Who Would Like This Book:
If you love sprawling family sagas, dramatic character studies, or want to be drenched in lush, evocative prose, Lies and Sorcery is an immersive treat. The novel’s Victorian-style storytelling (with a fairy-tale spin), vivid sense of place, and complex portrayal of generational trauma and class dynamics will sweep you off your feet. Fans of Elena Ferrante, Dickens, and those who appreciate a layered, literary epic - especially one rich in themes around women and society - will find a feast here. The translation by Jenny McPhee is widely praised for capturing the novel’s Italian flavor and emotional intensity.
Who May Not Like This Book:
This book is not for everyone! The sheer length (nearly 800 pages), intricate prose, and sometimes glacial pace can be daunting. Some readers find the characters irredeemably unlikable and the relentless atmosphere of disappointment or malaise hard to stomach. If you need loveable leads, fast-moving plots, or concise writing, this might not be your best match.
About:
Lies and Sorcery by Elsa Morante is an intricate family saga that spans three generations of a Sicilian family. The novel delves deeply into the tangled relationships among its vividly drawn characters. Readers encounter themes of poverty, generational trauma, and complex dynamics between women. The protagonists often struggle with moral ambiguity, revealing their self-centered motivations and emotional troubles. This rich, 800-page epic is both captivating and challenging, blending moments of beauty with grim realities.
Morante's writing style is strikingly elaborate, offering a lush and evocative reading experience. The translator, Jenny McPhee, has been praised for preserving the musicality and depth of Morante's Italian prose. Despite the characters being often hard to like, their vivid portrayals are unforgettable. This literary feast echoes fairy tales but with a darker twist, exploring societal norms and familial expectations with a keen, observant narrator. For fans of detailed character exploration and historical contexts, Lies and Sorcery proves to be a remarkable, if somewhat demanding, read.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
The book contains high content warnings for themes of mental health issues, class oppression, and unlikable characters.
Has Romance?
There is a medium level of romance present, primarily through the relationships between family members.
From The Publisher:
An Italian master's magnum opus about three generations of women, now in the first-ever unabridged English translation.
Elsa Morante is one of the titans of twentieth-century literature-Natalia Ginzburg said she was the writer of her own generation that she most admired-and yet her work remains little known in the United States. Written during World War II, Morante's celebrated first novel, Lies and Sorcery , is in the grand tradition of Stendhal, Tolstoy, and Proust, spanning the lives of three generations of wildly eccentric women.
The story is set in Sicily and told by Elisa, orphaned young and raised by a "fallen woman." For years Elisa has lived in an imaginary world of her own; now, however, her guardian has died, and the young woman feels that she must abandon her fantasy life to confront the truth of her family's tortured and dramatic history. Elisa is a seductive, if less than reliable, spinner of stories, and the reader is drawn into a tale of secrets, intrigue, and treachery, which, as it proceeds, is increasingly revealed to be an exploration of a legacy of political and social injustice. Throughout, Morante's elegant writing-and her drive to get at the heart of her characters' complex relationships and all-too self-destructive behavior-holds us spellbound.
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