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mysimas's review against another edition
an interesting thing to sample, but it's too dated and repetitive to normally read
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Misogyny, and Infidelity
designwise's review against another edition
2.0
A 700-year old Monty Python written during the Black Plague. If you don't mind sexist humor from an era when wife-beating was the rule of thumb, you will love this classic. A hundred folk tales bound up in a single volume wherein the wealthy avoid the pandemic by eating, drinking, dancing, and storytelling. I found it a labor to read and impossible to accept as entertainment. Seek out Canterbury Tales of Tales of the Arabian Nights instead.
dllh's review against another edition
4.0
This was a delight. I learned a little bit about medieval Italy and the plague (apparently the worst in European history) that wrecked the population and I had lots of laughs. The story here is that seven women and three men left disease-ravaged Florence to distract themselves in the nearby countryside by singing, dancing, and telling stories. Each in the company tells a story each day for ten days. More often than not, the stories stick to a common theme for the day, and more often than not, they're at least a little bawdy.
Boccaccio's book (and his sources) served as source material for some of the stories most of us read from Chaucer, and his book makes me want to go back and reread The Canterbury Tales. It's a pretty long read (in this edition, about 800 pages plus about 140 pages of introductory matter and a bunch of end notes), and though I enjoyed it and didn't ever quite get bogged down, I imagine that many would find it tedious in spite of the belly laughs it so often inspires. It's definitely one I'll dip into from time to time in the future (I dog-eared the best of the dirty jokes).
Boccaccio's book (and his sources) served as source material for some of the stories most of us read from Chaucer, and his book makes me want to go back and reread The Canterbury Tales. It's a pretty long read (in this edition, about 800 pages plus about 140 pages of introductory matter and a bunch of end notes), and though I enjoyed it and didn't ever quite get bogged down, I imagine that many would find it tedious in spite of the belly laughs it so often inspires. It's definitely one I'll dip into from time to time in the future (I dog-eared the best of the dirty jokes).
a_verthandi's review against another edition
to be updated later with list of what tales I read.
chaibby's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.25
ketu's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
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.