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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
очень рада, что прочитала эту книгу. безусловно, были тяжелые моменты, но также были те, которые приводили в восторг.
Perfect doesn't even begin to describe it. The best thing there is about being italian is that you only have to make 99% of an effort to understand Dante sorta-kinda properly, whilst the rest of the world has to go 2000% out of their comfort zone to do that.
Dude, you are my sun and stars.
Dude, you are my sun and stars.
As the introduction says, "a poet always speaks to a poet." I am not a poet, so, this does not speak to me. It is an allegory, of which the references to the modern reader are long gone, and only a true scholar of medieval and classic academia can read and understand the allegories without extensive notes. I am not that person. The version I chose had extensive notes; dozens, if not hundreds of pages. However, they were not footnoted (as in numbered or starred, saying, "hey idiot, look to the footnotes", and to my great frustration, they were not on the same page, but in the back of the book. One had to read the canto, be confused. Flip to the end of the book where the notes were kept, find the phrase, flip back to the front, search for the text, and then try to grasp the meaning. And do this with enough page-flapping to cool a southern belle in the swelter of a July heatwave (dozens of times in the same canto). After wearing out the binding, from page turning, and re-reading it after all the footnotes, one can get a gist of what's going on. Comprehension? Maybe. Frustration? Definitely.
To be honest, I abandoned this very early. I might consider reading another version of this epic... IF the notes were side-by-side with the text, and called out as to when to look for the foot note. I blame the editor/publisher (Knopf Everyman's Library), not the translator (I won't slur their good name by association, because this poor decision was probably not in their control).
To be honest, I abandoned this very early. I might consider reading another version of this epic... IF the notes were side-by-side with the text, and called out as to when to look for the foot note. I blame the editor/publisher (Knopf Everyman's Library), not the translator (I won't slur their good name by association, because this poor decision was probably not in their control).
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
reflective
slow-paced
All in all, Dante's conception of Hell really appeals to me and I found myself loving his conversations with Virgil as the two walk through the circles of Hell. In Purgatory, I enjoyed the scenic journey up the mountain and the conversations with those who were not quite damned and not quite saved. In Paradise (Heaven)...I was bored out of my mind. As Mark Twain said, "Hell for the company, Heaven for the climate"; I didn't particularly care for and wasn't caught on by Dante's conception of Heaven. Granted, I'm an atheist and most of the book on heaven was hogwash to me, but it didn't rise to the occasion that Hell and Purgatory had done for me. Overall, very wonderfully written and a tremendous pleasure.
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes