Natalia Ginzburg

Road to the City

Two seemingly unrelated novellas, but all in all it was about unhappiness and secret lovers. Ginzburg writes like South Italian summer and sweet wine.

Bibi

I like the writing, there's something honest and raw, yet so mundane at once. This feels like Amina Cain's Indelicacy. It's just something that happens. Sometimes i feel bad for the characters, sometimes i just can't understand them or the degree of their response to things. It's kind of unsettling, but also uncannily realistic. There are social issues that can be raised for discussion, but the way it's presented so nonplussedly makes me feel like it's a cultural thing rooted deeply and i'm such an outsider in the picture who shouldn't say anything just yet. So to say, it's not outstanding or even memorable tbh, just a slice of life you can read absentmindedly.

'If Ferrante is a friend, Ginzburg is a mentor.' - Guardian

Road to the City

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