yvo_about_books's review against another edition
2.0
Finished reading: February 2nd 2018
"He was overcome by the immobility one feels upon meeting something long sought after, that silent tension of the body that, before we take the object into our hands, forces us to pause for a moment, as if every passing second increases its value."
*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and AmazonCrossing in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***
Spoiler
One of my goals this year is to read more international authors and translation, and I've been meaning to read more historical fiction that is not set during WWII as well. A Castle In Romagna manages to tick both boxes, and the blurb itself had me more than intrigued. Sadly, my reading experience wasn't what I hoped it would be... Here's why. First of all, I REALLY struggled with the writing style. I'm not sure if it's because of the fact it is a translation and some of the magic is lost, but I do know it was really hard to stay focused and keep reading. The prose doesn't flow and more often than not 'formal' or less natural phrases are thrown in. This slows down the pace considerably and kept distracting me from trying to follow the plot. Another thing that didn't work for me was the dual storyline. I felt neither story had enough dept because of it, especially since this novel is not that long to start with. Both plot, background and characters in both storylines lacked fleshing out and honestly I think I would have rather seen two completely separate stories. Also, I think the connection of the two storylines through the 1995 setting and friar telling both stories was actually quite weak, as apart from the fact that both storylines are about doomed love they do not have all that much in common. I do have to say both the 16th century setting and the one in 1948 have a lot of potential, and I truly wish each would have been more developed. As it is, I failed to connect to any of the characters and I'm afraid to say I wasn't able to enjoy my time with A Castle In Romagna.
A young refugee of the Bosnian conflict decides to visit the old Mardi castle in the north of Italy in 1995. But instead of wandering around exploring the fortress, he will meet a guide who will tell him all about the past: both his own and how he ended up as a refugee himself in Italy in 1948 and the tragic fate of the poet Enzo Strecci back in the 16th century.
I had such high hopes for this story, especially since the blurb sounded really promising, but unfortunately the story fell completely flat for me. Between the writing style, lack of dept and development in both the plot and characters and the failed dual storyline, I had a hard time reading A Castle In Romagna. Although I keep wondering if some of its charm has been lost in translation.
P.S. Find more of my reviews here.
abookishtype's review
3.0
There are some stories we tell over and over because people always think that, this time, it will go differently. A Castle in Romagna, by Igor Štiks (translated by Tomislav Kuzmanović and Russell Scott Valentino), features two such tales. In the present, a friar at Mardi Castle tells a Bosnian tourist the story of Enzo Strecci and his own story of grand-passion-gone-wrong in post-war Yugoslavia...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley for review consideration.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley for review consideration.
esquiredtoread's review against another edition
2.0
My Bosnia Book around the world.
Another VERY short book. Had some good lines about being a refugee but overall way too many metaphors and too short for me.
Another VERY short book. Had some good lines about being a refugee but overall way too many metaphors and too short for me.
goldenfenris's review
3.0
I was excited to read this book. I went to Italy and Croatia in September and I was hoping this book would kick up some nostalgia for what was an absolutely amazing trip. However, this book was a struggle for me to read despite not being terribly long. I acknowledge that writing style is completely subjective. The writing style in this book didn’t work for me. I got a headache each time I started reading it. I had to even read it out loud at points to get through it. I do appear to be a minority in this though so if this book sounds interesting to you please do give it a chance. Others have said they found it to be completely engrossing. Also though, I do not know if it is partially because it is in translation. I haven’t read anything by the author or the translators before so it is hard for me to know. Another reviewer has said that it is the author because other translated works by one of the translators was not this stilted.
The story itself is okay despite not being particularly interesting. It was almost too perfect and orderly in it’s parallels. The comparisons of love, misuse of power, and the stupidity of youth ring true in both stories. A third comparison using the Bosnian narrator would have filled it out a bit more. However, I did appreciate that the ending isn’t the normal perfect ending that most American novels want to have. It makes me wonder why do we want to have perfect endings to our novels. Is it because we also want perfect endings in our lives? Or do the authors want us to have perfect endings so that we do not demand a re-write or a sequel?
I would say to read a sampler for this novel and if you find the writing engaging then continue on. The story itself is fine, my biggest problem was the headaches the writing style constantly gave me. I’m willing to try another book by this author or this translator. Preferably separately so I can get a truer idea of which one caused me to use so much Advil.
The story itself is okay despite not being particularly interesting. It was almost too perfect and orderly in it’s parallels. The comparisons of love, misuse of power, and the stupidity of youth ring true in both stories. A third comparison using the Bosnian narrator would have filled it out a bit more. However, I did appreciate that the ending isn’t the normal perfect ending that most American novels want to have. It makes me wonder why do we want to have perfect endings to our novels. Is it because we also want perfect endings in our lives? Or do the authors want us to have perfect endings so that we do not demand a re-write or a sequel?
I would say to read a sampler for this novel and if you find the writing engaging then continue on. The story itself is fine, my biggest problem was the headaches the writing style constantly gave me. I’m willing to try another book by this author or this translator. Preferably separately so I can get a truer idea of which one caused me to use so much Advil.
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