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thereaderintherye's review against another edition
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
jimmylorunning's review against another edition
5.0
A strange and disorienting book, which seems par for the course for a story about a Count going to a remote island and falling in love with an Iguana. But even more so than you think. There's a lot going on here. But you never know exactly what it is, it's like you're in the center of a storm... or as if told by an unreliable narrator--but more than that--the whole idea of world-building is unreliable here. But you just have to go along with it, and if you do, treasures await.
Deeply funny, cynical, and moving, and quite critical of capitalism, I'm still not sure what to think of it as a whole. It's not neatly any one thing, which is its strength. There's a sadness that permeates the fibers of this book, one that is, I think, a mourning for a world lost and no longer mourned for.
This is a long passage, but I think it serves as a good example of the power and humor of the prose, as well as carrying that message of "don't worry too much about the plot" coming directly from the author, which I think is important in appreciating this work:
Update:
Just read this: "But she never accepted the 'neo-realist' label, seeing the book as 'a screen on which to project one's sense of disorientation'. "
...
"The iguana is one of a series of unsettling, magical animals - including the goldfinch (or linnet) of Il cardillo addolorato and the puma of her last novel, Alonso e i visionari ("Alonso and the Visionaries", 1996) - which Ortese used to deflect her frustration at the limits, and the littleness, of the knowable world."
...
"Her brief forays into journalism were limited by a refusal to modulate her writerly voice: once, while covering the Giro d'Italia bicycle race for Panorama, she wrote that 'the Giro often sails close to the sweet, unremembering shores of death'".
She's so awesome!
Deeply funny, cynical, and moving, and quite critical of capitalism, I'm still not sure what to think of it as a whole. It's not neatly any one thing, which is its strength. There's a sadness that permeates the fibers of this book, one that is, I think, a mourning for a world lost and no longer mourned for.
This is a long passage, but I think it serves as a good example of the power and humor of the prose, as well as carrying that message of "don't worry too much about the plot" coming directly from the author, which I think is important in appreciating this work:
The Count's real location in this frangent of time, whether at the well along with the others, to see if there was any vestige of the Body of God, or wandering about the island with the pistol in his hand on the trail of the culprits, or at the bottom of the well, or in that cold hallucinated court room, is something, Reader, though it may strike you as strange, that we are unable to tell you. If you're inclined to petition for an explanation of these continuous passages from one place to another, changes of scene, broken dialogs and rapid telescoping locales, if you want to know the truth of these interplays of houses, winds, and wells, of trembling paths and mute interiors, of living leaves and dead walls, of sunrays and lamplights, of progress and stasis, of immobility and movement, and above all of a waxing pain, of a sadness knowing no repose, of unspeakable anger intermixed with commonplace words, and as well of the disappearance of both our Iguana and those prodigies and peals of laughter that have characterized our story up to now, in that case you ought to reflect–while awaiting whatever explanations we yet may prove able to furnish (presuming the very existence of explainability within this world of inscrutable phenomena where you too make your home)–you should reflect, thoughtful Reader, on the particularly narrow mind of our young Lombard architect and on how it nonetheless harbored a generosity of which he had never been aware previous to debarking on this tragic island. You yourself are safe, and can turn the tranquil light of reason onto the tremendous truth of the soul: on its being here, everywhere, and nowhere, and all while a strong young body walks now in one direction, now in another, carried along whatever paths it travels by whatever new questions may arise within the mind it encloses. And what is a body when compared to the spirit that guides it and to which that body, those hands, and those eyes have but the simple duty of furnishing expression? And what is time, the time in which such thoughts and actions find articulation? And what is space, if not ingenuous convention? And what is an island, or a city, the world itself with its multitudinous capitals, if not simply a theater where the heart, stricken by remorse, can pose its ardent questionings? So you mustn't, Reader, be amazed if the sickness that had menaced our Count for quite some time as he moved within his class like one of the living dead–(“a sickness” can be synonym for “a thought”)–you mustn't be amazed to see that sickness now explode in the tremendous fashion we here have been at pains to describe, revealing all of the nobleman's subterranean longing, all his desperate need for an experience of the real. The field and the wooded copse, the dining room and the well, the rapid April clouds and the closeness of November, coming now to confuse themselves the one with the other here at the end of our story, are things then of which you have no need to investigate the cause: recognize them rather to contain the resolute and one true path of the soul among things till now pretending to be the soul, imitating the soul at the cost of great turbulence and fear. - 171
Update:
Just read this: "But she never accepted the 'neo-realist' label, seeing the book as 'a screen on which to project one's sense of disorientation'. "
...
"The iguana is one of a series of unsettling, magical animals - including the goldfinch (or linnet) of Il cardillo addolorato and the puma of her last novel, Alonso e i visionari ("Alonso and the Visionaries", 1996) - which Ortese used to deflect her frustration at the limits, and the littleness, of the knowable world."
...
"Her brief forays into journalism were limited by a refusal to modulate her writerly voice: once, while covering the Giro d'Italia bicycle race for Panorama, she wrote that 'the Giro often sails close to the sweet, unremembering shores of death'".
She's so awesome!
goldenirene's review against another edition
5.0
La squisitezza della prosa è seconda solo al sottotesto. L'unica cosa che mi dispiace è che ho scoperto Ortese solo adesso, a trent'anni.
amandaspages's review against another edition
4.0
It’s such a complex read but I absolutely loved trying to unveil and understand what Ortese is attempting to explain/portray through this magic realism. Though the narrative can be quite confusing (but that’s the intention of it) it was interesting just having to accept these unreal aspects of the story. I also particularly liked how Ortese would directly speak to us as the reader sometimes, makes me feel all the more like an observer of this tale unfolding in front of me.
lizziebennett's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
lit_terary's review against another edition
4.0
What a weird little gem! This is a rather short story that has a bit of the story-tale, a bit of the fable, and a bit of the myth in it. On the surface it’s like a spiralling fever dream with fantastical and grotesque elements and quite an absurd “love story” at its heart, but, as things spiral down into a seemingly nonsensical frenzy, the story just gets more and more allegorical and inspired. The writing is simply superb; Ortese has a way to make the most grotesque things sound so tender, endearing and sweet. One cannot ignore the pain, misfortune and injustice endured by the little iguana and not deeply feel for her. In such a short and simple book, the author manages to explore themes such as evil, redemption, salvation, loneliness but also hope. Can’t wait to read more of this author!
myxomycetes's review against another edition
3.0
The prose is thick and turgid in this one and not worth the pay off.