Domenico StarnoneReseñas

Absolutely devastating. Relationships are prisons!

I'm really tired of reading novels about straight people cheating on each other, but this psychological drama was reallllly solid.

This is an effective, well put together story that doesn't say much for the institution of marriage.

After reading Starnone's [book:The House on Via Gemito|63283383] I was interested in reading his shorter non-autobiographical fiction.

Trick is fairly short, and covers about 3 days in the lives of a 4-year-old boy and the grandfather who is looking after him while his parents are away.

The grandfather is aged and tired, but still working as an illustrator--and struggling with his declining abilities.

The boy is energetic, bright, and selfish as all 4 year olds are.

The two match wits, but only the grandfather understands this. To the boy, it is a game.

I enjoyed this story--and could feel for the poor grandfather. Four-year-olds are exhausting and clueless while also being capable of getting into trouble but not necessarily out of it.

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.

The book plops us down in the middle of a domestic violence scene, and gives us no reason to stick around.½

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.

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.

An elegantly written story that intertwines opposites such as hope/despair, confidence/fear, and young/old. All while intimately describing four days the narrator spends with his grandson. It made me appreciate good literature. I think the introduction written by the translator should be at the very end since it makes much more sense after finishing the story.

Fuori registro è un libriccino di centotrenta pagine formato da quattordici storie dedicate agli insegnanti e a cosa può accadere loro nello svolgimento di questa professione. Dato che non sono mai stata al di là della cattedra, ho preso la lettura di Fuori registro come una piacevole rimembranza dei miei anni da liceale.

Starnone, infatti, ci racconta storie che sembrano assurde, ma, se ci pensate bene, ricorderete certamente qualcosa di simile (soprattutto se siete passati dalle scuole medie superiori). Per esempio, la ragazza che cambia nome ogni giorno. Nella mia scuola c'era una ragazza che cambiava colore di capelli ogni settimana.

È bello quindi ritrovare in Starnone quella bizzarria presente in ogni scuola media superiore che si rispetti. Stento a credere che non abbiate mai sentito un insegnante lamentarsi della scarsa collaborazione dei colleghi quando si tratta di mettersi a lavorare sul serio a un progetto, oppure di non aver preso in giro con i compagni qualche mania o tic dei docenti.

Fuori registro è un libro simpatico e lo consiglio a chiunque voglia tuffarsi nell'ambiente scolastico, passando qualche ora con i vecchi ricordi.

Ho poco da dire su questo ennesimo romanzo italiano ad occuparsi della cosiddetta "crisi della famiglia", un tema abusatissimo sia nel cinema che nella letteratura nostrane e che ormai da decenni è stato declinato in tutte le salse.
La struttura ed i personaggi sono sempre gli stessi, con qualche piccola variazione sul tema; infatti anche in questo caso abbiamo l'uomo immaturo e patologicamente irresponsabile che si accompagna ad una moglie castrante e cerca rifugio in un'amante giovane bella e libera. Sullo sfondo i figli, anche loro variamente nevrotici ed infelici. E' tutto indiscutibilmente misero e frustrante, coi protagonisti che si prendono troppo sul serio e senza mai un momento più leggero per spezzare la tensione. Un pessimismo totalizzante che fa il giro e diventa superficialità perché la vita non è mai così assoluta, nemmeno nel dolore.
Non è neanche un brutto libro in realtà, perché si legge con piacere e la curiosità di arrivare alla fine c'è: il problema è che non racconta nulla di nuovo, non riesce a spiccare né per lo stile né per i contenuti.
A lettura conclusa non mi è rimasto niente se non una sensazione di già visto ed una vaga irritazione verso i personaggi: il classico libro presto letto e presto dimenticato.½

Nonostante l'ironia un po' forzata, la seconda parte alla lunga è divertente, per carità. Però non regge il confronto con l'autobiografico affetto della prima, con la quale non stabilisce un legame che in un paio di passaggi un po' forzati. Peccato poi per la brevità del brano di "intervallo", che messo così suona un po' posticcio ma è ontologicamente molto interessante e avrebbe meritato più spazio e altra collocazione. Insomma, un esperimento eterogeneo non troppo riuscito.

Una struttura da thriller (pronta per il cinema, o meglio per il teatro) e una scrittura leggera al servizio di un devastante dramma familiare. Una narrazione in cui il gioco rashomoniano dello scambio dei punti di vista sulla medesima vicenda porta a osservare - per la verità in maniera un po' troppo manichea - che nessuno può essere considerato altro che colpevole.

