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Gabrielle's Reviews > Soie
Soie
by
by
Gabrielle's review
bookshelves: movie-fodder, own-a-copy, historical, used-bookstore-finds, cultural-shock, read-in-2017, reviewed
Feb 11, 2017
bookshelves: movie-fodder, own-a-copy, historical, used-bookstore-finds, cultural-shock, read-in-2017, reviewed
I had heard so much praise about this little book: after spending a snowy morning in reading it, I have to confess I feel underwhelmed.
The beauty of the language is undeniable. It was originally written in Italian: I read a French translation, and the delicate rhythm of the sentences is quite lovely. The use of repetition obviously tries to make the narrative poetic and dream-like, and it succeeds... up to a point.
To be honest, I found it a wee bit cliché: in 1860, a French silk worm merchant travels to Japan after an epidemic contaminates the more easily acquired silk worm eggs of the Middle East. There he meets a woman and after exchanging a glance, they are in love and he must find a way to go back and be with her.
I can see how some people would find this wildly romantic and fairy-tale like. I'm sure such a story would have made a perfect Scheherazade fable, but it did not move me half as much as I had expected. Don't get me wrong: it is a charming little book! But it is incredibly superficial: there's no character development, no description of the marvels encountered by our main character during his exotic travels, nothing! Some might argue that it is not the point, and they would not be wrong, but I like my love stories with a little meat around the bone (no pun intended).
Lovely, but shallow.
The beauty of the language is undeniable. It was originally written in Italian: I read a French translation, and the delicate rhythm of the sentences is quite lovely. The use of repetition obviously tries to make the narrative poetic and dream-like, and it succeeds... up to a point.
To be honest, I found it a wee bit cliché: in 1860, a French silk worm merchant travels to Japan after an epidemic contaminates the more easily acquired silk worm eggs of the Middle East. There he meets a woman and after exchanging a glance, they are in love and he must find a way to go back and be with her.
I can see how some people would find this wildly romantic and fairy-tale like. I'm sure such a story would have made a perfect Scheherazade fable, but it did not move me half as much as I had expected. Don't get me wrong: it is a charming little book! But it is incredibly superficial: there's no character development, no description of the marvels encountered by our main character during his exotic travels, nothing! Some might argue that it is not the point, and they would not be wrong, but I like my love stories with a little meat around the bone (no pun intended).
Lovely, but shallow.
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Reading Progress
August 4, 2015
– Shelved
August 4, 2015
– Shelved as:
to-read
November 9, 2015
– Shelved as:
movie-fodder
January 6, 2017
– Shelved as:
own-a-copy
January 6, 2017
– Shelved as:
historical
January 6, 2017
– Shelved as:
used-bookstore-finds
February 11, 2017
–
Started Reading
February 11, 2017
– Shelved as:
cultural-shock
February 11, 2017
– Shelved as:
read-in-2017
February 11, 2017
– Shelved as:
reviewed
February 11, 2017
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-3 of 3 (3 new)
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I was feeling a bit like you, not quite being drawn in by the characters and the situation, thinking it was a bit cliched, until he words "return, or I will die". I don't know what happened then, the story suddenly became huge and it made me cry at the end, it seemed to have so much significance.
Cesar wrote: "I was feeling a bit like you, not quite being drawn in by the characters and the situation, thinking it was a bit cliched, until he words "return, or I will die". I don't know what happened then, t..."That was exactly the reaction I was hoping to have and did not get! I'm happy for you that you found it so moving.
Worth a look...beautifully photographed as well.