Scan barcode
sidharthvardhan's review against another edition
5.0
So the title means a ten day event. Ten people telling ten stories in ten days - one each for ten days; now that is kind of maths I love. A king or Queen, chosen from themselves, decides a theme each day. We are the stories we tell - and the characters of story tellers are developed by the stories they tell.
I guess one of the reasons why this book is such an amazing classic is because it captures so successfully the after taste of death. Literature seems to grow successful if it can capture the state of minds of people of it's time. Boccario's tales though not incredibly amazing themselves or really well written capture the changing values of people. The idea of collecting stories that were already popular and doing rounds in Europe at that time also seems to make it more of a work of collective consciousness rather than product of an individual imagination. Though many of these stories are much older and/or originated from far off parts of world (I think at least a few were Italy-ised version of Indian or Persian stories); the fact remains they were popular antidotes among Italians of the time and that tells you something about them.
Social institutions are challenged constantly - mostly marriage (by givimg instances of adultery where we are supposed to support the cheating party) and church (priests having sex, chasing women, or being fooled by common folks, nuns having sex) but also, at least once, administrative officers. When you see so much of death, the instinct to question the authority of established institutions seems to come naturally. The institution of Ladydom (?) is also challenged which says women, who have titles of ladies, do not have dirty thoughts or fantasies. There is a story in here where an incredibly beautiful woman repeatedly gets kidnapped by men who will want to have sex with her- again, again, again, again, again .... It is the longest story in book I think and at the end of story, ladies listening to story are showed grieved at her tragedy but also secrety envious of the woman. Unfortunately descriptions of sex are not too vivid.
Another amusing consideration is that these tales are told by the author, as well as the characters of the frame story (seven women, three men - a lovely sex ratio) for women as prime audience rather than men. And though there is a lot of sexism - of patronising kind (an example would be women of the frame story are shown looking for men to accompany them for a journey); it probably has a very liberal atitude for its time. A big number of stories are about adultery - mostly women cheating on their husbands and mostly on grounds considered justified (really old husband, really jealous husband, boring husband, simple minded husband, husband absent on a long journey or mostly because they were in love).
Though not all values are agreeable to me personally. Cuckold humilation, a common theme, for example. And the most important virtue in the world of Decameron is ready wits and cleverness - which is a theme shared by lots of medical time classics (Don Quioxite, Arabian Nights etc) and, if you are simpleminded and gullible, you deserve to be laughed at or worse. There are stories about repeat characters that fool less clever people for fun and admired for it. A story has a priest telling a young gullible girl that men's and Women's private parts are devil and hell respectively and that it is important that devil be kept in hell.
I guess one of the reasons why this book is such an amazing classic is because it captures so successfully the after taste of death. Literature seems to grow successful if it can capture the state of minds of people of it's time. Boccario's tales though not incredibly amazing themselves or really well written capture the changing values of people. The idea of collecting stories that were already popular and doing rounds in Europe at that time also seems to make it more of a work of collective consciousness rather than product of an individual imagination. Though many of these stories are much older and/or originated from far off parts of world (I think at least a few were Italy-ised version of Indian or Persian stories); the fact remains they were popular antidotes among Italians of the time and that tells you something about them.
Social institutions are challenged constantly - mostly marriage (by givimg instances of adultery where we are supposed to support the cheating party) and church (priests having sex, chasing women, or being fooled by common folks, nuns having sex) but also, at least once, administrative officers. When you see so much of death, the instinct to question the authority of established institutions seems to come naturally. The institution of Ladydom (?) is also challenged which says women, who have titles of ladies, do not have dirty thoughts or fantasies. There is a story in here where an incredibly beautiful woman repeatedly gets kidnapped by men who will want to have sex with her- again, again, again, again, again .... It is the longest story in book I think and at the end of story, ladies listening to story are showed grieved at her tragedy but also secrety envious of the woman. Unfortunately descriptions of sex are not too vivid.
Another amusing consideration is that these tales are told by the author, as well as the characters of the frame story (seven women, three men - a lovely sex ratio) for women as prime audience rather than men. And though there is a lot of sexism - of patronising kind (an example would be women of the frame story are shown looking for men to accompany them for a journey); it probably has a very liberal atitude for its time. A big number of stories are about adultery - mostly women cheating on their husbands and mostly on grounds considered justified (really old husband, really jealous husband, boring husband, simple minded husband, husband absent on a long journey or mostly because they were in love).
Though not all values are agreeable to me personally. Cuckold humilation, a common theme, for example. And the most important virtue in the world of Decameron is ready wits and cleverness - which is a theme shared by lots of medical time classics (Don Quioxite, Arabian Nights etc) and, if you are simpleminded and gullible, you deserve to be laughed at or worse. There are stories about repeat characters that fool less clever people for fun and admired for it. A story has a priest telling a young gullible girl that men's and Women's private parts are devil and hell respectively and that it is important that devil be kept in hell.
zosia's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 stars.
An enjoyable set of stories (apart from story 9.9...). Very light-hearted and readable.
An enjoyable set of stories (apart from story 9.9...). Very light-hearted and readable.
kepics's review
3.0
Italy. Mid-Black Plague. 7 people in a cottage. Telling not-so appropriate stories.
raptorred's review against another edition
5.0
A bunch of rich folks escape the city to avoid the plague that's killing everyone by the thousands. In the meantime, they decide to have a picnic at their fancy estate and share stories that they have heard, funny, sad, gross, scandalous, and even peaceful.
I took a college class where the entire semester we reviewed solely this book. It took a whole new perspective and absolute appreciation for what the author was doing while writing these collection of stories that can show a lot of the time era, Dante's Inferno influences, and the literary prose of each narrator sharing their own stories and getting to learn about them.
Bonus, the movie The Little Hours with Aubrey Plaza is based on one of the stories in the book!
I took a college class where the entire semester we reviewed solely this book. It took a whole new perspective and absolute appreciation for what the author was doing while writing these collection of stories that can show a lot of the time era, Dante's Inferno influences, and the literary prose of each narrator sharing their own stories and getting to learn about them.
Bonus, the movie The Little Hours with Aubrey Plaza is based on one of the stories in the book!
dipasquale_vinny's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
5.0
If u get it u get it
gxsobes's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
ililly2003's review against another edition
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0