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fth0tfitzgerald's review against another edition
God, men nok ikke en forfatter jeg kommer til at læse igen.
Sleve bogens prosa er skrevet i en stil, der til tider klæder, og viser bogens indhold fantastisk frem, men resten af tiden mest af alt forvirrede mig. Om det er mig eller bogen den er galt med, skal jeg ikke kunne sige.
Historien om hans mor er dybt tragisk, men, og måske fordi, at den er så tidstypisk kan det, på trods af sympatien med hende, være svært at oprigtigt lægge mærke til hende som individ. Hun drukner i fortællinger af de mange.
Faktisk er det svært for mig at huske om hendes navn nogensinde bliver givet til læseren.
Sleve bogens prosa er skrevet i en stil, der til tider klæder, og viser bogens indhold fantastisk frem, men resten af tiden mest af alt forvirrede mig. Om det er mig eller bogen den er galt med, skal jeg ikke kunne sige.
Historien om hans mor er dybt tragisk, men, og måske fordi, at den er så tidstypisk kan det, på trods af sympatien med hende, være svært at oprigtigt lægge mærke til hende som individ. Hun drukner i fortællinger af de mange.
Faktisk er det svært for mig at huske om hendes navn nogensinde bliver givet til læseren.
unalectora's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.0
anusha_reads's review against another edition
5.0
A Sorrow Beyond Dreams, PETER HANDKE (Nobel prize for literature, 2019)
This is a semi-autobiographical novella, about Peter Handke’s mom. He writes whatever he remembers about her. It is not a detailed but a brief description of her difficult life. She suicides at 51. After his mother’s death, he says that he has an apathetic feeling about death. I felt as though he was relieved because his mom had a difficult life and ended up with a mental illness. He was relieved because he couldn’t see her suffering.
As a young woman, she is not allowed to study a lot but still, she joins a cooking class. She later falls in love with a married man and gives birth to Peter. Then she gets married to a guy but doesn’t love him, with whom she has a few more children and many abortions. She is bound by her duties at home; cooking, cleaning, washing, etc. but from the novella, one gets a feeling that she didn’t want to be tied down. Facing the hardships of poverty and life as such, having had almost nothing to eat at times, she faces a lot of difficulties. The period being the Nazi era or war.
What if she had wishes and desires to be someone or to do something else? The fact that she didn’t talk much off and on, makes it even more difficult to understand her true wants.
I found this novella tough. It’s a grim, moving tale of a lady, almost invisible.
It is a must read and I think I will have to reread it to understand it better.
This is a semi-autobiographical novella, about Peter Handke’s mom. He writes whatever he remembers about her. It is not a detailed but a brief description of her difficult life. She suicides at 51. After his mother’s death, he says that he has an apathetic feeling about death. I felt as though he was relieved because his mom had a difficult life and ended up with a mental illness. He was relieved because he couldn’t see her suffering.
As a young woman, she is not allowed to study a lot but still, she joins a cooking class. She later falls in love with a married man and gives birth to Peter. Then she gets married to a guy but doesn’t love him, with whom she has a few more children and many abortions. She is bound by her duties at home; cooking, cleaning, washing, etc. but from the novella, one gets a feeling that she didn’t want to be tied down. Facing the hardships of poverty and life as such, having had almost nothing to eat at times, she faces a lot of difficulties. The period being the Nazi era or war.
What if she had wishes and desires to be someone or to do something else? The fact that she didn’t talk much off and on, makes it even more difficult to understand her true wants.
I found this novella tough. It’s a grim, moving tale of a lady, almost invisible.
It is a must read and I think I will have to reread it to understand it better.
storiedisera's review against another edition
5.0
Come si racchiude la vita di una donna in una manciata di pagine? Come si scelgono le parole giuste, gli aneddoti più appropriati, i dialoghi più adatti, nel ritrarre qualcuno che ci è così vicino come la nostra stessa madre? Questo libro ha solo settantotto pagine e ne è un esempio perfetto.
⠀
Sul giornale viene riportato un articolo: «Nella notte tra venerdì e sabato una casalinga cinquantunenne di A. (comune di G.) si è suicidata con una dose di sonnifero.» Quella donna è, fra le tante cose, la madre di Handke. La madre diventa personaggio di una storia che potrebbe essere quella di chiunque perché «solo le generalizzazioni che espressamente prescindano da mia madre come possibile protagonista straordinaria di una storia forse irripetibile possono riguardare qualcun altro oltre a me». Mi sono avvicinata a Handke intimorita e me ne allontano piena di meraviglia. Ho trovato una scrittura piena di consapevolezza e una storia immortale, cui ci si avvicina impotenti conoscendone già l’epilogo, afferrando solo in parte l’inesprimibile. Vi lascio il passaggio più bello, che ho letto e riletto prima di andare avanti e che a mio parere coglie proprio quell’inesprimibile:
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“Leggeva i giornali, e ancora più volentieri quei libri, di cui poteva confrontare le storie con la propria vita. Lesse con me, prima Fallada, Knut Hamsun, Dostoevskij, Gor’kij, poi Thomas Wolfe e William Faulkner. Non faceva commenti di critica letteraria, si limitava a raccontare con le sue parole quelli che l’aveva particolarmente colpita. «Io, però, non sono mica così,» diceva qualche volta, come se l’autore avesse voluto descrivere proprio lei. Leggeva ogni libro come una descrizione della propria vita, e leggendo cominciava a vivere; per la prima volta usciva fuori dal suo guscio; imparava a parlare di sé; a ogni libro le venivano in mente più cose. Così, a poco a poco, imparai qualcosa di lei.”
