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mmhj's review against another edition
4.0
I started reading this book because I was in the middle of a lot of work in my studies and thought that 100 short stories was the perfect book to be reading. If I had 30 minutes I could read through a couple of stories and not spend time trying to remember everything from the last time. The problem was that the stories in the beginning were really engaging so I wanted to pick it up again rather than focus on school work. Which became a problem because then the stories became less interesting and I ended up trying to read through the book as quickly as I could just to get it over with.
Don't get me wrong, I am glad I have read the book. It's not just a classic, it's one of the cornerstones in western, at least European, literature. The book is from 1348, right after the Black Plague, which might be why the framing story of the book is how 7 women and 3 men choose to leave the town to save themselves so they don't get sick. For the people at the time this wasn't just 10 people trying to get away, it was something they knew and probably had done themselves. This leads to the very folksy feel to the entire thing. In a lot of the stories I felt like I was watching a soap, and fairytale or short stories like these, the form that we today think of as children literature, was the entertainment that they had. Most people couldn't read and write so they entertained themselves by telling stories to one another, the same way a lot of us today watch television.
As most collections of short stories the quality of the short story varies, as I have already mentioned. So you have gems of stories between others that aren't so interesting. At the same time I saw how other authors have later used the stories and tropes in their writing. In this sense you can recommend reading this as purely a piece of literature history in the same way as Milton's Paradise Lost. You don't get how much you have missed out until you have read it.
I don't read a lot of medieval literature and so some of the struggles I had might just be the lack cultural connection. Women lost their libido in the 1800s. The way we think of women today as not having a high sex drive didn't exist until then. Before that it was the other extreme, women where nothing but libido. Women where nothing but emotions and it was the man's job as the sensible one to keep her in check. It was a bit strange to read so many stories where women get to want to have sex and enjoy sex without shame. I liked it in the beginning as it was so new compared to the other literary works I usually read, but after a while it started to rub me the wrong way. Especially since they had a very different way of defining rape. If a person thinks s/he is having sex with someone other than they are having sex with, it is rape. So reading story after story with women being tricked into having sex with men, starting to cry afterwards, but then being soothed into falling in love with them, just screams no to me. Especially when they are classified as “love stories”. Then again, there might be a reason for this. The book is dedicated to women as stated by the author's preface and conclusion. There are some fairy tale research that suggests that “Beauty and the beast” was originally a story to give hope to women about getting married. If they got married to a “beast” they didn't need to despair, because their love would change them. Considering these women didn't have a chance to get away if they first were married, this was important. It gave them hope in an otherwise hopeless and horrible situation. It might be the same for the women in these stories. If they had sex with someone else, they where ruined. They could end up on the street or starve. So telling them a story about how you will at first be sad, but then fall in love and he will marry you and you will be happy for the rest of your life, might be a very needed escapism.
Noble ladies, it is harder for men to show their wit and their worth than it is for them to exhibit their folly and their vice. - 9, 4.
It also is very progressive with a surprising amount of LGBT+ themes, including bisexuality and polygamous relationships.
On the following morning the youth was escorted back to the public plaza, not altogether certain wheter he had been more of a wife or a husband that night. - 5, 10.
__________________________________
And from then on each of the two ladies had two husbands and each of the two men had two wives, without ever having any strife or grudge about the matter. - 8, 8.
I would recommend reading the book, but rather for it's part than the whole.
Don't get me wrong, I am glad I have read the book. It's not just a classic, it's one of the cornerstones in western, at least European, literature. The book is from 1348, right after the Black Plague, which might be why the framing story of the book is how 7 women and 3 men choose to leave the town to save themselves so they don't get sick. For the people at the time this wasn't just 10 people trying to get away, it was something they knew and probably had done themselves. This leads to the very folksy feel to the entire thing. In a lot of the stories I felt like I was watching a soap, and fairytale or short stories like these, the form that we today think of as children literature, was the entertainment that they had. Most people couldn't read and write so they entertained themselves by telling stories to one another, the same way a lot of us today watch television.
As most collections of short stories the quality of the short story varies, as I have already mentioned. So you have gems of stories between others that aren't so interesting. At the same time I saw how other authors have later used the stories and tropes in their writing. In this sense you can recommend reading this as purely a piece of literature history in the same way as Milton's Paradise Lost. You don't get how much you have missed out until you have read it.
I don't read a lot of medieval literature and so some of the struggles I had might just be the lack cultural connection. Women lost their libido in the 1800s. The way we think of women today as not having a high sex drive didn't exist until then. Before that it was the other extreme, women where nothing but libido. Women where nothing but emotions and it was the man's job as the sensible one to keep her in check. It was a bit strange to read so many stories where women get to want to have sex and enjoy sex without shame. I liked it in the beginning as it was so new compared to the other literary works I usually read, but after a while it started to rub me the wrong way. Especially since they had a very different way of defining rape. If a person thinks s/he is having sex with someone other than they are having sex with, it is rape. So reading story after story with women being tricked into having sex with men, starting to cry afterwards, but then being soothed into falling in love with them, just screams no to me. Especially when they are classified as “love stories”. Then again, there might be a reason for this. The book is dedicated to women as stated by the author's preface and conclusion. There are some fairy tale research that suggests that “Beauty and the beast” was originally a story to give hope to women about getting married. If they got married to a “beast” they didn't need to despair, because their love would change them. Considering these women didn't have a chance to get away if they first were married, this was important. It gave them hope in an otherwise hopeless and horrible situation. It might be the same for the women in these stories. If they had sex with someone else, they where ruined. They could end up on the street or starve. So telling them a story about how you will at first be sad, but then fall in love and he will marry you and you will be happy for the rest of your life, might be a very needed escapism.
Noble ladies, it is harder for men to show their wit and their worth than it is for them to exhibit their folly and their vice. - 9, 4.
It also is very progressive with a surprising amount of LGBT+ themes, including bisexuality and polygamous relationships.
On the following morning the youth was escorted back to the public plaza, not altogether certain wheter he had been more of a wife or a husband that night. - 5, 10.
__________________________________
And from then on each of the two ladies had two husbands and each of the two men had two wives, without ever having any strife or grudge about the matter. - 8, 8.
I would recommend reading the book, but rather for it's part than the whole.
odnett's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
quirpele's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
atanasije's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
rvandenboomgaard's review against another edition
5.0
God, all these people talk about is lust and love, poverty and riches and quite some politics, while bashing inconsistencies of the religious, bantering, flirting and relaxing through various forms of entertainment. They do so in some nice villas in the luscious hills surrounding Firenze.
Honestly, they’re just like us. Nothing’s changed since the 14th century.
Honestly, they’re just like us. Nothing’s changed since the 14th century.
marlena_czyta's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 - jestem szczerze zaskoczona ile zabawy miałam przy wielu historiach z XIV w., jestem też zaskoczona jak wiele chuci jest w tych historiach. To są pozytywne zaskoczenia, ale niestety często też wkradała się nuda i powtarzalność. Wnioskiem po lekturze jest, że wiele wartości z wieku XIV pokrywa się z tymi z wieku XXI. Cieszę się, że poświęciłam czas tej pozycji.