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sprocketthecat's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Sexual assault, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Grief, and Drug abuse
annemaries_shelves's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Closer to a 2.5 (2 on goodreads)
"Everyone knows that men like to hit girls." (page 423)
"The rosy-tipped breasts hurled up to the ceiling as if in a Cubist painting." (page 253)
I feel like these two sentences encapsulate a lot of what I don't like in this book.
You know how some novels have unlikeable main characters who are misogynistic, sexist, racist, classist, homophobic, etc. but it's clear that's a character trait and not the author's own biases? Yeah, I'm mostly convinced this author is also misogynistic. Not necessarily because of how he describes women (which is bad) or from the sheer level of violent and dismissive thoughts the male characters have about women (because it's a lot), but from the lack of interiority and depth his female characters have. None of them are separate from the men in their lives. Clara is seen more as an object by people in her life and by the reader. And that's a damn shame. Because her story - told by the right (most likely a woman author) - could've been so good.
Aside from these pieces, what this novel is really attempting to do is explore the greed and corruption in Italy (and resulting lack of regulations in everything) through the lens of one family and their bad behaviours. There's a lot of sibling and parent-child dynamics at work - some even hinting at incestuous thoughts (cough Michele & Clara cough).
It's about grief and the stories and lies we tell ourselves about our selves and others around us. About the complexities of families and the secrets we keep to maintain the status quo and grow our influence. Sacrifice for the family is a big theme here.
And the writing does this so well. It's hypnotic and compelling - which is why I didn't dnf it when Lagioia described Clara's naked, bloody body in an unsettling sexual way in the first 20 pages. He deftly moves from one time period to another, paragraph by paragraph, leaving you both confused and later with a light bulb moment as the same scenes are revisited from different perspectives and new layers/nuances are revealed. It's worth the work in that respect, to understand his pessimistic nuggets of gold about the human condition and what reality is - and could be.
But HE CAN'T WRITE WOMEN! And that's still my biggest gripe. There's a scene with Gioia (the younger daughter) and her father at the beginning and it's just gross. My notes have a vomiting emoji. Or how Ruggero (and all other men in the book it seems) thinks that "Men make women happy" (page 183) - that got three eye roll emojis from me. The way Ruggero and other characters immediately and solely think violent thoughts about sex workers was profoundly disturbing. It's both disturbingly normal considering the world we live in and almost (dear God, I hope) hyperbolic for the sake of fiction.
I feel that while the misogynistic and violent society was attempted to be put on blast, Lagioia failed to question these behaviours or have the female characters be fully fleshed out to give depth to this part of the book. Which is a shame.
Michele is also supposed to have a mental illness - perhaps bipolar or schizophrenia, or some other type of illness that interferes with his perception of reality. Not having any mental illnesses, I can't speak wholly on the accuracy or representation but my gut instinct is that it was a mixed bag on how Michele's illness, behaviour, and POV was handled.
Overall, I won't be reading more Lagioia. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it either (despite the great writing style) because of the way women are handled in the book. Glad it's off my shelves though.
"Everyone knows that men like to hit girls." (page 423)
"The rosy-tipped breasts hurled up to the ceiling as if in a Cubist painting." (page 253)
I feel like these two sentences encapsulate a lot of what I don't like in this book.
You know how some novels have unlikeable main characters who are misogynistic, sexist, racist, classist, homophobic, etc. but it's clear that's a character trait and not the author's own biases? Yeah, I'm mostly convinced this author is also misogynistic. Not necessarily because of how he describes women (which is bad) or from the sheer level of violent and dismissive thoughts the male characters have about women (because it's a lot), but from the lack of interiority and depth his female characters have. None of them are separate from the men in their lives. Clara is seen more as an object by people in her life and by the reader. And that's a damn shame. Because her story - told by the right (most likely a woman author) - could've been so good.
Aside from these pieces, what this novel is really attempting to do is explore the greed and corruption in Italy (and resulting lack of regulations in everything) through the lens of one family and their bad behaviours. There's a lot of sibling and parent-child dynamics at work - some even hinting at incestuous thoughts (cough Michele & Clara cough).
It's about grief and the stories and lies we tell ourselves about our selves and others around us. About the complexities of families and the secrets we keep to maintain the status quo and grow our influence. Sacrifice for the family is a big theme here.
