Reviews

Of this lit club-like group: "And though literature, and music, and film had first drawn them into Giuseppe's orbit, for him there was something else about them, some impossinly modern thing, which he wanted near. Alessandra had understood it before he did: they were part of a world that had already abandoned him, a world in which there would no longer be a place for people like him" (pp. 19-20)

"I envy you, he said to the boys, turning away. You have so much yet to read" (p. 43)

But what is profoundly gorgeous is the mediations on whether obsessions with writing and literature save us or starve us.

"Literature had been a good and consoling guide since his boyhood and he had heeded it all his life though he had failed, he kmew now, to comprehend its single truth: to love" (p. 297)

Gioacchino's POV: "Lampedusa had felt close to a world long vanished, distant from the one before him. Had he been more alive for the past that moved within him, or less so?" (326)

amillr11's review against another edition

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sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

frasersimons's review against another edition

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4.0

I liked the writing style and the overall plot, but feel like the book would have been augmented from knowing The Leopard. I got the feeling often that there was a wider, or deeper context I was somehow not privy to because this novel is about the later life of the author of The Leopard, and I’m not familiar with that story. Probably this has contrasting themes. At the very least it’s made me quite curious about the book and I plan to get my hands on a copy. Otherwise though, a sad, old prince, a relic of times past in old Sicily was evocative and sometimes charming. Glad to have read it.

erindillman's review against another edition

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dnf at 60% -- I want to stress that this wasn't the book's fault, it seems as though many of it's readers fall in love with the setting and the writing and the heartache it leaves. For me, even having read The Leopard to prepare myself, I often felt disengaged and like I was lagging behind the story itself. I felt more like I was paying attention to the descriptions of place, and then like a child I would be told to keep up with the story, missing important details and emotions that might have connected me to the story along the way. Steven Price is a powerful writer, it just wasn't a story for me.

wmohsin00's review against another edition

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What I like about this book is the fact that is incredibly well written. The authors descriptions of Sicily are transporting- you feel as you are there. . .

What I don’t like is the fact it moves really slowly. A lot of the time nothing much happens which made it very difficult for me to finish the book even though I had really been looking forward to it. . .

scarpuccia's review against another edition

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5.0

Very rarely there arrives a book I never want to finish. Lampedusa tells the story of the Italian writer at the end of his life. It's a deeply moving account of old age in a world that has dramatically changed. (He has lived through both world wars, fought in the first one.) Mostly set in Sicily which is stunningly evoked it's extraordinary how much wisdom there is in this novel and how eloquently and beautifully it's expressed. My favourite read of the year and massive thanks to Jaidee whose fabulously enthusiastic review inspired me to buy it.

deniset's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

zak21's review against another edition

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DNFed it. For school.

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