Set at the time of the Risorgimento, this intensely personal account of the fading of an aristocratic Sicilian family is an extraordinary read. It scarcely seems to qualify as a novel there is so little plot or characterisation. Lampedusa creates an album portraying a lost world of tradition, ritual and boredom, unchanged for centuries, now gone - and the images remain even after the book is closed. A classic - I think so - but judge for yourself.
(Ferelith Hordon - bwl 38 February 2007 ) |