And the writing does this so well. It's hypnotic and compelling - which is why I didn't dnf it when Lagioia described Clara's naked, bloody body in an unsettling sexual way in the first 20 pages. He deftly moves from one time period to another, paragraph by paragraph, leaving you both confused and later with a light bulb moment as the same scenes are revisited from different perspectives and new layers/nuances are revealed. It's worth the work in that respect, to understand his pessimistic nuggets of gold about the human condition and what reality is - and could be.
But HE CAN'T WRITE WOMEN! And that's still my biggest gripe. There's a scene with Gioia (the younger daughter) and her father at the beginning and it's just gross. My notes have a vomiting emoji. Or how Ruggero (and all other men in the book it seems) thinks that "Men make women happy" (page 183) - that got three eye roll emojis from me. The way Ruggero and other characters immediately and solely think violent thoughts about sex workers was profoundly disturbing. It's both disturbingly normal considering the world we live in and almost (dear God, I hope) hyperbolic for the sake of fiction.
I feel that while the misogynistic and violent society was attempted to be put on blast, Lagioia failed to question these behaviours or have the female characters be fully fleshed out to give depth to this part of the book. Which is a shame.
Michele is also supposed to have a mental illness - perhaps bipolar or schizophrenia, or some other type of illness that interferes with his perception of reality. Not having any mental illnesses, I can't speak wholly on the accuracy or representation but my gut instinct is that it was a mixed bag on how Michele's illness, behaviour, and POV was handled.
Overall, I won't be reading more Lagioia. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it either (despite the great writing style) because of the way women are handled in the book. Glad it's off my shelves though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Sexism, Misogyny, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Infidelity
Moderate: Drug use, Drug abuse, and Addiction
Minor: Incest
ludovicaciasullo's review against another edition
2.0
La prima caratteristica che colpisce di questo romanzo è la lingua che usa l'autore: barocca, convoluta, impegnativa. Su alcune frasi sono dovuta ritornare più volte per afferrare il senso: di subordinata in subordinata mi ero persa il soggetto. Questa è un'arma a doppio taglio: sicuramente alcuni passaggi sono bellissimi ("Non era molto oltre la trentina, ma non poteva avere meno di venticinque anni a causa dell’intangibile rilasciamento dei tessuti che trasforma la sveltezza di certe adolescenti in qualcosa di perfetto." o "I loro volti godevano di uno speciale rilasciamento, l’apparente ebetudine dei privilegiati in cui Vittorio ritrovava una ulteriore forma di intelligenza. Nessuna traccia del foglio metallico che annerisce sottopelle a causa dell’attrito con il mondo.") , ma talvolta la ricerca estetica dovrebbe cedere il passo alla godibilità. L'uso così ricercato dell'italiano è talvolta un pregio e talvolta un serio limite.
La seconda cosa che si fa notare è la vicenda raccontata: curda, dura, come da titolo del romanzo. Sicuramente è avvincente, ma anche qui ho trovato un limite: l'intreccio non è perfetto, ci sono alcuni fili che vengono lasciati lì, a penzolare. Non si ha l'impressione che l'autore abbia voluto lasciare all'immaginazione di chi legge il compito di trovar loro un posto, piuttosto ho avuto una sensazione di sciatteria, come se per pigrizia non ci abbia voluto spiegare il perché di certe scene, o il ruolo di certi personaggi.
Nulla da eccepire invece alla descrizione della bassezza di alcune frange della nostra società: la descrizione di come l'umanità si perda dietro a biechi istinti raggela il sangue. Raramente mi succede di strizzare gli occhi come davanti ad un film horror mentre leggo: questa potenza immaginifica (a volte il romanzo scorre come un film) e questo occhio lucido e spietato credo diano conto del riconoscimento che la critica ha accordato a questo libro.
La seconda cosa che si fa notare è la vicenda raccontata: curda, dura, come da titolo del romanzo. Sicuramente è avvincente, ma anche qui ho trovato un limite: l'intreccio non è perfetto, ci sono alcuni fili che vengono lasciati lì, a penzolare. Non si ha l'impressione che l'autore abbia voluto lasciare all'immaginazione di chi legge il compito di trovar loro un posto, piuttosto ho avuto una sensazione di sciatteria, come se per pigrizia non ci abbia voluto spiegare il perché di certe scene, o il ruolo di certi personaggi.
