mccgp8's review against another edition
4.0
This book's vibe and stories have stuck with me even almost a year after I've read it. It's absolutely wonderful
ruba0327's review against another edition
4.0
Francesca Marciano’s well written short story collection is filled with heartbroken, yet resilient women. I took my time reading this because I wanted to let each story sink in before moving on to the next one. A book to savor.
cheryl1213's review against another edition
4.0
This is a collection of short stories tied together by themes of places and change. The stories are fronted by women of all ages who are facing a wide variety of circumstances, but all are adjusting to change and very much shaped by their setting.
I suppose it is always a potential issue when it comes to reviewing short story collections, but it is one I haven't really faced before. There are some stories in this collection (provided to me by Pantheon) I'd rank fairly high and others that I struggled to get through. I struggled through "Big Island, Small Island," where a woman seeks out a man who formerly led her circle of intellectual friends and has disappeared to a small remote island. I thoroughly enjoyed "The Italian System" in which a woman writes of the Italy that lives in her mind many years after her move to New York. "An Indian Soiree" bored me and I didn't care about the marriage we peek in on as the spouses travel after a long period of the wife acting as support to the author husband. The opening tale, which shares the book's title, is a coming-of-age piece with a bit of a shocking middle, and was one of my favored tales.
I think the fair point is a 3.5 and I'm going to resist rounding for my blog and probably go with 3 on one "whole stars" site and 4 on another (I typically post reviews to Amazon and Goodreads). I applaud the focus on place and character, not to mention the varied but often strong female leads. Still, something made me really struggle to keep going both in certain stories and overall.
I suppose it is always a potential issue when it comes to reviewing short story collections, but it is one I haven't really faced before. There are some stories in this collection (provided to me by Pantheon) I'd rank fairly high and others that I struggled to get through. I struggled through "Big Island, Small Island," where a woman seeks out a man who formerly led her circle of intellectual friends and has disappeared to a small remote island. I thoroughly enjoyed "The Italian System" in which a woman writes of the Italy that lives in her mind many years after her move to New York. "An Indian Soiree" bored me and I didn't care about the marriage we peek in on as the spouses travel after a long period of the wife acting as support to the author husband. The opening tale, which shares the book's title, is a coming-of-age piece with a bit of a shocking middle, and was one of my favored tales.
I think the fair point is a 3.5 and I'm going to resist rounding for my blog and probably go with 3 on one "whole stars" site and 4 on another (I typically post reviews to Amazon and Goodreads). I applaud the focus on place and character, not to mention the varied but often strong female leads. Still, something made me really struggle to keep going both in certain stories and overall.
jennaemeyers's review against another edition
5.0
So good it hurts. I put off finishing this forever because I didn't want to come to the end. I'll read anything Marciano writes. Give me more please!
bwolfe718's review against another edition
4.0
You can read my complete review at my blog dedicated to literary fiction by women, readherlikeanopenbook.com.
The Other Language was one of the best short story collections published in 2014. It will be published in softcover on Feb. 3, giving readers a second chance to discover its manifold pleasures. Francesca Marciano is not yet well known to the American reading public (despite three previous novels), but Language has created something of a buzz. (Perhaps Italian writers are catching on after the success of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan trilogy.)
In this collection, Marciano tells the stories of characters who find themselves on unfamiliar turf, literally and figuratively. Most involve people who have traveled to exotic locales (a Greek island in the title story, Tanzania in “Big Island, Small Island,” “An Indian Soiree”), moved from a city to a village (“The Presence of Men,” set in far southern Italy and “The Club,” which is set in Mombasa and coastal Kenya), or who live amidst a different dominant culture (“The Italian System” and “Quantum Theory”). All are disoriented by language or culture, leading them to stray from their normal behavior.
The standouts are the longest stories here: “The Other Language,” “The Presence of Men,” and “An Indian Soiree,” which are 49, 54, and 33 pages, respectively.
...
