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lucyatoz's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Devotion by Marco Missiroli, and translated from Italian by Alex Valente, is the story of Carlo and Margherita, living in Milan, Italy, married, without children, and having sexual desires for a university student in their class and their physiotherapist respectively.
It is set in a beautiful city with a couple who seem to be happily married, and it explores the tensions in theirs and how the lives of Sofia and Carlo are impacted by their extramarital affairs. There are two sub-plots in the story. one which deals with animal cruelty, which took away from the narrative and did cause me to put the book to one side and debate about continuing it. The other was Margherita's relationship with her mother and how, following a fall, it changes.
Overall, although there were elements of the story I appreciated, it just did not flow for me. I am not sure if this was due to the story being "lost in translation" from Italian to English or that certain aspects of the animal cruelty story overwhelmed me so much more than what the story was about.
I borrowed a copy of this book from Taunton Library and listened to it on Spotify. I read this for prompt 49, set in a city starting with the letter "M", for the 52 Book Club Reading Challenge 2024.
It is set in a beautiful city with a couple who seem to be happily married, and it explores the tensions in theirs and how the lives of Sofia and Carlo are impacted by their extramarital affairs. There are two sub-plots in the story. one which deals with animal cruelty, which took away from the narrative and did cause me to put the book to one side and debate about continuing it. The other was Margherita's relationship with her mother and how, following a fall, it changes.
Overall, although there were elements of the story I appreciated, it just did not flow for me. I am not sure if this was due to the story being "lost in translation" from Italian to English or that certain aspects of the animal cruelty story overwhelmed me so much more than what the story was about.
I borrowed a copy of this book from Taunton Library and listened to it on Spotify. I read this for prompt 49, set in a city starting with the letter "M", for the 52 Book Club Reading Challenge 2024.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content
vincef's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death and Sexual content
Minor: Terminal illness, Xenophobia, and Excrement