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A review by unusualspring
The Eight Mountains by Paolo Cognetti
adventurous
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
As a lover of mountains and mountain stories, I expected to fall in love with Paolo Cognetti's The Eight Mountains. And I did, to an extent, but I never truly felt that intrigued by the story or its characters. This feels like one that I might get more out of if I were to revisit it later in life.
The Eight Mountains is a story of two boys, city-dwelling Pietro and village-boy Bruno, and their friendship that extends into adulthood. Pietro's father lives for his trips to the mountains and tries to extend that same passion to Pietro, but it takes Pietro many more years to understand his father's perspective. The narrative takes place over several decades, weaving in and out of pivotal moments of Pietro's life.
This is a very slow-paced, meditative book, with beautiful nature writing. The descriptions and metaphors were my favorite part. It's also a very masculine book, with female characters who are very much in the side of the narrative. It worked, although I thought Pietro's mother and Bruno's girlfriend Lara were some of the more interesting characters, and I wish they'd gotten more page time.
This is an objectively well-written book, and I can see how it might be someone's favorite. Unfortunately, I just didn't connect with it very deeply on this read.
The Eight Mountains is a story of two boys, city-dwelling Pietro and village-boy Bruno, and their friendship that extends into adulthood. Pietro's father lives for his trips to the mountains and tries to extend that same passion to Pietro, but it takes Pietro many more years to understand his father's perspective. The narrative takes place over several decades, weaving in and out of pivotal moments of Pietro's life.
This is a very slow-paced, meditative book, with beautiful nature writing. The descriptions and metaphors were my favorite part. It's also a very masculine book, with female characters who are very much in the side of the narrative. It worked, although I thought Pietro's mother and Bruno's girlfriend Lara were some of the more interesting characters, and I wish they'd gotten more page time.
This is an objectively well-written book, and I can see how it might be someone's favorite. Unfortunately, I just didn't connect with it very deeply on this read.