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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
I really wanted this book to be everything. From the reviews I read, to the anticipation for the film with Marion Cotillard, I was sure that I'd fall in love with this book. And I did to an extent. But all in all, it was meh. There was so much left to be desired from this. It felt like the treatment for a novel that could be exactly what I wanted it to be, what I want every novel to be, it just hasn't been fully fleshed out yet. The parts of the novel that have been fleshed out, are glorious. The insights are beautiful, the prose is beautiful. But the woman this novella is a portrait of feels confused and skin deep.
I finished and immediately gave it to a colleague to read so that I could discuss my confused feelings. It might just be that I read it in the wrong settling and have to return to it.
I finished and immediately gave it to a colleague to read so that I could discuss my confused feelings. It might just be that I read it in the wrong settling and have to return to it.
From the Land of the Moon earned debut author Milena Agus the prestigious Zerilli-Marimò Prize for Fiction in 2008.
It’s a simple tale but it packs an emotional punch — and it’s the kind of book you want to reread as soon as you reach the final page. That’s because there’s a little unexpected twist right at the end that turns everything on its head and makes you reassess all your assumptions about the characters and the way they chose to live their lives.
Set in Sardinia, it’s narrated by an unnamed woman who tells us the story of her grandmother, who, in 1943, was forced to marry a man she did not love. She was 30 and considered an old maid; he was more than 40 and a widower.
In 1950, after several miscarriages, thought to be due to kidney stones, she is prescribed thermal treatments and sent to a spa on the mainland. Here she meets a handsome well-dressed man, an army veteran, who has a crutch and a wooden leg. The pair fall in love and she shows him the self-inflicted cuts on her arms (which she claims are from working in the fields), as well as the passionate love poems she has been secretly writing all her life.
When she returns to her husband in Sardinia, she bears him a son — coincidentally, exactly nine months after her spa trip — but can’t stop thinking about her lover.
Many years later, in 1963, on a family trip to Milan to visit her sister and brother-in-law who had moved there, she wanders the streets alone in search of the Veteran’s house. Her plan is to run away with him, even if that means abandoning her husband and son, because she has such “heart-stopping longing” for him…
From the Land of the Moon is a quick, devastating read. It’s bittersweet, romantic, and tinged with melancholia but also punctuated by small moments of joy. And it asks important questions about love and marriage, commitment and desire, and the role of women in 20th-century Italian society.
For a more detailed review, please visit my blog.
It’s a simple tale but it packs an emotional punch — and it’s the kind of book you want to reread as soon as you reach the final page. That’s because there’s a little unexpected twist right at the end that turns everything on its head and makes you reassess all your assumptions about the characters and the way they chose to live their lives.
Set in Sardinia, it’s narrated by an unnamed woman who tells us the story of her grandmother, who, in 1943, was forced to marry a man she did not love. She was 30 and considered an old maid; he was more than 40 and a widower.
In 1950, after several miscarriages, thought to be due to kidney stones, she is prescribed thermal treatments and sent to a spa on the mainland. Here she meets a handsome well-dressed man, an army veteran, who has a crutch and a wooden leg. The pair fall in love and she shows him the self-inflicted cuts on her arms (which she claims are from working in the fields), as well as the passionate love poems she has been secretly writing all her life.
When she returns to her husband in Sardinia, she bears him a son — coincidentally, exactly nine months after her spa trip — but can’t stop thinking about her lover.
Many years later, in 1963, on a family trip to Milan to visit her sister and brother-in-law who had moved there, she wanders the streets alone in search of the Veteran’s house. Her plan is to run away with him, even if that means abandoning her husband and son, because she has such “heart-stopping longing” for him…
From the Land of the Moon is a quick, devastating read. It’s bittersweet, romantic, and tinged with melancholia but also punctuated by small moments of joy. And it asks important questions about love and marriage, commitment and desire, and the role of women in 20th-century Italian society.
For a more detailed review, please visit my blog.
i'm not quite sure what to make of this story. i guess the most i can say is it seems like a narrative that explores the saying 'tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all' in a whole new light.
also - did every italian man visit brothels?? that was the other underlying message i got.
also - did every italian man visit brothels?? that was the other underlying message i got.
Une évasion, parfaite pour les vacances sans pour autant être banale.
wanted to like this book much more than i did.
interesting characters but maybe intentionally confusing?
interesting characters but maybe intentionally confusing?
I really liked this book until the 'twist' at the end. I noticed many reviewers saying that they liked this novel BECAUSE of the twist! I don't understand that!
As the book is only tiny - 100 pages or so - I read it in a night, and I really liked it. I loved the characters, especially Nonna, and I loved the visual imagery. However, the end really disappointed me. It was the compete OPPOSITE of what I wanted to happen! I still gave the novel four stars, becuase if I ignore the last two pages, it was a brilliant book - and ignoring them is what I'm going to do :)
As the book is only tiny - 100 pages or so - I read it in a night, and I really liked it. I loved the characters, especially Nonna, and I loved the visual imagery. However, the end really disappointed me. It was the compete OPPOSITE of what I wanted to happen! I still gave the novel four stars, becuase if I ignore the last two pages, it was a brilliant book - and ignoring them is what I'm going to do :)
A beautiful and tragic story about the life of a complicated woman as told by her anonymous granddaughter. It is a non-traditional love story (you'll see what I mean when you read it!). I once took a class on Sardinian woman authors and there was a common thread of despair and roughness and passion that felt unique to the woman of this island. This novel follows in the same tradition. It is short but complex and I would strongly recommend it.
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Una verdadera joya, elegante, delicada y muy bien construida. Amor y locura ambientados en Cerdeña al final de la Segunda Guerra Mundial y durante la posguerra. Deliciosa.