Domenico Starnone

This book is called a novel, but really it falls somewhere in the realm of autofiction and memoir. This is Starnone's memories of his overbearing, arrogant, and selfish artist father (the painter of the cover image--which is magnificent). He narrates his childhood memories of paintings, moving, his father's need to be in control and feel important, his father's hatred of his wife's relatives, his downplaying of illness to avoid spending money on doctors, while he happily spent money on his art.

I found the first 150-200 pages to be quite interesting. The next 250 pages were repetitive and just tiring.

There are 3 sections and no chapters--so no breaks. This is 450 pages of words.… (lisätietoja)

The unreliable narrator is at his best in this book. First Execution presents a few questions and leaves you to answer them yourself. What is it like to write and rewrite a story until it is part of you? And more importantly - many of us complain about the "state of the world" and the "great injustices," but how many of us would actually step up and do something about it?

The blurb in the back of the book described it as being about terrorism. I think it's more about searching ourselves for what we really, truly believe. A very interesting read for anyone who is trying to find a place in our confusing world.… (lisätietoja)

This is such a good story on so many levels. As the translator points out, this is a story about containers, and how little the containers we normally associate with (including mothers, fathers, husbands, and children) so little represent the humans who fill these roles in our lives. There is also the inherent irony in the story's title: Ties. Why is it that the father ties his shoelaces so differently from everybody else? Does he really, or is this just a categorization that is politically intended to maim him in the family structure? Starnone does so much to raise the stakes in these human relationships that I am as tempted to expand them into commentary about history and the universe as to see them solely in the context of the narrative itself. Again, this is another story that makes the universe appear so lonely and cold, so structured and unforgiving.… (lisätietoja)