Silk

Alessandro Baricco knows the fine art of storytelling. His use of colors, tenderness, eroticism and time weave a most beautiful canvas print of words. Silk is the International Bestseller about Hervé Joncour, a thirty two year old Frenchman living in the 1860's. While on leave from the Armed Forces, Joncour meets with a friend, Baldabieu, who is a successful owner of multiple silk mills in Lavilledieu, their small French village. After telling Joncour the devastation that will soon hit the area due to a sickness in the silkworms, and a grand and wonderous answer to the problem in traveling to faraway Japan, Joncour decides to accept the challenge and make the journey. The beauty in the story is wrapped in the silk that is Joncour's travels... all that he sees, experiences and feels, and the people he meets in a world so unknown to his own. Blend in the warm receptions upon his return by his wife Hélén, and the slow weaving of an burning enigma through the chance encounters with a beautiful women in Japan and... Well, I'll let Baricco tell you the story, for it truly is amazing. And, this was a very fast read. At less than 200 pages, I was able to read it in one sitting, which I never do. An excellent story told with such elegance and eloquence will leave readers wanting more. I definitely recommend reading the book before watching the movie, which is an impeccable translation from book to screen, and one of the most beautiful adaptations ever, in every sense of the word.

An elegant, understated read. One of my favourite books. I read it in two sittings over one weekend. Recommended reading.

Exactly as promised

The book makes a fascinating start with a great subject and succeeds in creating a pleasantly surreal, dreamy atmosphere, but the minimalistic, almost poetic style was not to my taste. True, this kind of melancholic, half-silent prose is difficult to carry off well and I can't think of examples where it works. Still, I read it to the end because a story of a passionate, forbidden love is always irresistible.

A beautiful short novel that combines a spare and elegant prose with an enthralling story of 19th century cross-cultural romance. The story begins in a provincial French town in the middle of the century, where a young Frenchman becomes involved in the developing silk industry. (The tone is perfection: having just read Madame Bovary, it seemed to me that Baricco was able to channel the spirit of the time and place amazingly well). The industry's key problem is the lack of a reliable source of healthy silk worm eggs, so the young man travels to Japan (still cut off from the rest of the world) to find them. In Japan he does find the eggs, but he also meets a Japanese grandee who speaks French, and the grandee's beautiful (and silent) mistress, whose long glances the young man cannot forget -- . The story winds on from there, bringing in the hero's relationship with his wife (who has a beautiful voice) and the impact of history on the links among the characters. A very beautiful novel, and at times a very erotic one.

The best silk feels like it is not even there. Light and airy, high quality silk exudes a softness and comfort that seems as if it exists by sight only. Feel it and one feels nothing. Alessandro Baricco's "Silk", a novel inspired by the growing and pursuit of that exact thread, produces a similar effect. Existentially heavy, it reads like a parable, a poem, a mere sketch of a diary entry. Simple yet profoundly complex, "Silk" is a wisp of a novel that one cannot soon forget. Herve Joncour deals in silkworms. As the worldwide market demands, he finds himself in Japan, furtively traveling in a protective, isolated culture. Without speaking a word or even sharing a language, Herve and a young concubine flirt, awakening an emotion in the silk merchant that would haunt his life forever. The details are few but the effect is nuanced. Baricco's expertly capture emotions that change lifetimes with the fewest of words. "Silk" may be read and enjoyed in under an hour, but it will stay with the reader for years.

This is a love story between a man, the possibility of what could have been a great love affaire.... and the wife who loved him.

Great for a book group choice. Rather like reading a prosaic poem. Very compact. I could find time to read it twice in the month before the book group. If you read it too fast you will miss the depth of the text. Don't be fooled by that stupid cover which in no way reflects the content.

Around 1860 there is an epidemic disease among the silkworm eggs in France. Hervé Joncour organizes - in the course of four years - four expeditions to japan to buy healthy silkworm eggs. Between France and Japan there begins a confrontation between two different civilizations, between two worlds totally apart from each other. Misunderstandings occur and risk to jeopardize the negotiations. But beneath the surface a weird and peculiar love story begins between Hervé Joncour and the mistress of the Japanese negotiator. They are not able to touch or speak to each-other. The woman sends mysterious notes to the Frenchman and there is only one woman in the world who is able to translate them... Long and dangerous voyages, the soft sound of a voice, the sacralization of a magnificent and sensual silk tissue, all these things add to the mysterious atmosphere of Japan in the 19th century. But above all "Silk" is a poem about a fragile and impossible love-affair.

Ein wundervolles, poetisches Buch über unstillbare Sehnsucht. Niemals pathetisch, sondern immer zart, sinnlich und voller Andeutungen. Ein Roman, der sich auf verschiedene Weise interpretieren lässt. Große Literatur!

Me recomendaron mucho esta novela, pero no la encontré en español en la tienda Kindle. La leí en inglés y creo que pierde un poco la poesía con que escribe el autor. Es una novela deliciosa, que nos lleva por la Ruta de la Seda y nos atrapa con imágenes de lugares exóticos, y tiempos pasados.

Para quem viu o filme é um ótimo pedido!!

Rating: 2.5 stars. I'm not too sure what to think about this novel, well novella rather (57 pages). On one level, it is a little gem, the writing is so beautiful and the story so nostalgic. The main theme explored is nostalgia of something that will never happen. However, I also found it frustrating: the story is practically a non-event, character development is thin, and the style, while beautiful, is not satisfying as a story-telling narrative. It's very Japanese. I guess you have to like this Japanese stuff, and romanticism. Not quite my cup of tea I think.... I believe this book has left a lasting impression of many readers, but I don't think I will remember it very long.