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pbobrit's review against another edition
4.0
Not going to write too much about this, as I have a couple of papers to write on it for school and fear I will be written out HOWEVER this book is great. One of the first Italian vernacular prose novels, made up of 100 novellas (10 stories narrated by 10 characters over 10 days), set and write in the days of the Black Death. This is in my opinion the humanist equivalent of Dante's Divine Comedy, but sadly it it has not been treated as such until the last 30 years. This book works on so many levels, it is great read, the stories always entertaining but infused with so much hidden meaning. I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good and often bawdy tale with depth. Also given it's structure it is one you can digest slowly.
zozoisgolden's review against another edition
4.0
Wickedly funny and insightful.
Boccaccio uses humor, double entendre's and euphemisms to weave tales of love, fate, fortune, religion, hypocrisy and the shortcoming of the religious leaders of his day (he's outright brutal to them).
I would love to give this a longer review.
Boccaccio uses humor, double entendre's and euphemisms to weave tales of love, fate, fortune, religion, hypocrisy and the shortcoming of the religious leaders of his day (he's outright brutal to them).
I would love to give this a longer review.
thereaderintherye's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
fridakeskyla's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Very long discussions and juatifications of people's feelings. Obsolete views of women and their role, every story is about love and sex. Lots of killing for a girl, everybody just starts loving deeply without actually knowing the person. Altogether - an old book. Lots of stories though that make you question how anybody could write some of those.
if_you_give_a_mouse_a_prozac's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
eric_d_peterson's review against another edition
3.0
While the Decameron has been on my “to read” list for some time, the pandemic provided the impetus to tackle it. The literary conceit is that 10 citizens of Florence decamp to the countryside to wait out the plague which was ravaging Florence. The company consists of seven ladies and three gentlemen. To pass the time, each is required to tell a story. A king or queen is chosen for each day who sometimes decrees that the stories follow a theme. The title refers to 10 days. Ten days, ten people in company equals 100 stories which points to the problem with the book: quality control.
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales seems to have been modeled on the Decameron and there is a small amount of shared material. However, Chaucer’s 24 tales are better chosen, and, in my opinion, it is a better book.
Both works represent early literary writing in the vernacular during a time when many serious writers continued to write in Latin. It is interesting that modern Italian readers have no more trouble with Boccaccio’s Tuscan Italian that we do with Shakespeare, but English readers are obliged to read Chaucer in translation.
The stories are varied and come from multiple sources. Some stories are off-color, others are morality tales. There is a strong current of anti-clericalism with a lot of lecherous and corrupt clergy (the Friars Minor are specifically targeted). The comical stock figures of Calandrino, Buffalmcco, and Bruno make multiple appearances.
I really wanted to like this this book and I don’t regret reading it, but it was more of a chore than a pleasure.
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales seems to have been modeled on the Decameron and there is a small amount of shared material. However, Chaucer’s 24 tales are better chosen, and, in my opinion, it is a better book.
Both works represent early literary writing in the vernacular during a time when many serious writers continued to write in Latin. It is interesting that modern Italian readers have no more trouble with Boccaccio’s Tuscan Italian that we do with Shakespeare, but English readers are obliged to read Chaucer in translation.
The stories are varied and come from multiple sources. Some stories are off-color, others are morality tales. There is a strong current of anti-clericalism with a lot of lecherous and corrupt clergy (the Friars Minor are specifically targeted). The comical stock figures of Calandrino, Buffalmcco, and Bruno make multiple appearances.
I really wanted to like this this book and I don’t regret reading it, but it was more of a chore than a pleasure.
jessicamdawn's review against another edition
3.0
I read only 3 of the stories, for a college class. They were Day 1, Story 3; Day 2, Story 1; and Day 3, Story 1. I liked the stories well enough and found them humorous, which was the point after all.