Marciano is unsparing in her depictions of these characters’ foibles, but she also shows us their essential humanity. She also writes with a strong sense of place, one that is often palpable, especially when, as in my case, you are reading her stories in January. But what stands out most in these stories is Marciano’s clean, elegant prose. Even the less impressive stories in this collection are a pleasure to read, as you sail along on her controlled and well-crafted sentences.
As much as I enjoyed these stories, I have a few quibbles with The Other Language....
The Other Language was one of the best short story collections published in 2014. It will be published in softcover on Feb. 3, giving readers a second chance to discover its manifold pleasures. Francesca Marciano is not yet well known to the American reading public (despite three previous novels), but Language has created something of a buzz. (Perhaps Italian writers are catching on after the success of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan trilogy.)
In this collection, Marciano tells the stories of characters who find themselves on unfamiliar turf, literally and figuratively. Most involve people who have traveled to exotic locales (a Greek island in the title story, Tanzania in “Big Island, Small Island,” “An Indian Soiree”), moved from a city to a village (“The Presence of Men,” set in far southern Italy and “The Club,” which is set in Mombasa and coastal Kenya), or who live amidst a different dominant culture (“The Italian System” and “Quantum Theory”). All are disoriented by language or culture, leading them to stray from their normal behavior.
The standouts are the longest stories here: “The Other Language,” “The Presence of Men,” and “An Indian Soiree,” which are 49, 54, and 33 pages, respectively.
...
Marciano is unsparing in her depictions of these characters’ foibles, but she also shows us their essential humanity. She also writes with a strong sense of place, one that is often palpable, especially when, as in my case, you are reading her stories in January. But what stands out most in these stories is Marciano’s clean, elegant prose. Even the less impressive stories in this collection are a pleasure to read, as you sail along on her controlled and well-crafted sentences.
As much as I enjoyed these stories, I have a few quibbles with The Other Language....
mkat303's review against another edition
5.0
This is simply one of the best collections of short stories I've read.
susemcdonald's review against another edition
3.0
A solid 3 1/2 stars! I wasn't aware that this novel consisted of short stories...very enjoyable!
simsarah79's review against another edition
5.0
If the first story is just a preview of the rest of the book, this is going to be amazing.
okay just finished the last story; indeed it was amazing. nothing magical just each story as interesting as the one before. I don't usually go for short story collections for the usual reason of having this idea that you get jipped. Like a short story, just because it's not 300 pages long means you don't get depth and you want to get in to a juicy story without an end to come up against.
This collection was an example of why the short story is an art. It gives you just enough information - told in succinct tight sentences where you can't afford to wast on superfluous details - and then either carries you across some time periods with purposeful prose, or it gives you an event or catalyst that propels you to the end.
The stories were about different lands other than the good ol' USofA. They were somewhat melancholy dealing with death and loss and breakups but they weren't really sad. they were real and truly showed a talent from the author. It was like a little passport to bring me to Italy, Africa, different places in Europe yet the themes were universal. We are born. We deal with some shit. And at some point we realize that we are all truly alone and we die.
brilliant.
okay just finished the last story; indeed it was amazing. nothing magical just each story as interesting as the one before. I don't usually go for short story collections for the usual reason of having this idea that you get jipped. Like a short story, just because it's not 300 pages long means you don't get depth and you want to get in to a juicy story without an end to come up against.
This collection was an example of why the short story is an art. It gives you just enough information - told in succinct tight sentences where you can't afford to wast on superfluous details - and then either carries you across some time periods with purposeful prose, or it gives you an event or catalyst that propels you to the end.
The stories were about different lands other than the good ol' USofA. They were somewhat melancholy dealing with death and loss and breakups but they weren't really sad. they were real and truly showed a talent from the author. It was like a little passport to bring me to Italy, Africa, different places in Europe yet the themes were universal. We are born. We deal with some shit. And at some point we realize that we are all truly alone and we die.
brilliant.