I was expecting worse.
Granted, the book is long and tedious, but I
was expecting worse. Sure, I’m no smoker (quite the opposite!), but the chapter
on Zeno’s “last cigarettes” is kind of interesting. Other than that, the
chapter on his father’s death and the one on Zeno’s wedding left me completely
unmoved, but I was expecting worse. The part on his extra-marital affair is
fairly useless and ultimately fairly banal, but I was expecting worse. Zeno’s
commercial exploits are just quite pathetic, probably like the man himself
after all, but I was expecting worse.
His final conclusion (that in a sick world
realizing that life is crazy is actually a sign of sanity), on the other hand, couldn’t have
been worse. Plenty of supposedly deep movies and books (hell, probably even
nursery rhymes!) have passed this trite message without being hailed as
absolute masterpieces.
Still, the fact that I was expecting worse (in
case you hadn’t realized) maybe means that La
Coscienza di Zeno might deserve to be considered one of the all-time
greats. Except that probably it doesn’t...
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