Non mi è piaciuto, l'ho trovato un racconto davvero negativo. Offre spunti di riflessioni, ma solo se si è del tutto privi di empatia e rispetto.
Arrivare alla fine di questa lettura è davvero uno sforzo notevole! Non ho ben capito l'intento dell'autore.. se voleva far riflettere su certi temi avrebbe potuto creare tutt'altra storia, magari piena di empatia e certo dolore (perché non sono eventi facili da fare propri), ma anche rispetto per se stessi e l'altro e soprattutto crescita personale. Invece no, abbiamo un tipo che molla i figli come fossero carta straccia, continua a tradire la moglie di cui è terrorizzato... la moglie é probabilmente isterica e piena di odio.. E poi Lidia? Scusa chi è si metterebbe con un uomo che ha completamente abbandonato i figli?! Non può essere un dettaglio da poco.. A me una persona del genere spaventerebbe, non la vorrei certo al mio fianco °A° a Lidia invece sembra non interessare minimamente.

Lately, literary translators have been speaking up in the media about the need to have their work recognised, alongside that of the authors whose works they translate. The importance of the translator as the conveyor, in another language, of the original author’s thoughts, and the enormity of the creative effort involved in this exercise, is so obvious that it is surprising that there is any need to debate this matter at all. At the end of Europa Editions’ edition of Domenico Starnone’s Confidenza – “Trust” – its translator Jhumpa Lahiri provides an eye-opening afterword about her experience of the translation process, both with regard to this particular novel and more generally.

Lahiri’s relationship with Italian is interesting in itself. She was already an acclaimed writer in English – a Pulitzer winner, no less – when she moved to Rome in 2012. She has since written Dove mi trovo, her first novel in Italian, the language which she “has come to love most”, and translated another two Starnone novels – Ties and Trick – from Italian into English. The afterword reveals her alertness to the nuances of both languages and the choices she faced as a translator, including the central one – how to convey the novel’s title. Lahiri explains why she opted for Trust even though, as she admits, Confidenza has slightly different connotations – “the idea of a secret exchange, as opposed to the English sense of trust in one’s abilities, or certitude”.

Indeed, a “secret exchange” lies at the heart of this novel. From the very first pages we are immediately plunged into the narrative - Pietro Vella, the novel’s protagonist, embarks on a tempestuous affair with a bright and ebullient ex-student of his, Teresa Quadraro. Their love blows hot and cold, and in a strange bid to place their relationship on a more solid ground, Pietro and Teresa exchange each other’s worst secret. Such a shameful confidenza can only bind them closer together. Or so they think – only to break up a couple of days later.

This secret exchange is a McGuffin and – with apologies if this counts a spoiler of sorts – just don’t read this novel if your only incentive is a prurient curiosity or the expectation of a ground-shattering revelation. The confidenza of the title however serves as the link between Pietro and Teresa over both their lifetimes (and throughout the novel), surviving Pietro’s marriage with Nadia and his unlikely success as an author and intellectual.

I enjoyed this novel, even though it left me conflicted about its ultimate quality. Narratives which consist of a retrospective account of the protagonists’ lives are hardly new on the scene and seem to be particularly favoured by Italian novelists and filmmakers (I made the same comment in relation to Sandro Veronesi’s Il Colibrì). Moreover, Pietro’s story is often a relatively unexciting, humdrum one and this mundaneness sometimes rubs onto the novel itself. What struck me favourably, on the other hand, were Starnone’s psychological insights into an unusual relationship in which, from the very start, fear, power and control are as central as love, admiration and physical attraction. This concept is expressed obliquely through the (three) different narrative voices – whose identity I will not reveal, there is a limit to the spoilers I dare include in a review!

Lahiri ends her afterword with a song of praise to Starnone: It is my engagement with Starnone’s texts over the past six years that has rendered me, definitively, a translator, and this novel activity in my creative life has rendered clear the inherent instability not only of language but of life, which is why, in undertaking the task of choosing English words to take the place of his Italian ones, I am ever thankful and forever changed. In the view of this reader, it is a task brilliantly accomplished.

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2021/10/trust-by-domenico-starnone.html

Házassági mélyfúrások. Avagy: van, amit jobb lett vón nem tudni. Starnone szakszerűen lekaparja az illúziókat az emberi kapcsolatokról, bevisz minket a szégyen, az elhallgatás, megcsalás és megcsalatás bugyraiba. A technikai végrehajtás pazar: előbb kibont egy réteget, aztán kibont még egy réteget, és amikor már azt hisszük, nincs több réteg, ő előhúz még egyet a cilinderből egy frenetikus lezárás formájában. (De azért remélem, a macskának nem esett baja.) Nincs szépítés, nincs kecmec, szégyelljük magunkat.