Nulla da eccepire invece alla descrizione della bassezza di alcune frange della nostra società: la descrizione di come l'umanità si perda dietro a biechi istinti raggela il sangue. Raramente mi succede di strizzare gli occhi come davanti ad un film horror mentre leggo: questa potenza immaginifica (a volte il romanzo scorre come un film) e questo occhio lucido e spietato credo diano conto del riconoscimento che la critica ha accordato a questo libro.
mubeenirfan's review against another edition
4.0
This novel has taken the longest for me to finish for one reason or another but I am glad I got through it. It came highly recommended by a friend and ended up being a treat to read.
Clara is dead. Suicide. But was it really a suicide? Her family is behaving hush, her parents do not talk about her anymore and her sister is running a fake twitter account in her name. But her half-brother Michele is not convinced Clara can kill herself. She was destructive, yes but taking her own life was probably something beyond her. But Michele could be wrong and as much as he believes to have known her favorite sister, did he really know her? And not to mention, Clara's life, as narrated, has been chaotic at best full of affairs and casual extramarital sex most of which has been emotionally and physically violent.
The story takes some time to fully capture your attention and took me almost halfway to get a grip on. Looking back, it is a beauty of this novel to be layered up just like Clara was.
Clara is dead. Suicide. But was it really a suicide? Her family is behaving hush, her parents do not talk about her anymore and her sister is running a fake twitter account in her name. But her half-brother Michele is not convinced Clara can kill herself. She was destructive, yes but taking her own life was probably something beyond her. But Michele could be wrong and as much as he believes to have known her favorite sister, did he really know her? And not to mention, Clara's life, as narrated, has been chaotic at best full of affairs and casual extramarital sex most of which has been emotionally and physically violent.
The story takes some time to fully capture your attention and took me almost halfway to get a grip on. Looking back, it is a beauty of this novel to be layered up just like Clara was.
ramona_quimby's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.25
jerrylwei's review against another edition
5.0
Nicola Lagioia’s novel is all-consuming, alternatingly terrifying and beautiful. In the novel, natural beauty is juxtaposed with the corrosiveness of power and cold depravity of Italian modernity.
Lagioia never fully fleshes out the motivations that drive Clara, the beautiful dead woman device used to spark the novel. Unsatisfying.
But even so, he has written an all-time favorite novel. As the book comes to an end, and the fullness of the characters’ self-delusion and despair gives way, human corruption also seeps into the natural beauty that Lagioia so lyrically describes.
Lagioia never fully fleshes out the motivations that drive Clara, the beautiful dead woman device used to spark the novel. Unsatisfying.
But even so, he has written an all-time favorite novel. As the book comes to an end, and the fullness of the characters’ self-delusion and despair gives way, human corruption also seeps into the natural beauty that Lagioia so lyrically describes.
whimsicalish's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
I don't dislike the idea behind the book. The corruption within a family and how their corruption (mainly the father's business) affected their community. Plus the heartbreak over the treatment of Clara by all the men in her life.
However, the execution was dreadfully slow and boring. I had to re-borrow my digital copy multiple times from my local library. I would fall asleep reading. I would have saved myself time and DNF'ed it but I wanted to count it for a reading challenge. A silly reason, I know. It dragged on with seemingly pointless descriptions; paragraphs describing in detail about the day-to-day life of a character. It constantly flipped between many different POVs and between present and past timelines. It was confusing if you're not paying close attention.
However, the execution was dreadfully slow and boring. I had to re-borrow my digital copy multiple times from my local library. I would fall asleep reading. I would have saved myself time and DNF'ed it but I wanted to count it for a reading challenge. A silly reason, I know. It dragged on with seemingly pointless descriptions; paragraphs describing in detail about the day-to-day life of a character. It constantly flipped between many different POVs and between present and past timelines. It was confusing if you're not paying close attention.
It also had consistent raunchy discussions degrading women. One character was a walking sexist, homophobic stereotype. Bragging about sleeping with a woman but then calling her a slut in the same breath. Clara's father, her father, described her as "certain movie stars after the va-va-voom period." More than once he, and her brother, think over Clara's physical attractiveness. Yuck. "What more do we really want, aside from a chance to take to bed a girl who could be our daughter?" What the ever living incest is this?!
Other men are described as tempted to smash a women's face in and "They have been too kind to the little slut. They should have brought her up on a steady diet of slaps in the face." Obviously men mentioned here exist but the violence is constant. Every man is written this way. Every dude is HORRID here.
Maybe this one wasn't for me. I don't feel like I got anything out of Ferocity. I would have been fine never reading it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Sexual content
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, and Physical abuse
Minor: Infidelity, Racism, Sexual violence, and Child abuse
gaiaferrante_99's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.25