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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was my first foray into translated Italian fiction, and I really enjoyed it! I was unsure about Ginzburg's direct tone when I started reading, but I came to love its wit and humour. I found myself invested in the character's lives and the everyday occurrences they experienced. I would highly recommend!
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Despite a very spare prose style, Ginzburg’s characters are very real and she writes about the experience of living through war so acutely. Reading her biography, I can’t help but think how much of what she put on page was deeply personal, even through the guise of fiction. I couldn’t put this down and despite myself felt drawn to characters both main and peripheral as they struggled to make sense of their lives and push forward with the growing uncertainty and anxieties of war. Ginzburg displays that very human impulse to comfort and self delude so well here and with little judgment.
By the end of the story, the end of the war presents the weary survivors with the chance to remake the world and they look to it with bittersweet bewilderment. Their courage certainly had been acquired little by little, hard won and tested in the fire of inhuman acts of war.
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Natalia Ginzburg writes in such a matter-of-fact (and often conversational) way about people in Italy during the second world war. There is humor and sadness among everyday moments. The words are sometimes sparse, other times abundant, and the feelings of the characters stay with you.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Pregnancy, War
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Deportation
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The first half of Ginzburg's novel starts out in a slow, direct third-person narration of the lead up to WWII in Northern Italy and two families who become interlinked. The second half of the book makes the first half worth it. The prose expands and becomes evocative as the setting moves to the Mezzogiorno. Ginzburg contrasts the poverty of the South with its natural beauty.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I read AOY because Sally Rooney had written on the cover that Ginzburg's words 'seemed to express something completely true about my experience of living'. As one of my favourite writers, I decided to take the recommendation.
There are definite similarities between Ginzburg and Rooney, in particular the detached, minimalistic writing style. However, I found Rooney's characters more compelling. I also have never been a huge fan of wartime writing, and while AOY wasn't your typical wartime novel, this may have influenced my enjoyment.
I did love the general theme though, and the emptiness and lack of conviction displayed in many of the characters. AOY is a novel, for me, of normal people, who are not brave or clever or stupid enough to openly protest the wrongs done by their own government. Instead, they do small things for their friends and neighbours, and make their own little world a better place, which is all that most of us can do.
There are definite similarities between Ginzburg and Rooney, in particular the detached, minimalistic writing style. However, I found Rooney's characters more compelling. I also have never been a huge fan of wartime writing, and while AOY wasn't your typical wartime novel, this may have influenced my enjoyment.
I did love the general theme though, and the emptiness and lack of conviction displayed in many of the characters. AOY is a novel, for me, of normal people, who are not brave or clever or stupid enough to openly protest the wrongs done by their own government. Instead, they do small things for their friends and neighbours, and make their own little world a better place, which is all that most of us can do.