Italo Svevo (1861–1928)

Alright, nothing too exciting. The format and way of telling the story and the style of characters really reminded me of the fables the main character writes. It's also not too sad, which is good cause the subject could easily turn out that way. I dunno, not much to say about it. Good enough but nothing special, just nice and didn't leave me with any lingering thoughts.

Quick plot summary so I can remember what happens if I come back to it in the future, don't click unless you want it all spoiled! Guy who wrote a book 40 years ago and still harbours dreams of being a proper literary star lives with his ill brother who he looks after reads to while working for a businessman and writing fables about sparrows. A cruel friend tricks him into thinking a publisher has signed a contract to publish his old book for a lot of money. This changes how man feels, he acts as more of an arsehole to his brother because he's worried, it preoccupies his mind. Eventually he works out he's been had, feels like an idiot, punches cruel friend a bit. All ends happily because through weirdness with exchange rate and cheques he actually made money out of the fake cheque cruel friend made out to him under false name. Roll credits… (mer)

Literary masterpiece, with a shocking final twist.

"Confessions of Zeno" is the journal of a middle-aged man in Trieste, Italy (in the NE, near Croatia, Slovenia and Austria). He first describes briefly his difficult relationship with his father, and his problems quitting smoking, but then moves to the heart of his narrative, which concerns his life spent with a successful merchant-class family, with whose father he has a business relationship, and whose two daughters he desires a personal relationship.

He courts each daughter in turn, eventually marrying one, but keeps a mistress for a time, and comes to befriend the man who marries the other daughter, even entering into a business relationship with him. He manages to have a child, and lives a relatively quiet bourgeois existence.

The problem is, he is utterly detached, self-absorbed, and hypocritical. A narcissist's narcissist. When I say "business relationship", I use the term loosely. He despises honest labor!

Worse, during the various troubles he has with his friends and family, he cannot see it is his personality which causes them. The book is subtle and clever, describing the story through his eyes, but still making it clear he is usually the trouble-maker. The unreliability of a narcissist's narrative is its own undoing.

The journal was supposed to have been written for the sake of a psychologist, who is now publishing it to convince his patient he requires more therapy. For the greater part, it is a generally plain book, with interesting characters who take us through interesting adventures, even if those adventures are made comical by the man writing the tale, unaware what a clown he truly is.

But only by the end of the book does the book's full effect dawn on us, and we finally understand the psychologist. The ending is quite subtle. I was shocked enough to re-read the last few pages a few times before actually believing what it seemed to say. But the book's message was that much more effective because of this subtlety. After reading a "plain" book for so many pages, the ending is that much more powerful.

The book's style is clear and engaging, the characters well drawn and endearing, and the stories charming. Many readers will be happy enough to follow this "tragicomic" story for its own sake, but patient and insightful readers will be rewarded with a conclusion that forces them to question what the book had told them all along, and reflect on the meaning of life, love, family, and friendship.… (mer)