The Hummingbird: ‘Magnificent’ (Guardian)

Product Information

La copertina gialla mi fa schifo, il titolo pure - ma a me i titoli fanno quasi tutti schifo - e il solito tizio che mi ha fatto scoprire Veronesi, era novembre, di mille anni fa, in una Torino gelida e piovosa e dentro a quel bar, gianduiotto e caffè, mi leggeva brani di quel libro che gli avevo comprato in Feltrinelli a Milano prima di partire, lo desiderava e io desideravo farlo felice. Quanta storia è passata, quante cicatrici, quante carezze mai date e quanti treni persi. Po dlhom čase som našla knihu mužského autora, ktorá mi naozaj sadla. Kolibrík vynakladá veľa energie, aby zostal na mieste. Hlavná postava Marco je tým kolibríkom, zostáva na mieste a je tak oporným bodom pre postavy a udalosti, ktoré sa dejú. A dejú sa mu naozaj veľké, smutné, krásne a podivné veci. E però, soprattutto, questo stare sempre fermi, facendo tutta quella fatica, a volte non è la cura, è la ferita. Ed ecco perché starti vicino è impossibile.” Sometimes a new novel is accompanied by so much advance praise it seems like a sure winner. So it can feel disconcerting to discover that after actually reading the book it hasn't worked for me. Jhumpa Lahiri states that Sandro Veronesi (winner of multiple literary prizes in his native Italy) is “long considered one of Italy's leading writers” and that “his latest novel 'The Hummingbird'... has already been hailed as a classic.” High praise for this book also comes from Ian McEwan, Howard Jacobson, Michael Cunningham, Richard Ford, Edward Carey and Edward Docx. It's described as a “reinvention of the family saga” and generally I really fall for multigenerational stories. So all the elements were in place for me to fall in love with this book, but I didn't. This naturally makes me wonder if I'm missing something or if my expectations were set too high. But generally I've found that no amount of overarching high praise will spoil my enjoyment of a book if it's actually good and “The Hummingbird” is a novel that I keep finding faults with the more I think about it.

Avrei dato 5 stelle se non ci fossero stati i tre capitoli ambientati nel futuro a smorzare la potenza di questo romanzo. Ed è il motivo per cui do quattro stelle. I don’t remember how I came to be interested in this novel, apart from the fact that I am in the look-out for contemporary Italian fiction. This was the Strega prize in 2020. Veronesi is a Florentine architect, and this is not the first time he gets the prestigious Strega. The previous one, for his Caos calmo, he received several years ago. I may give it a chance. Perché il dolore diventa qualcosa di totalizzante e non riusciamo invece a capire che c’è un tempo presente in cui possiamo e dobbiamo viverlo? At the same time, Deborahs primary patient is Barclay Reed, a retired history professor and expert in the Pacific Theater of World War II whose career ended in academic scandal. Alone in the world, the embittered professor is dying. As Barclay begrudgingly comes to trust Deborah, he tells her stories from that long-ago war, which help her find a way to help her husband battle his demons.De hoofdstukken kun je zien als puzzelstukjes waarop Marco Carrera als zoon, broer, echtgenoot, minnaar, vriend, vader en grootvader wordt uitgebeeld. A questo punto, tanto valeva far iniziare la storia qualche decennio prima, e finirla nei giorni nostri, visto che effettivamente del futuro non si ha il minimo contesto narrativo, come invece lo si ha, e molto vivamente, del passato. Sevgili Sinekkuşu, zihnimin "bu sene okuduğum en güzel şeyler" çekmecesine hoş geldin. Açıkçası yıl bitmeden oraya yeni bir şeyin eklenmesini pek ummuyordum, nasıl güzel bir sürpriz oldun! Beni sardın, okşadın resmen; ne zarif, ne güzel, ne hüzünlü, ne komiksin. Deborah Birch , a hospice nurse wants so much for her dying patients - a pain free death with dignity and peace and emotional healing. The story is quite sobering as it depicts the dying process of one man, Barclay Reed , a historian and former professor with a tarnished reputation . She also wants so much for her husband, Michael , a returning soldier with PTSD - a pain free life with dignity and peace and emotional healing

Poi la sua faccia di scrittore ha i suoi connotati, che possono piacere o anche no. Qui a me per esempio risulta particolarmente fastidioso il vizietto (quello di fare lezioncine morali) che lo accomuna a tutti gli intellettuali di sinistra da ZTL e quello di fare il pavone con le cose che ha letto, che sa, che ama (i ringraziamenti mettono i brividi: come abbracciare una scatola di polistirolo). Ma questo nell’economia complessiva del libro alla fine mi è sembrato tollerabile.Sometimes the moment of reading can enrich and enhance not only the book itself but the books that came before and after it. Connections fire, themes mirror each other, understanding deepens.

