Literary Silk by Alessandro Baricco

[paola]

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

Paola, have you read any other books by this author that you would recommend? Thanks!

nothing at all, shame on me! I guess this is the effect of being an expat that has lost touch with the motherland. But I can tell you that the book that made Baricco famous is Novecento, even shorter than Silk. This is the book I would have proposed had it not been for the fact that, surprisingly, it has no English translation.
Land of glass (Castelli di rabbia, literally "rage castles'", but which in Italian plays on "sand castles/castelli di sabbia") is the first proper novel that he wrote, but again I think it can get some people.

[ccowie]

I wasn't willing to pay for this one and only just received it today from my local library. From its size it looks like I'll get through it quickly.

[sun surfer]

I've just started yesterday but am already half through and enjoying it so far.

[ccowie]

I read the book last night and I really loved it. I feel similarly to others; at first I found the style nice, but a little thin. I thought it would begin to grate, but I was won over and really settled nicely into the rhythm and mystery of the book.

I think somewhere in the latter third of the book I gave up trying to figure out the hows and just went with it fairy tale style. The writing felt more akin to a parable than a fairy tale and I think that reading it that way was what I needed to give up because the message was more fairy tailish. I'm not sure if that makes any sense at all, but that's how if felt to me.

Some have mentioned liking or disliking the repetition in the journey descriptions. I actually liked it, but must admit that every time I read the little phrase "crossed the 2000 mile steppe" I had a flash of Tim Cope.

[HomeInMyShoes]

I loved it. I wish more books were written like this. Rhythmic and beguiling. Such a wonderful read. Baricco really lets the readers do their work with this one to fill in the world.

[sun surfer]

Though I knew what was coming because I'd seen the film, I still really enjoyed this. Like others here, I found it poetic, dreamy and like silk itself.

I'd like to ask - Was there any significance or symbolism in the girl in Japan having western eyes?

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

I was wondering how they turned a novella into a full-length movie. However, after finishing it I could visualize it.

I watched it when it first came out so it was some years ago, but I think they did a good job (though it seems most reviewers disagree). The film was languid and very arthouse period romance. I seem to remember it having a hazy, melancholic quality that I liked. One thing about the film though is that the wife Hélène was played by Keira Knightley, she of having just starred in Pride & Prejudice, Pirates of the Caribbean and Atonement. As I watched I knew it stretched credulity that she'd have signed on just to play this minor-character supporting wife and that made it easy to solve what was going on before the reveal. I think if I'd read the book first I wouldn't have deduced the twist ahead of time.

Originally Posted by BelleZora

I also liked the repetition of the voyage. I'm not sure I would have appreciated it nearly as much had I not interspersed my reading of Silk with a couple of chapters from The Iliad. When I returned to Silk, the cadence and repetitions felt like an echo. Had I been reading The Odyssey I wonder if the sense of déjà vu would have been even stronger.

That's an interesting thought BelleZora; thinking about it, it's interesting to compare and contrast this to The Odyssey. The bewitching woman in Japan could be seen as a sort of Circe, and Hervé a sort of Odysseus but without protection from her enchantments. Like Circe, the woman is somewhat menacing since she caused the death of her innocent servant and the strife of Hervé and Hélène, though I don't think it's fair to cast her as the sole cause of the couple's problems because for that Hervé is more to blame.

Originally Posted by ccowie

Some have mentioned liking or disliking the repetition in the journey descriptions. I actually liked it, but must admit that every time I read the little phrase "crossed the 2000 mile steppe" I had a flash of Tim Cope.

I thought the same thing! It was especially fresh in my mind since I just watched the documentary series of Cope's journey last month.

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

I'd like to ask - Was there any significance or symbolism in the girl in Japan having western eyes?

I did feel a significance to this - especially when this story coincided with the opening up of Japan to the West.

It was almost as if the woman was offered as the treasure of Japan - the heart if you like. And the Western eyes symbolised the fear of Japan in opening itself to the West as well as the possible hopes of the West to which it was being opened.

I could go further and find extrapolated significance in the character's eventual failure to acquire that of which he dreamed and alternatively, the village's eventual evacuation and destruction.

I'm probably talking through my "proverbial", but I think there is some merit in approaching the story from this perspective whether right or wrong.

[Bookworm_Girl]

I watched the movie today. I thought it was beautifully done. The scenery was gorgeous!

[Bookpossum]

I must try and get hold of it. Also, thanks to Caleb for those interesting thoughts.

[fantasyfan]

I'm afarid that I wasn't really impressed by this novel. Yes, there were some telling moments and a play of gentleness and sorrow as well as scenes of genuine emotion. But despite all that, I simply didn't enjoy the monotonous style. Possibly something was lost in the translation but so much of it was simply flat.

I didn't relate well to the various characters because I felt that generally the prose conveyed very little inner life. Of course that is not true of that final dramatic letter which carries an enormous emotonal ambience--not only in its contents but in the revelation concerning it.

In the end, I found that it was certainly well worth reading. It just didn't move me as much as it has others--which of course is a purely personal reaction.

[paola]

Originally Posted by fantasyfan

I'm afarid that I wasn't really impressed by this novel. Yes, there were some telling moments and a play of gentleness and sorrow as well as scenes of genuine emotion. But despite all that, I simply didn't enjoy the monotonous style. Possibly something was lost in the translation but so much of it was simply flat.

I didn't relate well to the various characters because I felt that generally the prose conveyed very little inner life. Of course that is not true of that final dramatic letter which carries an enormous emotonal ambience--not only in its contents but in the revelation concerning it.

In the end, I found that it was certainly well worth reading. It just didn't move me as much as it has others--which of course is a purely personal reaction.

similar to what I felt!