|
| To the Wedding | 
| Author: John Berger
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $3.00
You Save: $10.95 (78%)
New (24) Collectible (2) from $3.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 562625
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.2 x 0.6
ISBN: 0679767770
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780679767770
ASIN: 0679767770
Publication Date: March 19, 1996
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: New New softcover with 202 pages. Pages are clean, crisp and unmarked. A novel that is a vortex of community and compassion that overcomes fate and death.
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
With the sensuous eye and profound sense of history that have made him one of the most acclaimed living novelists, John Berger, author of G., tells the story of a wedding that takes place in a Europe that is approaching the end of the century, a place where everything has changed - and not even the certainties of love are exempt. This is Berger's fin de siecle , a transcendent celebration of passion at the end of our millennium.
Product Description
A blind Greek peddler tells the story of the wedding between a fellow peddler and his bride in a remarkable series of vivid and telling vignettes. As the book cinematically moves from one character's perspective to another, events and characters move toward the convergence of the wedding--and a haunting dance of love and death.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 Looking at love... November 18, 2005
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
Berger's To the Wedding magically extends the author's critical vision which he has elaborated in both Ways of Seeing and On Looking. In those essay collections, Berger establishes himself as a champion of creative looking - looking as a way of gleaning knowledge, beauty and understanding. To the Wedding is narrated by a blind peddler of tamata, stamped metal charms, who is tied to two of his customers, a father and daughter, by a gift of intimate vision. He is the omniscient narrator, a blind man who has a keen cinematic sense, and his focus is on the unfolding life of the daughter, Ninon and her lover Gino. They are shown navigating a landscape of love and loneliness, confronting the tragic nearness of death, learning to trust and retain hope, and experiencing the great festive release of the titular celebration. The story is told with so much love and respect for the characters that it is impossible not to be greatly affected in reading. There is this side to Berger's work, where he compels his readers to turn away from his books and back towards the world with a new capacity for compassionate engagement. We are invited to see the beauty and suffering that is all around us. Berger's storytelling is a timeless art that nonetheless bears the imprint of a modern world that consistently brings new challenges to our attempt to live consciously and happily.
 A balm for all the scars of life... March 20, 2005
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
This was definitely a different reading experience for me. At first I wasn't quite sure what was going on, or what the point was, but when I got to about page 75, it suddenly all started coming together. So a word of advice to anyone having trouble "getting into" this one: Just keep going! It does make sense eventually. I can't reveal too much without spoiling the story, but after the relatively long "set up" period, the story really does start to move. Once I understood what was happening, I couldn't put the book down, and finished it in a single day. By the time I'd reached the end, I was very impressed with Berger's work.
"To the Wedding" is narrated by a blind Greek street-peddler. He sells tamata, small metal charms supposed to bring relief to those who suffer. One day, a man stops at the stall to buy a tama for his daughter. "Where is she suffering?" the peddler asks. "Everywhere," the father replies. He buys a tama and goes on his way. The street peddler never meets him, or his daughter, again. But he tells us a story about the girl, Ninon, and the preparations for her marriage to a man called Gino.
This is a love story, but it is also much more. The more I reflect upon it, the more I get out of it, and I'm sure I would gain an even deeper appreciation upon reading it a second time. It explores what it means to love someone, the relationship of sex and love, and different ways to approach life in the face of knowledge of one's own mortality. If you know you are going to die in only a few years, what do you do? How do you live your life in the time between now and then? And is love in the present dependent on the possibility of having a future, or is it unconditional, in the moment? "To the Wedding" raises so many interesting questions, and offers multiple ways to view each one.
The format of the book may be a little off-putting at first. The primary narrator is the blind street peddler, but as he peers into the lives of others, the voice shifts from his own first-person viewpoint to the perspectives of his characters, told in first-person in Ninon's case, and third-person for the others - Ninon's father, mother, and Gino. We also jump from one person's life to another very rapidly, and sometimes it is hard to tell who is speaking, and whose eyes we are seeing through. Sometimes Berger will include something that seems to be of little importance, but do not overlook them - they invariably become important later on. I actually think that this fragmented story-telling style ultimately enhances the content of the book, but it takes a little getting used to.
I strongly urge everyone to read this book. "To the Wedding" has something to offer any reader that is willing to take a little time to reflect upon the themes it presents. It is a book I will treasure for years to come, and will definitely re-read every so often. Berger's story puts life into perspective, and offers hope to anyone who suffers. A very worthwhile read.
 Sorry but I disagree... July 1, 2002
2 out of 10 found this review helpful
I am going to be the lone voice in the wilderness... I could not get into this book, could not make it past the first thirty pages. The narrative voice rambles from first person to third person, often it is not clear what is going on... I think this is a challenging book and most certainly is not a novel for somebody who is looking for a light read.
Life changing January 28, 2002
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book is both beautiful and devestating. It is lyric and direct. Heart wrneching and hopeful. This book is contradictory and yet realistic in its contradictions. This book absolutely changed the way I read, and I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Pull out the kleenex, though.A friend of mine recommended this book to me in 1996. In the past six years I have come back to it time and again for its sheer beauty. This is not one to miss.
Unconditional February 23, 2001
18 out of 18 found this review helpful
There is an event in this book that demonstrates the wonderful manner that John Berger consistently illuminates his readers, and his characters. The task in and of itself is of no great note; a small boat is guided from the shore to a small island. Gino who is taking his reluctant fiance on the trip guides the boat. Ninon is not concerned about the trip rather Gino's insistence that they marry. The trip to the island is accomplished in several steps to allow for currents both known and unpredictable. When the crossing is accomplished and Ninon continues to question the point of the exercise, Gino explains it has nothing to do with the island as a destination, but the trip that illustrates, "how we're going to live".The couple decides to marry but before they do human weakness steps in and irrevocably alters the future they had planed. Neither conventional wisdom nor anyone who knows either member of the couple believes the wedding should take place. The bride to be is amongst those who wish to see the union forever cancelled. Gino is the only person willing to see through what his love for this woman has become for him, a commitment without condition. The Author surrounds this couple with all the variants of marriage. He includes the innocent moments that lead to the first shared intimacies, and he has the unions that have failed to overcome the difficulties they encountered. Throughout this process he forces the reader to make some difficult observations either personally or through a given character they may identify with. The Wedding that is supposed to take place is like a vortex drawing all the participants and observers to the main event, the core. When all the players have made their own journeys, Gino is no longer the odd man out. He has come to define an ideal; he has always known what is right and what the consequences would be. A cynic might question Gino based upon the issue of time, however this would be an error. Time firstly is an artificial human construct, and even if used as a measure we know nothing about its allotment to each of us, not what will transpire during our portion. Gino does not suffer from the arrogance of presumption of time and its length. And the Author John Berger must understand this as well, for no one could communicate this more clearly, and with the contemporary relevance than he does, if it wasn't his own philosophy as well.
|
|
|
Wildlife, nature and the Environment
Sponsored Links
Learn how to get your own Amazon Book shop | |
