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lillibooks's review
dark
inspiring
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
brokenbaroque's review
3.0
Anna Maria Ortese ha una prosa elegante, curata e snella, ammirevole anche quando il suo contenuto non è dei più alti.
Questo libro fa un ritratto ricco e complesso di Napoli e dei suoi abitanti nel dopoguerra, ma non è riuscito fino in fondo a prendermi, probabilmente per la sua natura ibrida. Un po' cronaca, un po' racconto, le storie in sé mi hanno lasciata insoddisfatta, il che è un peccato, visti i personaggi a tutto tondo.
Una stella in più gliela voglio concedere, però, in virtù delle sue descrizioni quasi viscerali. La città pare fatta di carne e sangue e la gente di pietra ammonticchiata malamente, in questo libro ed è qualcosa di tragicamente poetico.
Congiliato a chi ha nostalgia di una Napoli che non ha visto.
Questo libro fa un ritratto ricco e complesso di Napoli e dei suoi abitanti nel dopoguerra, ma non è riuscito fino in fondo a prendermi, probabilmente per la sua natura ibrida. Un po' cronaca, un po' racconto, le storie in sé mi hanno lasciata insoddisfatta, il che è un peccato, visti i personaggi a tutto tondo.
Una stella in più gliela voglio concedere, però, in virtù delle sue descrizioni quasi viscerali. La città pare fatta di carne e sangue e la gente di pietra ammonticchiata malamente, in questo libro ed è qualcosa di tragicamente poetico.
Congiliato a chi ha nostalgia di una Napoli che non ha visto.
akosmia's review
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
barel63's review
4.0
When I first got my hands on this book (Roma Termini bookstore, about to get on a train to Fiumicino) it looked deceptively small at fewer than 200 pages. I thought to myself at the time that once I did get around to reading it, it would take me a day or two max. As anyone can see from my reading history I was dead wrong. This was a lot harder to get through than I expected.
The Italian blurb on this book calls Ortese's collected stories and essays on post-war Naples "a descent into Hell." This is the sort of description that goes well with the essay portion of the book: where Ortese infiltrates the poorest neighborhoods of Naples, describing its most squalid and misery-filled corners. It was these descriptions (focusing on getting as much misery as possible into each sentence) and her dense essay-writing style (almost bordering on stream of consciousness--and I do not use this word lightly--full of commas and tangled metaphors) that had me almost giving up at a few moments. I ended up re-reading entire pages at a time.
But here's the thing: it was absolutely worth it. Ortese is capable of making her characters (real or fictional) come alive. Her descriptions of the way a city can define and even destroy how you think of yourself are some of the most beautiful writing out there.
Where this collection shines the most, however, is the two short stories that open up the collection and the final autobiographical report on Naples' dying class of literati. And I think there is a strong reason for this.
When describing Naples as a journalist, and consequently an outsider to its misery, the writing felt almost artificial in its concern, definitely voyeuristic, and inevitably ended up romanticizing what it was trying to condemn. In her introduction, Ortese mentioned how fake the idea of "reality" as it stands felt to her and you can see in the more straightforward descriptions why that is the case.
The moment poverty and misery became something her characters experienced everything rang truer. Those who experienced poverty did not seem themselves as victims and thus were not prone to sentimentalism or nostalgia. Misery was a fact of life, and life itself something to fight for and conquer.
I did not enjoy this book at every turn. As I mentioned above there were moments when I felt like giving up. But the more I read and re-read it, the stronger I was convinced and mesmerized by Ortese's writing style and felt Napoli's oppressive power. It is no wonder at all that Ferrante cites her (and this book in particular) as a defining influence in her work.
The Italian blurb on this book calls Ortese's collected stories and essays on post-war Naples "a descent into Hell." This is the sort of description that goes well with the essay portion of the book: where Ortese infiltrates the poorest neighborhoods of Naples, describing its most squalid and misery-filled corners. It was these descriptions (focusing on getting as much misery as possible into each sentence) and her dense essay-writing style (almost bordering on stream of consciousness--and I do not use this word lightly--full of commas and tangled metaphors) that had me almost giving up at a few moments. I ended up re-reading entire pages at a time.
But here's the thing: it was absolutely worth it. Ortese is capable of making her characters (real or fictional) come alive. Her descriptions of the way a city can define and even destroy how you think of yourself are some of the most beautiful writing out there.
Where this collection shines the most, however, is the two short stories that open up the collection and the final autobiographical report on Naples' dying class of literati. And I think there is a strong reason for this.
When describing Naples as a journalist, and consequently an outsider to its misery, the writing felt almost artificial in its concern, definitely voyeuristic, and inevitably ended up romanticizing what it was trying to condemn. In her introduction, Ortese mentioned how fake the idea of "reality" as it stands felt to her and you can see in the more straightforward descriptions why that is the case.
The moment poverty and misery became something her characters experienced everything rang truer. Those who experienced poverty did not seem themselves as victims and thus were not prone to sentimentalism or nostalgia. Misery was a fact of life, and life itself something to fight for and conquer.
I did not enjoy this book at every turn. As I mentioned above there were moments when I felt like giving up. But the more I read and re-read it, the stronger I was convinced and mesmerized by Ortese's writing style and felt Napoli's oppressive power. It is no wonder at all that Ferrante cites her (and this book in particular) as a defining influence in her work.
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