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A review by raven88
The Dry Heart by Natalia Ginzburg
5.0
The Dry Heart is a beautiful little novella from the prolific Natalia Ginzburg, whose books are currently enjoying a little renaissance in the world of publishing. It is unerringly miserable ’tis true, focusing on a young woman trapped in a loveless marriage, but undoubtedly has one of the finest openers on a first page I have ever read:
“TELL ME THE TRUTH,” I said.
“What truth? he echoed. He was making a rapid sketch in his notebook and now he showed me what it was: a long, long train with a big cloud of black smoke swirling over it and himself leaning out of a window to wave a handkerchief.
I shot him between the eyes.
Good eh? As the story progresses we see a story unfold of unfulfilled life and love through a few characters, and a journey of self-destruction and jealousy that ends up with a violent reckoning. As unrelentingly depressing as this was, I couldn’t help but admire the way that Ginzburg so effectively exposes her characters flaws and fears, within such a compressed page count, and where no word is wasted. A masterclass in novella writing, and a grim but hugely satisfying read.
“TELL ME THE TRUTH,” I said.
“What truth? he echoed. He was making a rapid sketch in his notebook and now he showed me what it was: a long, long train with a big cloud of black smoke swirling over it and himself leaning out of a window to wave a handkerchief.
I shot him between the eyes.
Good eh? As the story progresses we see a story unfold of unfulfilled life and love through a few characters, and a journey of self-destruction and jealousy that ends up with a violent reckoning. As unrelentingly depressing as this was, I couldn’t help but admire the way that Ginzburg so effectively exposes her characters flaws and fears, within such a compressed page count, and where no word is wasted. A masterclass in novella writing, and a grim but hugely satisfying read.