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Title: City by Alessandro Baricco ISBN: 0-375-72548-2 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 17 June, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.67 (3 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Follow Barrico on a splendid tour through his City
Comment: Barrico's 'City' seems, in all its fragmented splendour, a thoroughly modern book. Yet, at the same time it casts a long glance back to the origins of the novel as a Western cultural invention, emulating the picaresque models of Cervantes and Rabelais, or the 'sentimental' journeys of Laurence Sterne. Barrico says he has conceived of the book as the plan of a (European) town, with its irregular, organically grown quarters, streets, buildings. Reading the book then amounts to an exploratory ramble through this city, with sudden twists and overlaps in the narrative as you turn a corner and an unexpected vista opens onto a different neighbourhood. It takes a few pages to get used to, but once one has adjusted to Barrico's pace, the experience becomes utterly engrossing. Barrico has real talent as a story teller; his prose has the directness and vivacity to keep you very involved.
It is difficult to say what this book is 'about'. Given the heterogeneous and evolving nature of a city it would be against the spirit of Baricco's undertaking to outline the see-it-all-in-one-hour tour. A few important themes that emerged from my reading - as the major arteries in this sprawling town - are the importance of personal authenticity and the nature of mentorship. Ultimately, the city becomes a metaphor for human life, which is also a crooked, haphazard affair with many unexpected twists and turns. But at each crossing, we are free to choose our direction, if we really want to. Even the predicament of being a 'genius' doesn't liberate one from making these tough choices, time and again. To understand why that is you'll need to read this book ...
Rating: 5
Summary: If bank robbers go to jail, why do intellectuals roam free?
Comment: I made the mistake of holding off on reading this because the critics didn't seem to like it. But the criticisms are injust. It is more like Ocean Sea than it is like Silk. I would suggest that it is a little more mature than Ocean Sea. It is vast and surreal, yet cohesive and holds your attention. It is a wonderful book -- touching and funny and depressing, blah blah blah. Difficult to describe. But absolutely worth reading.
Rating: 4
Summary: Although critics may find it disappointing....
Comment: ... I really enjoyed this book. It tells you about the day dreams of a boy, who could not live his childhood to the full because it happened to him to be a genius. You will love the stories he tells himself, like the one about the famous boxer, because they're written in the "typical" magical Baricco's style.
You will feel pity for the genius kid and you will be amazed at the young girl , who can reach his hearth and teach him how to be free. Two scenes you won't forget: the fast food experience, and the lesson about the porch. I keep on reading it loud and being touched.
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Title: Ocean Sea by Alessandro Baricco, Alistair McEwen ISBN: 0375703950 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 27 June, 2000 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Silk by Alessandro Baricco ISBN: 0375703829 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 25 August, 1998 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
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Title: Death and the Dervish (Writings from an Unbound Europe) by Mesa Selimovic, Bogdan Rakic, Stephen Dickey, Mesa Selminovic ISBN: 0810112973 Publisher: Northwestern University Press Pub. Date: July, 1996 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: Blood Meridian : Or the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy ISBN: 0679728759 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 05 May, 1992 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Yellow Dog by Martin Amis ISBN: 1401352030 Publisher: Hyperion Pub. Date: 05 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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