Author: Michael Uras
Format reviewed: Ebook
Source: Netgalley
Publisher: Hodder & Stoghton
Publication Date: 19th March 2020
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Giacomo is stuck in a funk he can't shake - and a translation of Moby Dick he can't finish. When he's summoned home to Sardinia, to say a final goodbye to his dying grandmother, he's offered the perfect opportunity to escape.
On the noisy, sun-drenched island, Giacomo reconnects with long-lost friends and overbearing relatives, relives the childhood he once couldn't wait to leave behind, and rediscovers new joie-de-vivre within him. Never mind that he's making no progress on his translation. . .
When the time comes to leave once more, Giacomo wonders: has he fallen back in love with his home-island? Or has he been hiding from something which he needs the courage to return and confront?
But most importantly - is his grandma really as ill as she's claiming to be?
On the noisy, sun-drenched island, Giacomo reconnects with long-lost friends and overbearing relatives, relives the childhood he once couldn't wait to leave behind, and rediscovers new joie-de-vivre within him. Never mind that he's making no progress on his translation. . .
When the time comes to leave once more, Giacomo wonders: has he fallen back in love with his home-island? Or has he been hiding from something which he needs the courage to return and confront?
But most importantly - is his grandma really as ill as she's claiming to be?
This is a tricky book for me to review - you may not think so if you know how tempted I am by anything with an exotic location, a holiday feel to it, and a gorgeous cover - obviously all the elements that first attracted me to the book.
And I can definitely say that is is an interesting read, each time I picked up the book I was happy to be between the pages although it didn't really call to me in between. The writing is good and I feel I have learnt a lot from reading the story, about life in Sardinia especially for locals in a small village.
About family life in Sardinia, and also about the work of a translator. Which did amuse me as the first thing I noticed on opening it, was that it is a translated piece of fiction itself, and the main character is a translator.
I loved his description of his job as a nearly man - someone who says nearly the same thing as the original author.. but not quite identical. The theme of nearly runs through the book quite a lot.
Yet there are no chapters, lots of paragraph breaks, but no actual chapters which I found to be disconcerting. And if feels as though the chain of thought dots about seemingly at random. One minute we are perhaps in the hospital at Giacomo's grandma's bedside, the next its gone off a tangent as perhaps a memory is introduced, or something about a friend or acquaintance.
In some ways it felt disjointed, but in others possibly a bit eccentric. There were characters of course to get to know, and I did feel as though I knew Giacomo's family quite well by the end of the story.
I have probably missed a key point in the book, as I'm just not sure it worked for me. but I can easily see how others will probably like it. I suspect that Giacomo translating a new version of Moby Dick with regular references to it were off-putting for me, as I've never read Moby Dick. Equally I've never heard of half the literary works that are mentioned even in passing, and thus a connection to the story fully was just out of my reach.
An interesting book that I am glad I had the opportunity to read even, and I loved getting an insight into Giacomo's little portion of Sardinia.
Thank you to Hodder and Netgalley for this copy which i have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.
And I can definitely say that is is an interesting read, each time I picked up the book I was happy to be between the pages although it didn't really call to me in between. The writing is good and I feel I have learnt a lot from reading the story, about life in Sardinia especially for locals in a small village.
About family life in Sardinia, and also about the work of a translator. Which did amuse me as the first thing I noticed on opening it, was that it is a translated piece of fiction itself, and the main character is a translator.
I loved his description of his job as a nearly man - someone who says nearly the same thing as the original author.. but not quite identical. The theme of nearly runs through the book quite a lot.
Yet there are no chapters, lots of paragraph breaks, but no actual chapters which I found to be disconcerting. And if feels as though the chain of thought dots about seemingly at random. One minute we are perhaps in the hospital at Giacomo's grandma's bedside, the next its gone off a tangent as perhaps a memory is introduced, or something about a friend or acquaintance.
In some ways it felt disjointed, but in others possibly a bit eccentric. There were characters of course to get to know, and I did feel as though I knew Giacomo's family quite well by the end of the story.
I have probably missed a key point in the book, as I'm just not sure it worked for me. but I can easily see how others will probably like it. I suspect that Giacomo translating a new version of Moby Dick with regular references to it were off-putting for me, as I've never read Moby Dick. Equally I've never heard of half the literary works that are mentioned even in passing, and thus a connection to the story fully was just out of my reach.
An interesting book that I am glad I had the opportunity to read even, and I loved getting an insight into Giacomo's little portion of Sardinia.
Thank you to Hodder and Netgalley for this copy which i have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.
No comments:
Post a Comment