Silk

Alessandro Baricco

1996 • 110 pages

Ratings34

Average rating3.8

This startling, sensual, hypnotically compelling novel tells a story of adventure, sexual enthrallment, and a love so powerful that it unhinges a man's life. In 1861 French silkworm merchant Hervé Joncour is compelled to travel to Japan, where, in the court of an enigmatic nobleman, he meets a woman. They do not touch; they do not even speak. And he cannot read the note she sends him until he has returned to his country. But in the moment he does, Joncour is possessed. The same spell will envelop anyone who reads Silk, a work that has the compression of a fable, the evocative detail of the greatest historical fiction, and the devastating erotic force of a dream.

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Popular Reviews

Reviews with the most likes.

Nithou

L'histoire d'une vie, en douceur, d'un sentiment précieux, mystérieux mais touchant. Une prose magnifique, un joyau de littérature, concis et léger mais précieux telle la soie.

“C'est une souffrance étrange. Doucement. Mourir de nostalgie pour quelque chose que tu ne vivras jamais.”

July 30, 2014

Deb Nance

Beautiful, if somewhat mysterious,
short tale of man who travels to
edge of the known world, Japan,
to procure silkworms, and who
mysteriously falls in love.

January 1, 2003

pickles

Simply told and powerful. eh la.

May 24, 2016

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