Silk

I found the book to be puerile rubbish. It was so far from having anything to do with reality I don't understand why the author did not title it something like "Peter Rabbit Goes to La La Land."To those who know something about Japan this book can afford them great pleasure in pointing out that every single thing about Japan that is mentioned in the book is wrong: from the names of provinces (which were different from modern prefectures); clothing (dresses spreading out all over the floor which kimono do not); hairstyles (a retro "chonmage" might be believable, but a ponytail on a Japanese leader is not); to some Japanese people living in "palaces" (castles in the case of powerful "daimyo," but "palaces"? Gimme a break).I suspect that anyone who knows a little about silk; 19th century travel; billiards; Southern France; or anything else the frail mind of the author has touched would be equally aghast.The people who have written that this is the most beautiful book they have read could not possibly have read another book save, perhaps, "Harry Potter." Those interested in the Japanese aspect of the story might try  The Tale of Genji: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) , One Hundred Poems from the Japanese , One Hundred More Poems from the Japanese (New Directions Book) , or  Women Poets of Japan . For those interested in late 19th century France there is  The Complete Short Stories of Guy de Maupassant .Let's take one small section of the book: The author has the main Japanese male character say that it is an ancient law that allows the sentencing to death of a servant who carries a love letter for his mistress and that is why a boy servant was hung. Hung? Why are Japanese warriors so noted for their swords? Executions of any kind involve beheading (even including ritual suicide). Casual death dealing might just be a quick slash. Hanging? Unheard of. If the carrying of the love letters of one's mistress was a capital offense then I entirely missed the carnage in "The Tale of Genji" where servants carrying love letters of masters and mistresses was mandatory and most definitely not a capital offense. If the boy servant in this book was executed for "being" the love letter, how much more dangerous must it have been for the object of that love letter, the ostensible lover Herve? Yet, his life was spared and he was merely shooed away. This book makes no sense, primarily because the author is an uneducated dolt.Is one reason this book is considered romantic because the main female character gives Herve the least poetic and most inauspicious note, the one that says, "Come back, or I shall die."? What kind of woman would express feelings of attachment by means of death images and threats of suicide? What kind of man would fall for it?In a nutshell: This is one of those rare cases where the book is worse than the movie based upon it, which itself was quite bad. How could one expect it to be otherwise?

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.

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.

A great but bittersweet novella about longing and wanting someone we cannot have. The chapters are very short, almost like little poems

Loving story and it makes you wonder what exactly happens in the end

Para quem viu o filme é um ótimo pedido!!

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.

Short but sweet - a beautifully poetic book to read in one sitting.

This little book is utterly divine. I have read it twice in the space of 24 hours. The first to read of Hervé, the silkworm merchant, and his intoxicating love for a concubine, with all its eroticism and longing. The second to read the love story between a husband and his wife. I'm sure there will be third, fourth and fifth readings too. Highly recommend, especially for the stunning use of colour in the story, reflecting Japanes culture but also using the symbolism to tell the deeper, more intimate story.

I was intrigued by Alessandro Baricco's unusual novella, set in France in the mid 19th century, centred around the silk industry, which also delves into the mysteries and subtleties of a still-feudal Japan, only just beginning to open up to the outside world after centuries of insularity. An enigmatic central character, Hervé Joncour, travels to Japan on behalf of his employer every few years to obtain undiseased silk-worm eggs. He is married and loves his wife but becomes entranced by the concubine of his source of silk-worm eggs.This is no ordinary love triangle. Baricco's language is subtle, spare, and implies rather than states. He relies on his reader's imagination to create the characters who move through the book as almost figments rather than people. Each visit to Japan is described with the same words, but without any focus on the perilous and difficult journey across the world in 19th century conditions. The repetition of scenes as Hervé travels back and forth to the slowly changing Japan, the shift in Japanese relations with the West forming an understated backdrop to his travels, the nuances of his unrequited love for the concubine contrasting with his consequently deteriorating relationship with his wife, the changes in the French silk industry, the state of mind of Hervé's employer: all these themes are described with subtle minimalism.Reading this book is rather like watching clouds in the sky move and change with the wind. The clouds seem the same but are always changing. The colours are all grey, but the shades of colour change as the clouds travel across the sky. You can't grasp clouds, they can be seen, they exist, but they are insubstantial and impermanent. 'Silk' is as enigmatic, as intangible as clouds, yet the story is rooted in reality - the ups and downs of a fragile industry dependent on the vagaries of silk worms, the real social and political changes that happened in Japan in the mid-19th century. But all seems ephemeral, out of reach, as the concubine is out of Hervé's reach, as Japan has always been beyond the reach of western understanding.'Silk' is a nuanced novella, carefully composed, a book to read not just once. Baricco's way with words need to be absorbed slowly 'Silk' is as lovely and as slippery as the material at the centre of the story, a novel to stir the imagination, charm the mind, and leave a delicate but indelible impression.