903. Silk

Silk
Alessandro Baricco
1996
Around 90 pages

It's always nice when we get a shorter novel to balance out the Infinite Jests on this List, although it will take more than this to repair the damage to my psyche from David Foster Wallace. Anyway this was a quick and fun read, and Keira Knightley should star in all literary adaptations.

In the 19th century, a French silkworm merchant turned smuggler travels to Japan to buy more silkworms, as his town's supply was wiped out due to disease. He becomes obsessed with a concubine there, and his relationships are strained due to the growing anti Western sentiment of the time.

The brevity of this story, combined with Baricco's style, really makes this seem like more of a fairy tale or fable than a full blown novel. So it's more of an over the top romance (we have love at first sight) than a deep historical exploration of the time, which I'm fine with.

Lyrical prose that washes over you, and can be read in one sitting. What more can we ask for?

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Adapted to film in 2007.

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