MixedThe New York Times Book Review... translated fluidly ... [Barbero\'s] reasoning is cogent, his research impressive and his answers set in earnest dialogue with the historical record. I don’t always agree, but can find no fault with his methods ... Barbero is equally precise and ordered in tracing the chronology of Dante’s life and back story, as he follows it from the times of the poet’s ancestors all the way to his death as a celebrated literary exile in Ravenna. The book is written in the spirit of another richly detailed biography, Marco Santagata’s Dante: The Story of His Life (2016), though with not as much depth as Santagata’s more scholarly work. Barbero is surprisingly light on sustained reflections on Dante’s writings, bringing in The Divine Comedy only to illustrate or gloss the various biographical issues or themes he develops. Ultimately, he seeks to avoid falling prey to the kind of Dante mania that seduced a biographer even as brilliant as Boccaccio into rhapsodic — and often entirely invented — musings on Dante ... Barbero’s otherwise impeccably written and researched book misses two key opportunities that would have made his work translate better for readers in the Anglophone world ... Unfortunately, there are few other vivid set pieces in the book, as it focuses on the lingering questions surrounding the poet’s life, exploring these in the form of hypotheses and deductions rather than stories. An award-winning novelist, Barbero clearly has the chops to convert these Dante conundrums into storytelling that would have pulled the reader in more forcefully ... We can be grateful to Barbero for this richly informative biography of a man who can seem so reticent and aloof that at times it feels as if he’s hiding behind the 14,233 verses of The Divine Comedy rather than revealing himself. But for those who are looking to learn more about the Dante in us, a biography has to do more than deliver the plausible facts. And so the quest for a vita of Dante in English will likely lead us right back to where Emerson suggested: the poetry from Dante’s own hand.
Steven Price
PositiveThe New York Times Book ReviewPrice’s synthesis is less successful, as at times the external world disappears into the textures of his protagonist’s consciousness. The novel could have gone into greater depth in its consideration of the complex figure of the Leopard...and characters in Lampedusa that match those in The Leopard could have been further developed — especially Mirella (the love interest of Lampedusa’s adopted son, Gioacchino), who lacks the dimension and verve of her analogue, the unforgettable Angelica of The Leopard. ... Price’s novel excels where it counts most: inside Lampedusa’s head. The prose is superbly controlled, richly textured, brimming with wise and lyrical insights that make it a worthy heir to its mighty predecessor ... For [Lampedusa] to have ventured forth late in life from his literary safe haven to write The Leopard is a story as improbable — and at times fascinating — as the historical paradoxes of his masterpiece.
Elena Ferrante
RaveThe New York Times Sunday Book ReviewElena’s first-person account charts what scholars and politicians alike have ominously labeled the Southern Question: the cultural and economic divide between north and south that has defined Italian life for centuries. But history never overpowers what is at heart a local story about the families living along a poor Neapolitan stradone, or avenue, with intricate plotlines spun like fine thread around Elena and Lila … Ferrante’s gift for recreating real life stems as much from the quiet, unhurried rhythm of her writing as from the people and events she describes. The translation reproduces Ferrante’s narrative ebb and flow while registering the distinct features of her voice.
Jhumpa Lahiri
PositiveThe New York TimesIt’s a bit surreal reading the Italian autobiography of an American author translated by someone else’s hand on the facing page. But the bilingual format is appropriate: All the personal experiences are connected to linguistic ones, all the linguistic issues refracted through the author’s life.
