slightly below them, may I recommend fanfiction?
I warmly recommend this anthology for anyone looking to learn Italian or discover more of Italian literature.
1. The Long Crossing / Il lungo viaggio - Leonardo Sciascia - Shocking in its curtness, cutting perspective into human cruelty and despair
2. Italy / Italia - Goffredo Parise - Slow and bland perspective of the life of an Adam-and-Eve couple of Italians
3. The Girl with the Plait / La ragazza con la treccia - Dacia Marini - A tiny sad puzzle, a story of circular fate and a satire of mores, human weakness, loneliness and societal pressure
4. The Last Channel / L'ultimo canale - Italo Calvino - Unreliable narrator trying to find meaning in life, held in an insane asylum, disorganised narration
5. Lilith / Lilít - Primo Levi - A story of friendship in captivity and the role of religious tales in building a culture, light read
6. The Island of Komodo / L'isola di Komodo - Susanna Tamaro - mystery and metaphor, thematically reminiscent of Franz Kafka's [b:Metamorphosis|485894|The Metamorphosis|Franz Kafka|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1359061917s/485894.jpg|2373750] and Mary Shelley's [b:Frankenstein|35031085|Frankenstein|Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1498841231s/35031085.jpg|4836639]
7. Women by the Pool / Donne in piscina - Sandra Petrignani - a story about finding meaning in everyday life in the middle age. Really enjoyed the childhood flashbacks, which provided a basis for comparison and gave dept to the story
8. A Naughty Schoolboy / Un cattivo scolaro - Stefano Benni - Biting satire of the sharpest kind, story of an Italy where the roles and worth of books and television have been reversed and children are made to remember famouse TV quotes for school. Strongly recommend. Also, strikingly accurate rendition of school teachers in Romania and, apprently, Italy, too.
9. Saturday Afternoons / I pomeriggi del sabato - Antonio Tabucchi - a story of how the ghost of the past become superimposed on the present - I think. It's a story of the fantastic.
That being said, read this, if your reading skills in Italian are intermediate or more. The translations by Nick Roberts, the editor, are poor. I hope he keeps his artistic license for whatever vaguely original work he might be tempted to author. For such as he, who seem to consider translation work slightly below them, may I recommend fanfiction?
I warmly recommend this anthology for anyone looking to learn Italian or discover more of Italian literature.
thereaderintherye's review
challenging
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
leitheoirrialta's review
4.0
A good collection of stories, almost all extremely readable. I would single out the long final story by Antonio Tabucchi as especially good. To my taste the weakest one was the surreal 'The Island of Komodo'. I have recently read the Spanish language short-story collection in this series, and the Italian one wouldn't be as comprehensive as regards notes on the text. Also I think that a vocabulary-list at the end of these books would be of help too.
gregorspv's review
5.0
Did not think much of some of the translations but the selection of texts is definitely a good one, especially the last one by Tabucchi - or perhaps it is the most memorable for me since I admittedly started reading the book just about a year ago. Nowadays, we are inclined to prioritise e-readers for foreign-language literature since e-dictionaries are oh-so useful, however there is something liberating about not looking up the odd word (incidentally, this is how we read English most of the time) which makes reading a more fluid experience. The notes at the end of the book are also lucid and of use. Overall, would definitely recommend for someone looking for a gateway into Italian short prose.
More...