Különben meg kivagyok az utóbbi pár naptól: hasmenéses vírus, Térey-ösztöndíj, „rasszizmussal a rasszizmus ellen” tüntetés, egy pusztulat az egész hét. Jó lenne valami felemelőt, valami vidámat olvasni. De úgyis egy norvég regényt fogok.

Lately, literary translators have been speaking up in the media about the need to have their work recognised, alongside that of the authors whose works they translate. The importance of the translator as the conveyor, in another language, of the original author’s thoughts, and the enormity of the creative effort involved in this exercise, is so obvious that it is surprising that there is any need to debate this matter at all. At the end of Europa Editions’ edition of Domenico Starnone’s Confidenza – “Trust” – its translator Jhumpa Lahiri provides an eye-opening afterword about her experience of the translation process, both with regard to this particular novel and more generally.

Lahiri’s relationship with Italian is interesting in itself. She was already an acclaimed writer in English – a Pulitzer winner, no less – when she moved to Rome in 2012. She has since written Dove mi trovo, her first novel in Italian, the language which she “has come to love most”, and translated another two Starnone novels – Ties and Trick – from Italian into English. The afterword reveals her alertness to the nuances of both languages and the choices she faced as a translator, including the central one – how to convey the novel’s title. Lahiri explains why she opted for Trust even though, as she admits, Confidenza has slightly different connotations – “the idea of a secret exchange, as opposed to the English sense of trust in one’s abilities, or certitude”.

Indeed, a “secret exchange” lies at the heart of this novel. From the very first pages we are immediately plunged into the narrative - Pietro Vella, the novel’s protagonist, embarks on a tempestuous affair with a bright and ebullient ex-student of his, Teresa Quadraro. Their love blows hot and cold, and in a strange bid to place their relationship on a more solid ground, Pietro and Teresa exchange each other’s worst secret. Such a shameful confidenza can only bind them closer together. Or so they think – only to break up a couple of days later.

This secret exchange is a McGuffin and – with apologies if this counts a spoiler of sorts – just don’t read this novel if your only incentive is a prurient curiosity or the expectation of a ground-shattering revelation. The confidenza of the title however serves as the link between Pietro and Teresa over both their lifetimes (and throughout the novel), surviving Pietro’s marriage with Nadia and his unlikely success as an author and intellectual.

I enjoyed this novel, even though it left me conflicted about its ultimate quality. Narratives which consist of a retrospective account of the protagonists’ lives are hardly new on the scene and seem to be particularly favoured by Italian novelists and filmmakers (I made the same comment in relation to Sandro Veronesi’s Il Colibrì). Moreover, Pietro’s story is often a relatively unexciting, humdrum one and this mundaneness sometimes rubs onto the novel itself. What struck me favourably, on the other hand, were Starnone’s psychological insights into an unusual relationship in which, from the very start, fear, power and control are as central as love, admiration and physical attraction. This concept is expressed obliquely through the (three) different narrative voices – whose identity I will not reveal, there is a limit to the spoilers I dare include in a review!

Lahiri ends her afterword with a song of praise to Starnone: It is my engagement with Starnone’s texts over the past six years that has rendered me, definitively, a translator, and this novel activity in my creative life has rendered clear the inherent instability not only of language but of life, which is why, in undertaking the task of choosing English words to take the place of his Italian ones, I am ever thankful and forever changed. In the view of this reader, it is a task brilliantly accomplished.

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2021/10/trust-by-domenico-starnone.html

I wish I could give it 3.5 stars. It was marvelously constructed and vividly drawn, but I didn't love it — perhaps because it was so gloomy. I still love Jhumpa Lahiri, though. Brava to her for taking on translation.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

The first section, from Pietro's point of view was by far the longest and I grew tired of it. The second section featured the extremely unlikeable Emma, Pietro's now adult daughter. Finally the third section, from the perspective of Pietro's former pupil and then girlfriend Teresa, corrects or contradicts elements of the first section. This revision was the most interesting part of the story for me and I wish that section had been longer.

Overall this seemed to be a lot of fuss about not very much, with deliberate opacity and ambiguity, which left me occasionally wondering if I was missing the point - maybe I was...

