****.5/5
I just finished reading Ties earlier toady, thus completing 20 books this year. More than the number of books, the quality and diversity of books that I read matter more to me. So I’ve been reading a number of books at once- Once and Forever: The Tales of Kenji Miyazawa by Kenji Miyazawa, Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado-Perez and Modern Love. As much as I want to finish An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jaminson, my mind is inching closer to DNF’ing it.
If you’re reading Ties, please start by reading the Introduction by Lahiri, it provides some context to the family of Vanda, Aldo, Sandro and Anna and their tumultuous relationships with one another and as a family. Read it also because it is an interesting anecdote about Lahiri’s tryst with the book.
“Ties” is a story of a marriage and but also extends to other relationships, such as one with children, and lovers outside marriage. The book speaks about empty spaces, dead ends and about the communication that is dead between spouses. There is a lot more to it which seethes under the surface as beautifully imagined by Starnone. Think of the book, Starnone’s writing and Lahiri’s translation as a puff pastry- there are so many layers to it, when you eat it you don’t realize, but the moment someone takes you through the process of making that perfect puff pastry you realize the intricacies of making the pastry, the umpteen number of layers. The book is exactly like that, in the beginning it does not strike you as anything extraordinary. As you start progressing and as the author takes you through the different viewpoints of the characters, you understand the underlying emotions, the fault lines and everything in between. Starnone delves deep into the hearts and minds of the characters and makes the ordinary, extraordinary. It is a multi-faceted story about a broken marriage with children as its innocent victims. It is about what works, what doesn’t, who pretends and who doesn’t.
Concluding Thoughts
I loved Ties, it is one of those novels that just covered me with a sense of equanimity and warmth. I do not understand Italian but Lahiri’s translation of the book did not feel inadequate anywhere throughout the novel which is often the case with translated works. What disappointed me about the book was the characters’ reluctance to communicate effectively with one another, it was always expressed through frustration and repression, but maybe that’s the beauty of it. Domenico Starnone is married to Elena Ferrante who is the author of The Days of Abandonment, another story about a broken marriage, so I am really looking forward to reading that one next.
Literature, Poetry and Reading. 