Un re senza distrazioni

This slim novel is packed full of remarkably vivid imagery. Giono's prose partially explains this intensity, but it is also the authors use of the contrast between darkness and light. The scene with Langlois and the Priest standing outside the rectory, looking out from the torchlight towards the dar Leggi tutto

This book is intense, challenging, and very strange. It is the story of a man sent to a remote village in the French Alps in the 1840's to investigate a series of murders. The descriptions of the village itself, the family connections of its residents, and of nature and the surrounding countryside a Leggi tutto

Au XIXe siècle, la neige condamne les régions les plus reculées de France à la paralysie, au silence et à l'ennui durant les longs mois d'hiver. Une série d'assassinat va pourtant réveiller brutalement l'un de ces villages figés dans l'attente, le plongeant dans la terreur et l'excitation... S'il est Leggi tutto

I think NYRB is starting to lead us all on with the hyperbole of heretofore untranslated "masterpieces." They're really starting to (maybe it's been a long time) dress up slight novels of middling to no significance as hidden gems. I think I'll stick with the older ones - you're more sure to find go Leggi tutto

A lire avec des moonboots

This book added an extra ice sheet to my cold cold heart.

I find parts of A King Alone downright inscrutable, and I'm not sure if it's because there's a hidden story here that Giono steadfastly does not spell out, or if it’s because the whole thing is just incredibly strange. The book focuses on the character Langlois and his time in a village in the Frenc Leggi tutto

Why oh why did Giono insist on dragging us through 75 pages of boring ass stuff about embroideresses and parties at Madame Tim's house and the two or so months of Langlois's marriage? The beginning of this book was so damn sharp, so very nearly perfect I would have been happy to read it over and ove Leggi tutto

This is an eccentric little novel. Frankly, at times, I just didn't get it.

Incredible. Incredible!!! I would advise ignoring the synopsis. Reading this was like sliding into a bath of cream electrified by a live wire. I needed frequent breaks, but I couldn't take them. If you'd like to not be in your own head for a while, this book is for you. If you love unreliable narrat Leggi tutto