I struggled with this book. I tried hard to understand it. I just didn't. ( )

23 years old? incredible. ( )

La Joana viu amb al pare perquè ha perdut la seva mare, però ben aviat també mor el seu pare, va a parar a casa dels oncles però la tia no la pot soportar, per això va a parar a una institució. Coneix l'Otavio i es casa amb ell. Ell però continua relacionant-se amb la seva antiga nòvia a la qual deixa embarassada. La Joana ho sap i el deixa fer, es busca també un amant. Però un dia els dos homes l'abandonen. Tot això és la història però no té cap importància, l'autora es recrea amb la manera d'explicar-ho, amb les sensacions que experimenta i que vol transmetre. Aquesta novel.la fou la seva primera novel.la i es va publicar l'any 1943. Realement no hi he acabat d'entrar i m'ha costat molt llegir les 225 pàgines que té. ( )

This is one of those books that will be described as evocative, introspective, vivid.

It is all of those things, yet somehow unsatisfying - a journey of self-discovery which never reaches its destination. More accurately, it is a journey on which self-discovery happens every page or few, and the narrative ends rather abruptly, without a realization or conclusion of any import.

So while the prose is a pleasure to read, as well as being Deep and Meaningful, it provides no incentive to keep reading, and the book thus gathers dust (or whatever the Kindle equivalent is). It is probably best to read the book in one sitting, or not at all.

Alternate take:

There's a certain type of French film, where the actors sit there in silence, absolutely still, staring at each other or studiously ignoring one other, and one says "oui" and five minutes later the other says "non", and after ten or fifteen minutes the woman says "where did it all go wrong" or "what became of us", and then after looking off into space while finishing the world's longest-lived cigarette the man says "you bitch".

Near to the Wild Heart captures what those characters are probably thinking the entire time, and which neither the director nor the actors are able to convey effectively, because really this sort of thing does work a lot better in a novel than in a film. ( )