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jeremymorrison's review against another edition
4.0
A couple who is at the end of a volatile relationship tries to establish a bond by telling each other their most shameful secrets. While the relationship fails, the bond becomes a guiding force in their lives.
jem_carstairs's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Infidelity and Pregnancy
lydialovestoread's review against another edition
2.0
Maybe I didn’t understand the power dynamic or maybe something was lost in translation but I kept waiting for some great revelation that never came.
The author is Italian and the work was translated from the original Italian into English.
The main character is Pietro, a high school teacher with basic education who ends up in the right circles, writing two books about the education system and speaking widely across Italy about his thoughts. He’s charismatic and everyone is drawn to him. But there are long paragraphs of self-congratulation that make him appear too suave and smooth to truly be trusted.
The main dynamic is between Pietro and his former student Teresa. After she graduates they have a fiery relationship in which she belittles and beguiles him, making fun of him and his insecurities. He turns inward and less confidant. In their torrid affair they confess the worst things about themselves, vowing that their knowing is a form of marriage that can be broken. If the relationship is cut off, the secrets are free to be spilled. Long after they break up it haunts Pietro that someone knows the worst thing about him and Teresa retains control from a distance.
We never find out the secret and they never get back together. It was long and ended up feeling dull, then just ending. Not the book for me.
The author is Italian and the work was translated from the original Italian into English.
The main character is Pietro, a high school teacher with basic education who ends up in the right circles, writing two books about the education system and speaking widely across Italy about his thoughts. He’s charismatic and everyone is drawn to him. But there are long paragraphs of self-congratulation that make him appear too suave and smooth to truly be trusted.
The main dynamic is between Pietro and his former student Teresa. After she graduates they have a fiery relationship in which she belittles and beguiles him, making fun of him and his insecurities. He turns inward and less confidant. In their torrid affair they confess the worst things about themselves, vowing that their knowing is a form of marriage that can be broken. If the relationship is cut off, the secrets are free to be spilled. Long after they break up it haunts Pietro that someone knows the worst thing about him and Teresa retains control from a distance.
We never find out the secret and they never get back together. It was long and ended up feeling dull, then just ending. Not the book for me.
bellhut's review against another edition
2.0
awful main character, and the only reason I finished this book never eventuated. part two and part three (especially part three made up for the awfulness of part one’s narrator.
ashleyvenus's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
amyredgreen's review against another edition
5.0
Slim little gem. I found the first section so suspenseful, could not put this down.
peggy_and_chryssy_read's review against another edition
4.0
I adore the English translation of this text -not artificial or clunky at all, the narrative is organic and fluid. Although I strongly dislike the character Pietro, a man who diminishes women to beings defined by their relationships with him, his story, or the part regarding his point-of-view, encapsulates the relativity of the human condition; there really are no absolutes, even when Pietro and those around him convince themselves of the opposite.