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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
Read summer of 2016. Didn’t expect to like it this much, or even to finish it. Has much more action than I anticipated. Probably didn’t appreciate it à sa juste mesure because I didn’t know enough history.
Nu vă luați după titlu, Parma apare pe la un sfert, mănăstirea abia pe ultima pagină.
Fabrizio is the son of a nobleman and enthralled with Napoleon, so he sneaks off to join the army in France, but is soon exposed to the reality of war. The problem is, he has been branded a traitor by leaving to fight for Napoleon. And that's just the beginning.
Fabrizio is labeled the hero of the story, though nothing he does is what I would call heroic. He falls in love with every pretty girl who wanders across his path, and there's the weird relationship with his aunt that never really resolves. And he's a priest, but that's not serious, it's just to keep him out of trouble and give him status, because we can buy things like that. I get it, it was acceptable or understood practice at the time (and maybe still is, just not in the church?). I really enjoyed the bits where Stendhal talked to the reader about how he was going to skip over some parts because they were boring, or when he explained to French readers how Italian people are more emotional. Some parts of the story moved much more quickly than others. Overall, not a difficult read, but it sure dragged at times.
Food: salted caramel apple pecan pie cheesecake. Lots of ingredients and it's tasty, but you can't really find the apple because it's overshadowed by some of the other components, and you need to just take it slow because too much is too heavy. Satisfying when finished, but you won't go back for another piece for quite awhile.
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
E' difficile inquadrare La certosa di Parma in un genere definito, perchè come tutti i grandi libri ha mille sfaccettature. L'inizio con Fabrizio alla battaglia di Waterloo è buffo e quasi parodistico; nella parte centrale l'ironia diventa più pungente e la parodia si trasforma in satira, perchè assistiamo agli intrighi e alle meschinità dell'immaginaria corte di Parma, simbolo di un sistema politico, quello della restaurazione, verso cui Stendhal nutriva la più profonda sfiducia; ma considerarlo solo un libro di denuncia sociale sarebbe sminuirlo, perchè vorrebbe dire dimenticare le pagine più intense e tenere del romanzo, quelle dello sbocciare dell'amore fra Clelia e Fabrizio; è un amore puro, quasi fanciullesco, in netto contrasto col cinismo che domina il resto del romanzo. Fra i personaggi giganteggia la figura di Gina, donna indomita ed appassionata che col suo comportamento anticonvenzionale si pone aldilà di qualsiasi considerazione morale. Le mie simpatie però vanno a Clelia, una ragazza dolce e posata presa alla sprovvista da un amore più grande di lei e che con tutti i suoi errori, dubbi e incoerenze ho trovato profondamente umana. Il protagoista Fabrizio invece, pur essendo pieno di qualità, è passivo e senza ambizioni, si rianima solo nell'amore e vive in funzione di quel nuovo sentimento.
Lo stile di Stendhal è asciutto, rifugge da qualsiasi lirismo o eleganza formale, e trovo che questa sobrietà si addica molto al testo, che viene quindi ad assomigliare più ad una cronaca che ad un romanzo.
E' un'opera che unisce profondità e brio, risultandone una lettura piacevole e stimolante; peccato solo per il finale che per quanto sia azzeccato è un po' frettoloso.
Lo stile di Stendhal è asciutto, rifugge da qualsiasi lirismo o eleganza formale, e trovo che questa sobrietà si addica molto al testo, che viene quindi ad assomigliare più ad una cronaca che ad un romanzo.
E' un'opera che unisce profondità e brio, risultandone una lettura piacevole e stimolante; peccato solo per il finale che per quanto sia azzeccato è un po' frettoloso.
Could not do this one at all. What a disappointment. The Red and the Black was a fantastic read, I can hardly tell that these ar by the same author. I bailed quickly, this is written in that tiresome style where paragraphs are stacked on paragraphs telling us what the action is rather than helping us to experience it. Just flat, dull, turgid, awful prose.
I loved this one so much more than The Red and The Black. This is my favourite book of Stendhal. I love the action, the romance, it's in Italy. I really should reread that one.
Beautifully written but way, way, too long. Get the man an editor.
I mean, not much happens and there is only so much "*and the Dutchess, laughing behind her fan, winked at her newly deceived lover across the stalls of the shouting cheese sellers that littered the piazza*" that one can take.
I hear that "The Red and the Black" is not so.... overblown.
I mean, not much happens and there is only so much "*and the Dutchess, laughing behind her fan, winked at her newly deceived lover across the stalls of the shouting cheese sellers that littered the piazza*" that one can take.
I hear that "The Red and the Black" is not so.... overblown.
There were some good moments in this novel, but overall, it has not aged well. The story was very good, but the moments in which I was captivated or amused were too few and far between.
Stendhal is thick reading, but worth the effort.The novel is set mainly in the court of Parma, Italy, in the early 19th century. It follows the fortunes of Fabrice del Dongo, a young aristocrat and ardent admirer of Napoleon. He fights at Waterloo and returns to Parma, where he joins the church for worldly advantage.
What can I say about the novel?
It started with an amazing sarcastic streak and a fop of a main hero, which made for hilarious reading, then it suddenly began to meander and focus on more and more secondary characters, turning it exceedingly dull by every new chapter. No wonder it took me over a month to finish it, since I began to avoid further disappointment. Ah well, what a reader does for a reading challenge - I'll learn one of these days.
The elevated prose and overly emotional dialogue did me in real quick once the author lost the overview of his novel - padded dialogue, or bombastic emotions are so not my cup of tea. The feeling is made even worse because I could see a good novel lurking underneath the many problems with pacing and focus. I was really annoyed with the sudden turn towards melodrama and opera-level overblown romance. It makes zero sense when you consider the tone of the early chapters. The novel also had no central message or main poitn I could see, but maybe dissing on the Italians is the point here?
You can easily skip this novel; apparently, Red and Black is far superior. I'm going to tackle that one when I recover from this book.
It started with an amazing sarcastic streak and a fop of a main hero, which made for hilarious reading, then it suddenly began to meander and focus on more and more secondary characters, turning it exceedingly dull by every new chapter. No wonder it took me over a month to finish it, since I began to avoid further disappointment. Ah well, what a reader does for a reading challenge - I'll learn one of these days.
The elevated prose and overly emotional dialogue did me in real quick once the author lost the overview of his novel - padded dialogue, or bombastic emotions are so not my cup of tea. The feeling is made even worse because I could see a good novel lurking underneath the many problems with pacing and focus. I was really annoyed with the sudden turn towards melodrama and opera-level overblown romance. It makes zero sense when you consider the tone of the early chapters. The novel also had no central message or main poitn I could see, but maybe dissing on the Italians is the point here?
You can easily skip this novel; apparently, Red and Black is far superior. I'm going to tackle that one when I recover from this book.