delaneyswann's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Reading this book is incredibly pleasurable. Matar’s prose is considered and the subject matter ranges, returning the Sienese paintings that are the focus of his trip to Siena, but lingering on the inability of writing to express gratitude and disappointment, community, architecture and history. The most emotionally resonant part was the author coming to terms and grieving the decades-old disappearance of his father. The concept of the book feels resonant to putting on your favorite comfort TV show in order to allow some time to pass as you process your feelings. I would recommend, especially if you enjoy genre-bending memoir, art history, or mediations on community,
emmaexlibris's review against another edition
4.0
"The past and future stimulate our imagination; the present overwhelms it. What is there to do with this ongoingness that neither pauses nor tires, this ceaselessness that is like a blinding light flickering so rapidly that the naked eye cannot perceive its reverberations? The seconds are not divided, as a clock would have us believe; time does not tick, but is welded in a seamless progression. Talk of "being in the present" or "living in the moment" has become part of our contemporary language. But the present offers no options; it insists on our attention. It is relentless and knows that everything is contingent on it. The most casual turn, an innocent encounter—with a book, a painting, a piece of unexpected news—or a mere thought passing though one's head can leave one ever so slightly altered. And somehow we know, as the minutes pass, that we are being quietly made and that there is nothing we can do to stop it." (40)
esztertth's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
It was recommended to me by StoryGraph and I read this on a trip to Tuscany, where I spent a couple of hours in Siena. Matar's writing gave me and new appreciation to medieval paintings a new tools to examine them.
This book highly enriched my experience in Siena. Makes me want to spend more time in museums and sit with paintings longer.
This book highly enriched my experience in Siena. Makes me want to spend more time in museums and sit with paintings longer.
marthaos's review against another edition
4.0
This was a gem of a book, a short but very beautiful read. Gifted to me by a friend Last Christmas, it is unlikely that I would have otherwise come across it. The book is a thing of beauty in itself, with high quality coloured prints of the Sienese paintings described by the author.
In the year Matar’s father disappeared, an event described in “The Return”, Matar became fascinated with the art of Sienna. This love affair began from spending long periods of time in the National Gallery of London, just gazing for hours at a time at one particular piece of art. Though I didn’t read “The Return”, Matar’s father is a very strong presence in “A Month in Sienna”, and this time helps Matar to finally lay him to rest, seeing him visiting a cemetery in Sienna on a few occasions and sitting on a bench which feels where he is meant to be at that time.
All the pieces of art shown in the book are described as Matar interprets them, which for me greatly enriches them. This interpretation results from real and lengthy looking and results in him seeing with the soul. All the paintings have strong biblical themes but speak to the universal. In one particular gallery in Sienna he spends so long each day in one room that he comes to know the gallery attendants who insist on him accepting a seat.
The writing is poetic and reflective, marrying the slow, reflective experience of Matar’s month in Sienna, a period whose gratification he delayed for so long to savour all the more what he knew it would mean for him. This trip was a reflection on love, marital, filial and universal, of friendship, of life, of death, of art. It was the culmination of years of grief, searching, and coming to terms with the unknown.
One of the beautiful stand-out passages in the book for me was an observation he outlines when at the cemetery:
“The scale was unfathomable. It is one thing to consider the particular intimacy of a single grave, another to glimpse dearth’s endless appetite. The deceased outnumber the living. The present is the golden r of a black cloth. How outrageous it is to be alive, I thought. It filled me with such enthusiasm and dark pride for my race, for how brave and heroic we are in the face of the undeniable evidence that life cannot be maintained, that regardless of what armour we choose, all things must pass”
In the year Matar’s father disappeared, an event described in “The Return”, Matar became fascinated with the art of Sienna. This love affair began from spending long periods of time in the National Gallery of London, just gazing for hours at a time at one particular piece of art. Though I didn’t read “The Return”, Matar’s father is a very strong presence in “A Month in Sienna”, and this time helps Matar to finally lay him to rest, seeing him visiting a cemetery in Sienna on a few occasions and sitting on a bench which feels where he is meant to be at that time.
All the pieces of art shown in the book are described as Matar interprets them, which for me greatly enriches them. This interpretation results from real and lengthy looking and results in him seeing with the soul. All the paintings have strong biblical themes but speak to the universal. In one particular gallery in Sienna he spends so long each day in one room that he comes to know the gallery attendants who insist on him accepting a seat.
The writing is poetic and reflective, marrying the slow, reflective experience of Matar’s month in Sienna, a period whose gratification he delayed for so long to savour all the more what he knew it would mean for him. This trip was a reflection on love, marital, filial and universal, of friendship, of life, of death, of art. It was the culmination of years of grief, searching, and coming to terms with the unknown.
One of the beautiful stand-out passages in the book for me was an observation he outlines when at the cemetery:
“The scale was unfathomable. It is one thing to consider the particular intimacy of a single grave, another to glimpse dearth’s endless appetite. The deceased outnumber the living. The present is the golden r of a black cloth. How outrageous it is to be alive, I thought. It filled me with such enthusiasm and dark pride for my race, for how brave and heroic we are in the face of the undeniable evidence that life cannot be maintained, that regardless of what armour we choose, all things must pass”
rojaed's review against another edition
4.0
A philosophical account of a stay in Siena after finishing The Return. He studies the city and the pictures minutely. It is like a painting of the atmosphere of a city and himself in it.
anneke_b's review against another edition
3.0
So if I was an art connoisseur I would probably really love this book.
It was good for what it was. Short, great pictures that I could look at. But at the same time...
I just might not love art enough to love this book?
It was good for what it was. Short, great pictures that I could look at. But at the same time...
I just might not love art enough to love this book?