Hoe meer ik van Starnone lees, hoe ik hem als auteur begin te waarderen. Geregeld heeft hij het over thema's als wie ben ik, vanwaar kom ik, waar ga ik heen. Ook dit boek is weer erg geslaagd in het omcirkelen van deze levensthema's. Hoofdpersoon Danielle, een boekillustrator op leeftijd, moet enkele dagen gaan oppassen op zijn vierjarige kleinzoon net op het moment dat hij weer (nog eens) een werkopdracht kreeg. Tussen de vermoeide oudere man die zijn leven begint te overschouwen en de levenslustige maar ook eigenwijze kleinzoon ontspint zich gedurende enkele dagen een soort machtsstrijd. Op zich is dat al een mooi uitgangspunt.
Wat dit boek een bijkomende glans geeft, is dat Danielle een nieuwe uitgave van 'The Jolly Corner', een spookverhaal van Henry James uit 1906 moet illustreren. Jhumpa Lahiri, zelf een interessant auteur, zorgde voor een Engelse vertaling en schreef daarbij een voorwoord dat hier in de Nederlandstalige uitgave werd opgenomen. Zij legt daarbij interessante parallellen tussen het verhaal van James en het boek dat Starnone schreef. Zij adviseert om beide verhalen te lezen om ten volle te kunnen genieten van de manier waarop Starnone speelt met de wederzijdse spiegeling qua thema's, verwoordingen, opbouw enz... tussen beide verhalen. Ik heb dat nog niet gedaan maar plan dat ooit wel te doen. Voorlopig hield het enkel bij dit boek van Starnone en daar heb ik best weer van genoten.½

I liked the structure a lot (wife's perspective - husband's perspective - kids' perspective) and the twist at the end. A sharp, short read.

(Summer reading: a book that has been translated.)

Il titolo è otto storie di obiettivi mancati. Fallimenti vari, di comune umanità. Resi in maniera straordinaria dal sempre ottimo Starnone. Che sa scrivere, nulla da dire. E riesce a divertire il lettore raccontando cose semplici. Avevo già letto questo libro. Come al solito la mia fragile memoria mi consente di rileggerlo senza perdere, per nulla, il gusto della lettura. E, credo come allora, mi ha divertito leggere i racconti di Starnone e della mia giovinezza. Straordinaria la storia della buca delle lettere, con la socialità che si dava una volta a “tutte le altre destinazioni”. Internet era lontana; ma anche Milano. E poi l’esperienza da vogatore, terminata prima di iniziare. Eccezionale il racconto dell’operazione all’orecchio. Sembra di essere presenti e di vivere con l’autore l’odissea ospedaliera. Compreso l’anticipo della dipartita e la ricerca del medico operante. Professori che entrano in area di santità. Strade secondarie ha ispirato un bel film di Orlando, Silvio, non il furioso. Simpatica la difficolta di a gestire la ‘500, per motivi politici e tecnici. Carinissima anche la storia con la figlia neonata a Riccione e la moglie che lo assilla. Moglie poi lasciata per un incredibile amore con una impiegata della Napoletanagas. Poi per divisa e l’incredibile storia del balck-out. Viva la mia pessima memoria.

Il titolo del libro si riferisce alla strada del Vomero (strada che collega via Cilea e piazza Quattro Giornate) in cui ha vissuto la famiglia del narratore.

Federì, il protagonista del romanzo, è un artista, ma è costretto a fare il ferroviere per sopravvivere. Egli sfoga la sua frustrazione su tutti coloro che lo circondano, in particolare sulla moglie e sui figli. La voce narrante è quella del suo primogenito, che ricostruisce la vita del padre, segnata dal rancore e dalla violenza.

woof

In this novel, a retired high school teacher from Naples, now living in Rome discovers that a former pupil was arrested on suspicion of terrorism. After her release, he visits her and she makes an odd request -- that he retrieve a specific book from an apartment.

In this novel, author Domenico Starnone considers abandoning a new novel he's just begun, then decides to continue it, with a few changes. Later, a contentious encounter inspires him with a different way to proceed with the story.

This is an odd and utterly fantastic book. Starnone alternates between a novel and the author's difficulties in writing that novel. Which should make Stasi's tale feel less real, but despite the way the author alters the plot as he goes along, it all works. I've read books that go meta, but none as effective and interesting as this one.½

What did I think about Trick? I felt tricked by the author, if you must know. Starnone’s story started out with such potential. We have Daniele, an older man in his 70s, set in his ways, finding himself exploring his identity and reflecting upon his past ( and implications of choices made) while he babysits Mario, his precocious 4-year old grandson in his former home in Naples. Perfect setting for a haunting story of memories, familial images and deeply insightful revelations, I would have thought. Instead, we find an energetic child testing the limits of his grandfather’s patience (which, to be honest, are on a bit of a short fuse). The grand revelations hoped for never seem to materialize, although we do see some exploration of what it means to lead an authentic life and not one overshadowed with illusions. I found the balcony scene to be overly dramatic and even the “ghosts” that come to haunt Daniele fail to give this story the spiritual life it seems to be looking for. In the end, I was left feeling disappointed by this story.