2.0 out of 5 stars
Sorry but I disagree..., July 1 2002
This review is from: To the Wedding (Paperback)
I am going to be the lone voice in the wilderness... I could not get into this book, could not make it past the first thirty pages. The narrative voice rambles from first person to third person, often it is not clear what is going on... I think this is a challenging book and most certainly is not a novel for somebody who is looking for a light read.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Life changing, Jan 28 2002
This review is from: To the Wedding (Paperback)
This book is both beautiful and devestating. It is lyric and direct. Heart wrneching and hopeful. This book is contradictory and yet realistic in its contradictions. This book absolutely changed the way I read, and I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Pull out the kleenex, though.
A friend of mine recommended this book to me in 1996. In the past six years I have come back to it time and again for its sheer beauty. This is not one to miss.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Unconditional, Feb 23 2001
This review is from: To the Wedding (Paperback)
There is an event in this book that demonstrates the wonderful manner that John Berger consistently illuminates his readers, and his characters. The task in and of itself is of no great note; a small boat is guided from the shore to a small island. Gino who is taking his reluctant fiancé on the trip guides the boat. Ninon is not concerned about the trip rather Gino's insistence that they marry. The trip to the island is accomplished in several steps to allow for currents both known and unpredictable. When the crossing is accomplished and Ninon continues to question the point of the exercise, Gino explains it has nothing to do with the island as a destination, but the trip that illustrates, "how we're going to live".
The couple decides to marry but before they do human weakness steps in and irrevocably alters the future they had planed. Neither conventional wisdom nor anyone who knows either member of the couple believes the wedding should take place. The bride to be is amongst those who wish to see the union forever cancelled. Gino is the only person willing to see through what his love for this woman has become for him, a commitment without condition.
The Author surrounds this couple with all the variants of marriage. He includes the innocent moments that lead to the first shared intimacies, and he has the unions that have failed to overcome the difficulties they encountered. Throughout this process he forces the reader to make some difficult observations either personally or through a given character they may identify with. The Wedding that is supposed to take place is like a vortex drawing all the participants and observers to the main event, the core. When all the players have made their own journeys, Gino is no longer the odd man out. He has come to define an ideal; he has always known what is right and what the consequences would be.
A cynic might question Gino based upon the issue of time, however this would be an error. Time firstly is an artificial human construct, and even if used as a measure we know nothing about its allotment to each of us, not what will transpire during our portion. Gino does not suffer from the arrogance of presumption of time and its length. And the Author John Berger must understand this as well, for no one could communicate this more clearly, and with the contemporary relevance than he does, if it wasn't his own philosophy as well.
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