Deze roman is dus vol van zwaarmoedige ellende, maar tegelijk toch vederlicht van stijl en vorm. Een wonderlijke combinatie. En even wonderlijk vind ik dat deze roman, die ook nog eens behoorlijk wanhoopt aan de toestand in de wereld, eindigt met een apologie van hoop. In dat einde, dat speelt in 2030 en dus in de toekomst, denkt Marco terug aan de science- fiction verhalen waar zijn ongelukkige vader zo van hield: verhalen waarvan je kunt "leren hoelang men al wacht op de nieuwe mens, hoe poëtisch en onschuldig hij al duizenden keren is bedacht in dromen en fantasieën." Maar hij denkt vooral vooruit, omdat voor hem deze fantasie gestalte gekregen heeft in zijn kleindochter: de gedroomde man van de toekomst die gelukkig een vrouw is, die alle rassen in zich verenigt, die ogen heeft die niemand ooit heeft gezien, en die zich ontpopt als een soort Greta Thunberg 2.0 vol van idealistisch activisme. Wat allemaal niet kan, maar wat in de romanwereld van "De kolibrie" gewoon toch zo is. En het is zo briljant opgeschreven dat ik nog in deze fantasie geloof ook. Ik kan en ga dat verder niet analyseren, want dan maak ik het dood: lees, en oordeel zelf. An epic, kaleidoscopic story of four women connected across time and place by an invisible thread and their determination to shape their own stories, from the acclaimed author of The Mother Fault. Per le prime 200 pagine, leggere questo libro è come parlare con un ragazzo volenteroso ma non particolarmente intelligente e brillante che ti capita accanto a cena. Un ragazzotto superficiale ma buono, che tu perdoni perché comunque è un "bravo ragazzo", sempre guardando l'orologio ogni cinque minuti perché sinceramente non vedi l'ora di andartene.

Need Help?

Or it might be that I didn't choose the book myself, and might never have read it were it not for a bookgroup, and so I'm in a slightly querulous mood to start with, unfairly questioning the time I'm giving to the reading, and eyeing up other books I'd rather spend time with.

Of de Kolibrie mij zou boeien was ook nog maar de vraag. Na het prachtige Kalme chaos (2006) was ik vastgelopen in XY (2010) en ook Zeldzame aarden uit 2015 (het vervolg op Kalme chaos) was me slecht bevallen. Marco Carrera is ‘the hummingbird,’ a man with the almost supernatural ability to stay still as the world around him continues to change. Marco Carrera suffers serial tragedy in life. Most of us suffer the loss of our parents, but Marco also has to cope with the death of his sister, his daughter, and finally with his own death. He marries impetuously and disastrously, but manages a lifelong failure to engage his seemingly true love, who eventually rejects him for his ‘hummingbird’ tendency to put huge effort into standing still and never developing. He is estranged from his brother, and the close friend of his early life. The only tragedy he avoids is the Larnaca airplane crash. The one purpose of his life is projected onto his granddaughter who is bizarrely presented without meaning as ‘the Man of the Future’. E però, la tendenza al cambiamento, anche quando è probabile che non porti nulla di meglio, fa parte dell’istinto umano, e tu non la concepisci.

You'll be torn between lingering on one amazing image and flipping ahead to see what's next. . . . A riveting read that does more than adequate justice to its subjects."—David Callahan, BirdLife Magazine A beautiful and compelling journey through time told in myriad narrative styles, The Hummingbird is a story of suffering, happiness, loss, love, and hope—of a man who embodies the quiet heroism that defines daily life for countless ordinary folk. A thrilling novel about the need to look to the future with hope and live with intensity to the very end, Sandro Veronesi’s masterpiece—eminently readable, rich in insight, and filled with interesting twists and revelations—is a portrait of human existence, the vicissitudes and vagaries that propel and ultimately define us I salti temporali sono stordenti. Senza Favino sarebbe stato un flop. Al rientro a casa ho avuto il bisogno di audioleggere (letto da Fabrizio Gifuni) per l’ennesima volta i capitoli sulla morte di Adele: questa parte nel film è stata amputata. Vond u het wat? vroeg ik de dame uit het Noord-Hollandse Heemskerk nadat ik haar in de deuropening € 5 had overhandigd voor de Kolibrie van Sander Veronesi (gebonden, 333 pagina's, zo goed als nieuw). Ze schudde haar hoofd: 'nee, het kon me niet zo boeien.' Everything that makes the novel worthwhile and engaging is here: warmth, wit, intelligence, love, death, high seriousness, low comedy, philosophy, subtle personal relationships and the complex interior life of human beings’