The Wine-Dark Sea
Submitted by Book Nut
by Leonardo Sciascia
ages: adult
First sentence: ‘Your Majesty,’ said the Minister of State Santangelo, tapping Ferdinand lightly on the shoulder with one finger, ‘this is Grotte.’”
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I’m not a fan of short stories. I don’t know why that is, really. Perhaps it’s because I feel disjointed from one story to the next — I do better when the stories are interconnected. Or perhaps, it’s just that there’s not enough meat there for me.
So, keeping that in mind, I really didn’t care all that much for this collection of stories. Sure, they were a slice of Sicily — from the mafia to the ups and downs of everyday life — but most of them fell quite flat. I did like the title story, however. It was a tale of a man who bonds with a family and their nanny on the way to Sicily. It’s sweet, it’s funny, and enjoyable to read. Some of the other ones — Guifa and End-Game, are ones that I think of off the top of my head — are cleverly written, but a bit strange. The rest ranged from “meh” to “I think I’m going to skip this one.”
Perhaps it’s the translation? Nah… it’s probably just me. And my short-story issues.
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