Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #65869 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Customer Reviews

Astonishing!
If you've already read something by Baricco, you should definitely get this one! It's so dense, visual... you actually feel like you're walking through a maze of streets and lanes... you often find yourself disoriented at the beginning, but you'll gradually begin to find your way. The atmosphere is so gripping I found it hard to read it "just like a book". It's more like an adventure... like walking side by side with the characters for a while, then suddenly turn the corner and meet another, only to get back to each of them when you least expect it!
I totally enjoyed this book, definitely my favourite in Baricco's production. I have a couple of reservations, though... The first being that you shouldn't read this as your first approach to Baricco's style. Rather start off with Ocean Sea or Silk (though the latter is definitely less intriguing); they'll put you in the right mood, and you'll see how Baricco evolved from the beginning. And finally, I can't really comment on the English translation as I've only read the original Italian version... and being a translator myself I bet the poor girl had a hard time with the author's unique prose!

A Great City
I've just finished reading City whilst on holiday. Most enjoyable. As a newcomer to Barrico's work, i read this more out of curiosity than anything else. The shift between the axis story - that of child genius Gould who befriends the sexy Satzy Shell - and the metaphysical Western which Shatzy narrates at various intervals is a true joy. The humour that prevails throughout the book is subtle and warm. The regular meetings between Gould and the Professor at the football are sublime.
I found much of the boxing narrative tedious, my only gripe.
Also worth checking out is the narrative album. It's read beautifully by Baricco with music form Air. It concentrates solely on the Western which is in my opinion the finest part of the book.

Not his best, but still good
One of the best - if not *the* best - modern writers around, Baricco's first two novels, 'Silk' and 'Ocean Sea', were masterpieces of understatement, beautifully written, atmospheric.

'City' is different. 'City' - for the first hundred pages at least - is relatively plainly written. The dialogue is short, punchy, and everywhere. The characters are comic-book - a boy genius, a giant, a mute - and the narrative strays over the city apparently not quite knowing where to stop. If you've read Neil Gaiman's novels you will feel in oddly familiar territory.

At the heart of 'City' are three stories: the central tale of the boy genius; a story about a boxer which he creates; and a "metaphysical Western" which his nanny creates. The last two are what you might expect from Baricco - unusual, special. But you get the feeling that Baricco has created the boy genius narrative as a tidy way of hinging it together - in fact, it only brings the overall quality of writing down.

It's still way ahead of anything else out there, however, and I recommend sticking with it. This is eminently readable stuff from a writer of undoubted quality.