Reviews

From the Land of the Moon by Milena Agus

bexcastillo's review against another edition

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4.0

Really beautiful

haazex's review against another edition

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2.0

A story about love, passion and insanity suspended in the realm of Sicily over the span of three generations. I really wanted to like this book, but found the story stumbling over and over. The story arc was fragmented and shuffled, which made it difficult to follow as the generations blended with each other. Perhaps its purpose was to create the impression of time and love, but I felt as if I was reading old diaries and letters in the attic of a house I just moved into. It was hard to connect to the characters Agus created. Perhaps the translation changed the phrasing and texture of the novel? Regardless, I did not exactly enjoy this book so I was thankful for its brevity.

ellie00000's review against another edition

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4.0

My first Milena Agus book, and it was fascinating. The grandmother’s life was nothing but short of lessons. Sweet, sexy, and the vibe is just immaculate.

pili8000's review against another edition

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4.0

me gustó mucho esta historia! más allá de toda las cosas que me han chirriado: como el amor romántico como tabla de salvación, el sexo y la prostitucón y etc.... lo que rescato es la sororidad entre algunos personajes femeninos, me encantó que muestra del amor entre mujeres y el vínculo tan hermoso entre la abuela y la nieta.

Me recordó mucho a los libros y personajes de Elena Ferrante y, al igual que con ellos, me hizo reflexionar sobre la vida de mi mamá, mis tías y mis abuelas. Cómo en el pasado había tan poca comprensión de las emociones, en general, y en particular el menosprecio al malestar femenino. Lo que las hacía reprimir sus emociones hasta que explotaban de tanta carga fisica y emocional.

jarichan's review against another edition

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2.0

Inhalt:

Eine Enkelin, die das Leben ihrer Grossmutter schildert. Eine junge Frau auf der Suche nach Liebe und die Hingabe ihres Sohnes an die Musik...

Meine Meinung:

Es ist lange her, seit ich ein Buch von Milena Agus gelesen habe. Ich glaube, damals gefiel es mir ganz gut. Aber unterdessen bin ich ein paar Jahre älter, etwas kritischer und denke zumindest, dass ich meinen Geschmack einschätzen kann.
Ich hätte mich gerne überraschen lassen von diesem Buch, aber schlussendlich war es genau das, was ich insgeheim schon befürchtet hatte: Ziemlich langweilig. Und ausserdem recht kitschig.

Wer Familiengeschichten mag, dem mag seinen Spass gegönnt sein. Aber ich habe das Gefühl, einfach nicht zur Zielgruppe dieses Buches zu gehören. Deshalb weiss ich auch nicht so wirklich, was ich mit "Die Frau im Mond" anfangen soll. Weder der Inhalt, noch die Sprache konnten mich überzeugen.

Natürlich möchte Agus mit ihren Schilderungen Emotionen wecken, aber bis zu mir drangen diese nicht durch. Wahrscheinlich, weil ich einfach keiner jener Leser bin, die dafür empfänglich sind. Ich greife lieber zu "moderner" Literatur.

Ausserdem frage ich mich, wieso sich jeder Autor verpflichtet fühlt, das Leben seiner Grossmutter publik zu machen. Ich habe meine Grossmutter auch sehr lieb gehabt, fühle mich aber in keinster Weise dazu verpflichtet, ein Buch über ihr Leben zu schreiben...

Fazit:

Wer's mag, der soll's geniessen. Für mich nichts und um Milena Agus werde ich von nun an einen eher grösseren Bogen schlagen.

foggy_rosamund's review against another edition

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3.0

This vivid novels describes the life of the narrator's grandmother: her tumultuous childhood in Sardinia, her unhappy marriage during WW2, her love affair, her brushes with insanity. It is a tender account of this women, full of emotions and affection, and gives the reader a sense of Sardinia after the war. A very short novel, it felt incomplete to me at times -- I felt many sections could be extended or developed. But in some ways the fragmentary approach does evoke one's relationship with a grandmother -- however deep the bond of affection, it is hard to truly know your grandmother.

martydah's review against another edition

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4.0

This was a poignant tale of a young woman's grandmother, who's life in pre-and post-World War II Sardinia was a mixture of tragedy and briefly realized love. Branded as mad from the time she was a little girl, the grandmother is married off to a man who owes her family a debt. Unable to love him and unable to bring a pregnancy to term, she is sent to a spa in the hopes of healing her kidney ailments and her barrenness. There she meets and falls in love with a man, known in the text only as the Veteran, a man who's lost a leg in the war. This brief encounter results not only in the long awaited, successfully delivered son (the narrator's father) but a life-long passion that ends only with the grandmother's death.

It is through the narrator's tale, flashing forward and back through the lives of her parents and her grandmothers, that we learn how one generation's sorrow turns into hope and success for the next. The burden of supposedly insanity carried by the grandmother is seen as a sacrifice in order for her son and his child to be happy. The grandmother is by no means a shallow character - she is far more intelligent and sensitive than the society she lives in will tolerate. Her parents refuse to educate her and see her poetic talent as evidence of madness. While she mourns the loss of the only true love she will ever have, she deeply regrets that she cannot love her husband, that she cannot connect with him as she did the Veteran.

The setting of the novel was extremely interesting for me - I have never read anything either set in Sardinia or by a Sardinian author. This book had a list of her other novels as well as other international authors that look good as well.

anatmgn's review against another edition

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3.0

Novela entrañable y poética. De poco más de cien páginas, se me ha hecho pesada a ratos.

Me llama mucho la atención que la frase que destacan como principal en la sinopsis del libro es una cita de un diálogo de un libro, ¡ni siquiera forma parte de la historia!

tiltunen's review against another edition

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5.0

Note to self: välj oftare böcker av för dig okända författare eller böcker du inte hört om för det är så man hittar guldklimparna. ☝

milliterature's review against another edition

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emotional reflective
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0