You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
zachlittrell 's review for:
Zeno's Conscience
by Italo Svevo
Here's my feelings about Svevo's Zeno's Conscience. Many parts dragged, and Zeno himself can be a real unlikable neurotic sometimes. But I already miss him and the book terribly.
It is often imperfect, but once I surrendered myself to Svevo's idiosyncratic way of ironically describing moments big and small, I fell for his funny and thoughtful storytelling. Zeno is well-loved in spite of himself: he messes with a seance out of spite, cheats on his loving wife, and manages to miss the funeral of his closest friend (or as close a friend as a solipsist like Zeno can manage). It can feel like there's multiple Zenos across time all sharing the same body: the dutiful family man, hardworking businessman, and the incorrigible asshole who narrates the book.
I really cannot emphasize just how damn sinisterly funny the humdrum misadventures of Zeno could be. It's possible Zeno is making the whole damn thing up, which would be a very Zeno thing to do out of spite and mischief towards his doctor. But it'd also be Zeno's way to tell the haughty misanthropist truth of the world in a moment of rare self-awareness: he's a balding horndog in Trieste with a penchant for night walks and cigarettes.
It is often imperfect, but once I surrendered myself to Svevo's idiosyncratic way of ironically describing moments big and small, I fell for his funny and thoughtful storytelling. Zeno is well-loved in spite of himself: he messes with a seance out of spite, cheats on his loving wife, and manages to miss the funeral of his closest friend (or as close a friend as a solipsist like Zeno can manage). It can feel like there's multiple Zenos across time all sharing the same body: the dutiful family man, hardworking businessman, and the incorrigible asshole who narrates the book.
I really cannot emphasize just how damn sinisterly funny the humdrum misadventures of Zeno could be. It's possible Zeno is making the whole damn thing up, which would be a very Zeno thing to do out of spite and mischief towards his doctor. But it'd also be Zeno's way to tell the haughty misanthropist truth of the world in a moment of rare self-awareness: he's a balding horndog in Trieste with a penchant for night walks and cigarettes.