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A review by carlacbarroso
Silk by Alessandro Baricco
4.0
I don't really know what prompted me to participate in the Historical Tapestry giveaway, which took place last year around that blog's anniversary. Maybe the fact that I had acquire another book by the author, maybe some reviews I read, perhaps it was just an impulse... Either way, I do not recall what led me to participate but fortunately I did and I won a beautiful book.
Silk is a rather small book, which tells the story of Hervé Joncour, who works in the silk industry, buying and selling silkworm eggs. Since the European market is dealing with a plague, which spreads quickly to the nearest circuits, Joncour has to travel to Japan to acquire the much needed eggs. There he meets a girl who doesn't have oriental eyes, mistress of the man from whom he buys the eggs, and so begins a strange love relationship, because they only see each other, never touching or even talking to each other. Still, whenever he returns home he also returns to the arms of his wife, Hélène, who over time comes to realize something is amiss.
It's a beautiful book. It's remarkable how in a book with so few pages the author manages to present such a range of interesting characters (I especially liked Baldabiou) and deepen the main character. He also provides a very good insight of the silk industry and sheds some lights on the eastern culture, always with a poetic writing. It only loses points for being so short.
Silk is a rather small book, which tells the story of Hervé Joncour, who works in the silk industry, buying and selling silkworm eggs. Since the European market is dealing with a plague, which spreads quickly to the nearest circuits, Joncour has to travel to Japan to acquire the much needed eggs. There he meets a girl who doesn't have oriental eyes, mistress of the man from whom he buys the eggs, and so begins a strange love relationship, because they only see each other, never touching or even talking to each other. Still, whenever he returns home he also returns to the arms of his wife, Hélène, who over time comes to realize something is amiss.
It's a beautiful book. It's remarkable how in a book with so few pages the author manages to present such a range of interesting characters (I especially liked Baldabiou) and deepen the main character. He also provides a very good insight of the silk industry and sheds some lights on the eastern culture, always with a poetic writing. It only loses points for being so short.