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sydsnot71 's review for:

Silk by Alessandro Baricco
4.0

"He began to observe the tiny flame that quivered in the lantern. And, carefully he stopped Time, for all the time he desired."

This is a short book. It reminded me a little of Jamilia by Chingiz Aitmatov in some ways, even though the two are very different books. It is a love story - love stories - tucked inside a novel about silk worms. Or, as the book itself says, it becomes the story of a "A strange kind of grief"

But it is written in a style that is more like a British film of the 1930s. There is so much emotion but it is displayed in silences and undertones. It isn't suppression, it is something else. Something I can't quite put my finger on. It'll probably come back to me another time.

I was surprised how moved I was at points by a book this spare and this short.

I will re-read it because I think it will unpeel itself with further readings.