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year23's review
dark
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
This was a tough one. Her style of writing is often vague and unspecific, reflective yes, but bouncing from one obtuse observation or insight to another.
There were themes I really enjoyed - particularly her fraught relationship with her mother. It’s in these reflections the memoir is most compelling & resonant.
I’d say a good half of this would never make it to print in an American type memoir and for that I am appreciative of this translation and opportunity to read an author whose perspective and writing style are unique and different from what’s typically presented here in the US.
I would agree her writing style is lyrical and poetic, dream-like. At the same time, it’s hard to place in context what’s being shared at times, but I think that’s the point. This is definitely one to read slowly and take in parts, I think you are rewarded for that as a reader.
There were themes I really enjoyed - particularly her fraught relationship with her mother. It’s in these reflections the memoir is most compelling & resonant.
I’d say a good half of this would never make it to print in an American type memoir and for that I am appreciative of this translation and opportunity to read an author whose perspective and writing style are unique and different from what’s typically presented here in the US.
I would agree her writing style is lyrical and poetic, dream-like. At the same time, it’s hard to place in context what’s being shared at times, but I think that’s the point. This is definitely one to read slowly and take in parts, I think you are rewarded for that as a reader.
pceboll's review
emotional
reflective
3.5
Beautiful poetic prose that perfectly encapsulate the wandering imperfection of memory and feeling. This book is truly a vibe. Stumbled upon this work at the Tucson Festival of Books and am very grateful for the exposure to Jarre and Italian autobiography. 3.5 stars!
bonnie_xx's review
This book is short but it is DENSE so i’m setting it aside for now
emilyacres's review
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
4.0
This is a stunning memoir that is as enriching as it is demanding. Marina Jarre was born in Latvia to a Jewish father and a minority Protestant Italian mother. She spent her early childhood in Latvia before moving to Italy after her parents' divorce only to have her entire father's side of the family killed in the Holocaust. (Though I should say this is very much not a Holocaust nor WWII memoir.) Split into three parts—childhood, adolescence, and adulthood—I find myself particularly taken with how the author writes about time. More specifically how she writes about one's relationship with time at different stages in life. Whereas a child experiences time very much in the present, as reflected in her writing in tense as well as style, as an adolescent Jarre gains a relationship with the past and the passage of time. Though I haven't gotten as far as adulthood I'm very much looking forward to seeing how she chooses to keep representing this theme.
For a memoir it is very nonlinear, especially in the part about her childhood. Something I'm loving, and don't often see in this genre, is Jarre's ability to remove the distance with which one normally writes about their past. Her thoughts read very much as a child's thoughts instead of an adult impossing their own upon their childhood. It so perfectly encapsulates a child's view of the world.
You definitely cannot read this memoir passively, it requires your full attention, but I'm finding it all the more rewarding for it.
For a memoir it is very nonlinear, especially in the part about her childhood. Something I'm loving, and don't often see in this genre, is Jarre's ability to remove the distance with which one normally writes about their past. Her thoughts read very much as a child's thoughts instead of an adult impossing their own upon their childhood. It so perfectly encapsulates a child's view of the world.
You definitely cannot read this memoir passively, it requires your full attention, but I'm finding it all the more rewarding for it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: War and Death of parent
abby_writes's review
5.0
This is in some ways a very distant and obtuse memoir that touches on the trials of the Waldensian people, living through WWII, and the personal trials of familial relationships. Jarre's prose is poetic and doubles back on itself with reminiscences through the sections (roughly split into childhood, adolescence, and adulthood) weaving memories with dreams, Jarre admits she often lies and fabricates things and the reader is left wondering. For a book whose title references fathers, Jarre's memoir is mostly about women, her strained relationship with her mother and sometimes her sister and daughter -- at one point she announces, "I have always been an unmarried mother," despite having a husband. Ann Goldstein did an excellent job of translating Jarre's unique stream of consciousness memoir and I hope this will not be Marina Jarre's last book translated to English.
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