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A review by laura_trap
The Young Bride by Alessandro Baricco
5.0
Another perfect novel by Baricco. I love his meandering, fluid style of writing and how he seamlessly weaves two narratives together to create something so unique and elegant. I'm always taken aback by how elegant and beautiful his writing that I feel so swept away. No one, not even our fourth wall breaking narrator, is given a name other than a Noun - Narrator, Young Bride, Mother. Yet we given the hierarchy of the family within pages by knowing just this basic fact. The novel is layered - meanings within meanings, words within words - and while we unfold some, others are layered on as the stories are revealed for each of our persons, both disturbing, dark, and despairing. The narrator who frequently switches into the first person, almost stream of conscious like, grapples with weighty questions on the actions of life, the permeance of meaning in objects, and the eloquence of desire. His language meanders, nothing is concise - such is the nature of these themes. There are secrets long held, forgotten but lingering. It's just so beautiful.
"We did go to the lake, in the low light of late afternoon, cutting through the orchards to arrive more quickly." p. 80
How vivid is that? It is broken into segments, forcing the reader to pause then continue, as if we too went to the lake in late afternoon, strolling leisurely through the orchards. I find his writing to have no sense of urgency, thoughts rolling out unbidden and unburdened, leisurely letting the story stroll out for the reader. While on a surface level the nature of the novel seems to be desire - desire is only a means to an end. Just as the young Bride uses physical desire to break the spell of the Uncle, a trope turned on its head (such as the Prince awakens sleeping beauty from her trance with a kiss), in much more erotic sense, the Young Bride does this for the Uncle. And in turn earlier on the Mother awakens the hunger and helps the Young Bride discover herself. This is book clambers about disappearances and discoveries. While one is lost, another something is found. I loved the book start to finish, but I think the section that stuck out for me the most was the scene between the Young Bride and the Mother, while immensely erotic, it was a spark struck in the novel and the greatest turning point for the Young Bride.
"Her beauty was...something mythological" p. 51 As was this book, the sense of fantasy and myth weaves its way into the story. Stunning.
"We did go to the lake, in the low light of late afternoon, cutting through the orchards to arrive more quickly." p. 80
How vivid is that? It is broken into segments, forcing the reader to pause then continue, as if we too went to the lake in late afternoon, strolling leisurely through the orchards. I find his writing to have no sense of urgency, thoughts rolling out unbidden and unburdened, leisurely letting the story stroll out for the reader. While on a surface level the nature of the novel seems to be desire - desire is only a means to an end. Just as the young Bride uses physical desire to break the spell of the Uncle, a trope turned on its head (such as the Prince awakens sleeping beauty from her trance with a kiss), in much more erotic sense, the Young Bride does this for the Uncle. And in turn earlier on the Mother awakens the hunger and helps the Young Bride discover herself. This is book clambers about disappearances and discoveries. While one is lost, another something is found. I loved the book start to finish, but I think the section that stuck out for me the most was the scene between the Young Bride and the Mother, while immensely erotic, it was a spark struck in the novel and the greatest turning point for the Young Bride.
"Her beauty was...something mythological" p. 51 As was this book, the sense of fantasy and myth weaves its way into the story. Stunning.