⠀
Vincitore del premio Nobel per la letteratura, autore poco gettonato, Handke non ha deluso le mie aspettative e ne sono proprio contenta.
⠀
Sul giornale viene riportato un articolo: «Nella notte tra venerdì e sabato una casalinga cinquantunenne di A. (comune di G.) si è suicidata con una dose di sonnifero.» Quella donna è, fra le tante cose, la madre di Handke. La madre diventa personaggio di una storia che potrebbe essere quella di chiunque perché «solo le generalizzazioni che espressamente prescindano da mia madre come possibile protagonista straordinaria di una storia forse irripetibile possono riguardare qualcun altro oltre a me». Mi sono avvicinata a Handke intimorita e me ne allontano piena di meraviglia. Ho trovato una scrittura piena di consapevolezza e una storia immortale, cui ci si avvicina impotenti conoscendone già l’epilogo, afferrando solo in parte l’inesprimibile. Vi lascio il passaggio più bello, che ho letto e riletto prima di andare avanti e che a mio parere coglie proprio quell’inesprimibile:
⠀
“Leggeva i giornali, e ancora più volentieri quei libri, di cui poteva confrontare le storie con la propria vita. Lesse con me, prima Fallada, Knut Hamsun, Dostoevskij, Gor’kij, poi Thomas Wolfe e William Faulkner. Non faceva commenti di critica letteraria, si limitava a raccontare con le sue parole quelli che l’aveva particolarmente colpita. «Io, però, non sono mica così,» diceva qualche volta, come se l’autore avesse voluto descrivere proprio lei. Leggeva ogni libro come una descrizione della propria vita, e leggendo cominciava a vivere; per la prima volta usciva fuori dal suo guscio; imparava a parlare di sé; a ogni libro le venivano in mente più cose. Così, a poco a poco, imparai qualcosa di lei.”
⠀
Vincitore del premio Nobel per la letteratura, autore poco gettonato, Handke non ha deluso le mie aspettative e ne sono proprio contenta.
sloatsj's review against another edition
4.0
NYRB not only has an amazing selection of books, but their cover design is invariably gorgeous, and in a few cases even seems reason enough to buy some of their titles. I loved the cover of [b:Stoner|166997|Stoner|John Edward Williams|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320600716s/166997.jpg|1559207] and [b:The Pilgrim Hawk: A Love Story|458275|The Pilgrim Hawk|Glenway Wescott|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320461255s/458275.jpg|446771] and [b:Novels in Three Lines|570963|Novels in Three Lines|Félix Fénéon|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320461511s/570963.jpg|558001], but the stark beauty of "A Sorrow Beyond Dreams" so far tops them all.
The book is a memoir of another sad little round of life, and the cover, a photograph by James Casebere called "A Barrel Vaulted Room," is a good match for it. I’m afraid you can’t appreciate the photo fully in an online “reproduction” but the tone is a chalky greenish grey, cool and institutionally atmospheric. It’s bare, monochromatic and somehow sumptuous in its austerity. Even the cot may be made of stone. It looks more like a painting than a photograph, not least because of its simplicity. And weirdly enough, the photograph looks even better with the black NYRB title square plunk in the middle, pulling the shadows in the photograph to the foreground.
A Sorrow Beyond Dreams itself is a memoir of Peter Handke’s mother, which he wrote after she killed herself at the age of 51. For me, what the cover does in relation to the story is emphasize the solitude and loneliness each of us lives with, and inside of, and how permanent it is. The book has been praised to the heavens and it deserves to be. But if there’s a reason I won’t be lending mine out it’s not just the story but the evocative packaging.
The book is a memoir of another sad little round of life, and the cover, a photograph by James Casebere called "A Barrel Vaulted Room," is a good match for it. I’m afraid you can’t appreciate the photo fully in an online “reproduction” but the tone is a chalky greenish grey, cool and institutionally atmospheric. It’s bare, monochromatic and somehow sumptuous in its austerity. Even the cot may be made of stone. It looks more like a painting than a photograph, not least because of its simplicity. And weirdly enough, the photograph looks even better with the black NYRB title square plunk in the middle, pulling the shadows in the photograph to the foreground.
A Sorrow Beyond Dreams itself is a memoir of Peter Handke’s mother, which he wrote after she killed herself at the age of 51. For me, what the cover does in relation to the story is emphasize the solitude and loneliness each of us lives with, and inside of, and how permanent it is. The book has been praised to the heavens and it deserves to be. But if there’s a reason I won’t be lending mine out it’s not just the story but the evocative packaging.