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jensbrede's review against another edition
4.0
Dino Segre wrote a brilliant nihilistic and cynical satire, wonderfully capturing much of the state of post WWI Europe with all it's hypocrisy, bigotry, and deceit.
Since every good satire requires extremely sharp wit it is no surprise that Segre's intelligence manifests throughout the book in abundant sharp observations, many of which are sadly as relevant today as they were in the 1920s when Segre wrote this novel.
Segre's primary topic is the relationship between men and women but along the novel he exposes his opinions on the mob, mysticism, journalists, religion, medicine, and more.
Sometimes his satiric views even foreshadow developments taking place today, giving his views on jealousy an interesting twist when viewed in the context of the intellectuals open-relationship movement of the present day.
Things get very sensitive when Serge starts to share his views on Jews (he, himself is born of a Jewish father, whom he loathed)
When mixed with his nihilistic statements such as
it seems almost inevitable that Serge ended up working as an informant for the fascist police in Italy in the 1930s, denouncing and condemning to prison close friends and famous artists of the time. Serge like many others never admitted to his cooperation in terms of an informant for the fascist regime but the evidence to the contrary is overwhelming as nicely presented in the afterword by Alexander Stille appended in the recommended New Vessels Press edition of the book.
One should not be mistaken and think of Serge as a fascist as is clearly evident in the book at hand
and one should not be too quick to pass judgement onto people who lived in those extraordinary times.
In summary, I can highly recommend this book as it reads extremely well but it should not be taken lightly and will require a serious reader willing to go beyond taking for face value what he sees and is been told and to make up a mind of her/his own. But that holds true for any novel especially if it is a satire.
Since every good satire requires extremely sharp wit it is no surprise that Segre's intelligence manifests throughout the book in abundant sharp observations, many of which are sadly as relevant today as they were in the 1920s when Segre wrote this novel.
Segre's primary topic is the relationship between men and women but along the novel he exposes his opinions on the mob, mysticism, journalists, religion, medicine, and more.
Sometimes his satiric views even foreshadow developments taking place today, giving his views on jealousy an interesting twist when viewed in the context of the intellectuals open-relationship movement of the present day.
Things get very sensitive when Serge starts to share his views on Jews (he, himself is born of a Jewish father, whom he loathed)
"And will you go to Palestine?" Tito asked.
"No, I won't," the rabbi replied, "I'm too well off in Warsaw."
"But what about the persecutions, the pogroms?"
"That's all humbug," the rabbi replied with a lough. "Those are rumors spread by the Polish Jews. We want it to be believed that Jews are badly off in Poland to prevent others from coming here."
When mixed with his nihilistic statements such as
Money was valuable only in so far as you could spend it. If you had to work, you had no time to spend what you earned. The thing to do was to be born rich or to rob. What did killing a man amount to? Five minutes was enough to plan, carry out, repent and forget the deed. Since it did not take more than thirty seconds, what did a painful deed (painful for the other party) amount to in comparison with the happiness of a lifetime?
it seems almost inevitable that Serge ended up working as an informant for the fascist police in Italy in the 1930s, denouncing and condemning to prison close friends and famous artists of the time. Serge like many others never admitted to his cooperation in terms of an informant for the fascist regime but the evidence to the contrary is overwhelming as nicely presented in the afterword by Alexander Stille appended in the recommended New Vessels Press edition of the book.
One should not be mistaken and think of Serge as a fascist as is clearly evident in the book at hand
When I was twenty they told me to swear loyalty to the King, a person who acts in the capacity because his father and grandfather did the same before him. I took the oath because they forced my to, otherwise I wouldn't have done it. Then they sent me to kill people I didn't know who were dressed rather like I was. One day they said to me: "Look, there's one of your enemies, fire at him," and I fired, but missed. But he fired and wounded me. I don't know why they said it was a glorious wound.
and one should not be too quick to pass judgement onto people who lived in those extraordinary times.
In summary, I can highly recommend this book as it reads extremely well but it should not be taken lightly and will require a serious reader willing to go beyond taking for face value what he sees and is been told and to make up a mind of her/his own. But that holds true for any novel especially if it is a satire.
ameliasbooks's review against another edition
I was somehow interested, but not enough.
Great cover.
Great cover.
dubiousdeeds's review against another edition
2.0
Booooring
Also casually racist and mysogynist
And without any structure
But mostly boring
Also casually racist and mysogynist
And without any structure
But mostly boring
willande123's review against another edition
3.0
While funny at times, Cocaine just grinds on and on. While Pitigrilli does a fine job exploring and ridiculing the drug culture of the upper classes in 1920s Europe, the characters are so bland that I can't even remember their names.
The narrator's irreverent humor does somewhat redeem the lackluster plot though, with an especially memorable scene where the protagonist, a horrible journalist and wannabe playboy, makes up a sensational story about an execution because he's too lazy to get out of bed. His exciting mumbo-jumbo is put on the front page, and even though the government denies the prisoner's execution, the public refuses to believe the minister because the false account is "too vivid" to be false. I couldn't help but smirk at Pitigrill's excoriation of the sensational press. As a journalist, I can't help but make comparisons between Pitigrilli's and our speculative media. Not much ahs changed over the last 90 years. But all in all, you can definitely pass on Cocaine unless you have a special interest in the outlandish drug culture of the 1920s.
The narrator's irreverent humor does somewhat redeem the lackluster plot though, with an especially memorable scene where the protagonist, a horrible journalist and wannabe playboy, makes up a sensational story about an execution because he's too lazy to get out of bed. His exciting mumbo-jumbo is put on the front page, and even though the government denies the prisoner's execution, the public refuses to believe the minister because the false account is "too vivid" to be false. I couldn't help but smirk at Pitigrill's excoriation of the sensational press. As a journalist, I can't help but make comparisons between Pitigrilli's and our speculative media. Not much ahs changed over the last 90 years. But all in all, you can definitely pass on Cocaine unless you have a special interest in the outlandish drug culture of the 1920s.
harryr's review against another edition
4.0
This has a cynical, brittle, world-weary tone that seems very typical of the 20s and 30s. The obvious explanation would be that it was the psychological impact of the Great War… which seems plausible. It’s a fairly dark view of human nature: lustful, jealous, manipulative, untrustworthy, superficial, pleasure-seeking; but it makes for an entertaining read. All the sex and drugs must have been rather shocking at the time, and the Catholic Church apparently put the book on its banned list, but it’s not actually very explicit.
I’m glad I didn’t read the afterword until afterwards, because it turns out that ‘Pitigrilli’ was a pretty unpleasant human being, which doesn’t make the book any better or worse but might have lessened my enjoyment of it.
I’m glad I didn’t read the afterword until afterwards, because it turns out that ‘Pitigrilli’ was a pretty unpleasant human being, which doesn’t make the book any better or worse but might have lessened my enjoyment of it.
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