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2ā­ļø What a painful novel to read! Emilio is lovesick, and the lady he‘s in love with is a cheat. He‘s gone from ā€œI love you to deathā€ to ā€œI hate you for hurting me, I don‘t want to see you anymoreā€ to ā€œOh, I can‘t live without you it doesn‘t matter that you cheatā€, and this goes on and on it‘s worse than middle school‘s confused love stories. The last three chapters saved this book from getting 1ā­ļø from me. That‘s how bad I dislike it

Current read. I‘m getting similar vibes as Journey by Moonlight (Antal Szerb)

Emilio Brentani is settled into a comfortable life, with a spinster sister keeping house and long talks with his friend Balli. And then he meets Angiolina. A beautiful, young flirt enchants Emilio, providing the fantasy of himself as a suffering lover and a Don Juan. The writing at times is beautiful but it‘s a difficult book to connect to; too much of a different time. While the characters feel real, I just couldn't quite empathize with Emilio.

This is the meticulous account of the feelings of a man for his libertine girlfriend, his meek sister and his flamboyant friend. Jealousy, naivety, manipulation and boredom alternate. Sometimes enough to make one squirm, sometimes painfully recognizable. Quite an expert on the human psyche, Svevo, as I also noticed in Zeno‘s Conscience. #1001books