Title: Disappointing
Product review: I think the many high reviews for this book have more to do with what it promises than what it actually delivers. The title, itself, calls up wonderful images and the story line is, in theory, fine material. The actual experience of reading the book was frustrating, though. I simply got bored by the oblique narrative style and the dolorous atmosphere of the book. Marai shoots for a very sophisticated and roundabout way of introducing the facts of the narrative, but he doesn't quite pull it off. Two novels which do a better job of playing out the same basic story line (i.e., recalling youthful friendships later in life, in a European historical context), are Olaf Olafsson's Absolution and Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited.
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