McGlue
Ratings9
Average rating3.4
15
Ratings9
Average rating3.4
Salem, Massachusetts, 1851: McGlue è tenuto sotto chiave nella stiva di una nave, ancora troppo ubriaco per essere sicuro del proprio nome, della situazione e del proprio orientamento: potrebbe aver ucciso il suo migliore amico. La memoria intollerabile di ciò che è accaduto si accompagna ai suoi sprazzi di sobrietà. Ottessa Moshfegh veleggia spavalda nella grande tradizione letteraria americana e ci regala un furfante perfido e senza cuore in un viaggio affilato come un coltello attraverso le nebbie dei ricordi. Lo straordinario esordio di Ottessa Moshfegh. “Si legge come lo zampillo sfrontato che fuoriesce da una gola tagliata: immediato, viscerale, audace, spietato, violento e grottescamente bello...” Los Angeles Review of Books
Reviews with the most likes.
I normally eat up whatever Moshfegh writes. In a way, this is also the case: I wasn't enjoying the experience but I just kept on reading.
This is Moshfegh's literary debut. Her voice is still a little blunt and her unreliable narrator reliably predictable. The writing craft is already strong - there is one page in 118 almost entirely consistent of a list of goods traded aboard 19th century merchant ships that is a joy to read through.
Sadly, the credibility is occasionally marred by lack of historical research or fact-checking: reading that a 1851 drunken sailor had been prescribed ‘vitamins' in the form of ‘pills' by a medical doctor was simply off-putting to me.
If you like the dark and grotesque, this book is for you. I picked this up at an airport while waiting for a flight, wanting to expand my reading choices. Turns out it is not the sort of story I like, or the sort of character I like to read about. I found the opening confusing and the narrative difficult, but on the whole, Moshfegh is a skilled writer and the book, for what it is, is well done.
