Scan barcode
danifigo's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
jtloong's review against another edition
4.0
https://joshualoong.wordpress.com/2017/03/20/review-the-mother/
Early last year I embarked on a quest to read more books authored by women to balance out skewed gender ratio of what I’ve been reading. This journey, which I finally completed recently by reaching gender parity, has revealed to me some amazing works by women that may not be that well known. This is one of those remarkable books.
The Mother is an Italian novel by Grazia Deledda, who was the second woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1926. It follows a woman and her son, who is a priest, who move to the small village town of Arra on the remote Italian island of Sardinia. The village exists at the boundary between established religion and rural superstition. Where people believe in the Catholic teachings brought by the priest and his parish, but also live with village superstition and pagan beliefs. There are even stories of the previous priest, who’s soul still haunts the little parish.
Despite these challenges, the mother and her son move in. Determined to change this town into a proper god-fearing one. Everything works well until the son, Paul, begins to be misled by a lonely woman named Agnes, breaking his priestly vows. The night the mother learns of their relationship, she is visited by the wicked ghost of the previous priest, warning her to leave the town or else face dire consequences.
The resulting story is one that I incredibly enjoyed. The characters and their mental anguish felt so incredibly real, despite the slight magical realism of the story plot. The novel concerns itself with the conflict of forces: Catholicism versus rural paganism, the temptation of love versus the vows of priesthood, the mothers love for her son’s freedom versus concern for her son’s soul. It is an amazingly vivid novel that paints this little Italian island and its villagers in realistic colours.
Here is a quote from the novel I particularly enjoyd:
"She raised her face to his, her trembling lips, her lashes wet with tears. And his eyes were dazzled as by the glitter of deep waters, a glitter that blinds and beckons, and the face he gazed into was not the face of Agnes, nor the face of any woman on this earth, -it was the face of Love itself. And he fell forward into her arms and kissed her upon the mouth."
This really shows Paul’s struggle with temptation. This woman, Agnes, becomes so much more than just a woman. She is the embodiment of Love, an aspect of life that is forbidden for Catholic priests to bear. It blinds and beckons to him all at the same time. He is caught in the struggle within himself to heed his priestly vows, or submit into his tortured love. The novel is beautiful in this way by showing the mothers and the sons internal struggles so very well.
The stories fantastical elements lent itself to the story very real I felt. It really showed the struggle between superstitious belief and established religion that was going on at the time when Deledda wrote the novel. The author is actually from this island, Sardinia, so I’m she experienced this struggle first hand. The novel features ghosts and apparitions, but nothing that feels super fantastical. The Mother would fit squarely in the magical realism genre.
I rated the novel a strong 8/10. I was actually so engrossed in it that I read it from start to finish in one day. I would definitely recommend the book if you enjoy magical realism or anything with beautifully real characters that seem to leap out of the page.
Early last year I embarked on a quest to read more books authored by women to balance out skewed gender ratio of what I’ve been reading. This journey, which I finally completed recently by reaching gender parity, has revealed to me some amazing works by women that may not be that well known. This is one of those remarkable books.
The Mother is an Italian novel by Grazia Deledda, who was the second woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1926. It follows a woman and her son, who is a priest, who move to the small village town of Arra on the remote Italian island of Sardinia. The village exists at the boundary between established religion and rural superstition. Where people believe in the Catholic teachings brought by the priest and his parish, but also live with village superstition and pagan beliefs. There are even stories of the previous priest, who’s soul still haunts the little parish.
Despite these challenges, the mother and her son move in. Determined to change this town into a proper god-fearing one. Everything works well until the son, Paul, begins to be misled by a lonely woman named Agnes, breaking his priestly vows. The night the mother learns of their relationship, she is visited by the wicked ghost of the previous priest, warning her to leave the town or else face dire consequences.
The resulting story is one that I incredibly enjoyed. The characters and their mental anguish felt so incredibly real, despite the slight magical realism of the story plot. The novel concerns itself with the conflict of forces: Catholicism versus rural paganism, the temptation of love versus the vows of priesthood, the mothers love for her son’s freedom versus concern for her son’s soul. It is an amazingly vivid novel that paints this little Italian island and its villagers in realistic colours.
Here is a quote from the novel I particularly enjoyd:
"She raised her face to his, her trembling lips, her lashes wet with tears. And his eyes were dazzled as by the glitter of deep waters, a glitter that blinds and beckons, and the face he gazed into was not the face of Agnes, nor the face of any woman on this earth, -it was the face of Love itself. And he fell forward into her arms and kissed her upon the mouth."
This really shows Paul’s struggle with temptation. This woman, Agnes, becomes so much more than just a woman. She is the embodiment of Love, an aspect of life that is forbidden for Catholic priests to bear. It blinds and beckons to him all at the same time. He is caught in the struggle within himself to heed his priestly vows, or submit into his tortured love. The novel is beautiful in this way by showing the mothers and the sons internal struggles so very well.
The stories fantastical elements lent itself to the story very real I felt. It really showed the struggle between superstitious belief and established religion that was going on at the time when Deledda wrote the novel. The author is actually from this island, Sardinia, so I’m she experienced this struggle first hand. The novel features ghosts and apparitions, but nothing that feels super fantastical. The Mother would fit squarely in the magical realism genre.
I rated the novel a strong 8/10. I was actually so engrossed in it that I read it from start to finish in one day. I would definitely recommend the book if you enjoy magical realism or anything with beautifully real characters that seem to leap out of the page.
More...