Spoiler alert: If you haven't finished the book, you may want to stop reading here.
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Hervé Joncour, the protagonist of the book "Silk" by Alessandro Baricco, is a strange person.
It seems as if he's not very interested in his own life.
When his father wants to send him to the army, he joins the army.
When Baldabiou decides that Hervé should become a silkworm merchant instead, he becomes a silkworm merchant.
When the silk manufacturers decide he should travel to Japan, he travels to Japan.
That seems strange and rather unrealistic to me. But, well, books don't have to be realistic per se.
And then this apathetic man, who isn't actually involved at all in his life, falls in love at first sight with a woman he knows nothing about, not even what her voice sounds like. He only knows her eyes don't look Asian. And in order to see this completely unknown woman again, he even travels to a Japan which is at war.
To undertake this last journey is actually the first decision he makes on his own. This also seems strange to me because it doesn't jibe with the apathetic Hervé I've come to know, and there's no explanation as to where this sudden testosterone boost came from. For a moment, I almost dared to hope he would suddenly want to be a participant in his own life.
But far from it. After a brief burst of activity, Hervé retreats back into himself and lives on his own, builds a park and an aviary and is somehow content, or at least not terribly unhappy.
The protagonist isn't the only thing I find strange about this book, but I'll tell you the rest another time, perhaps.
By the way, this doesn't mean that I disliked reading the book. I enjoyed reading it, and I think it's a great book for beginners because the format is ever so convenient with these very short chapters.
I just find it kind of weird, and the life of this Hervé makes me sad because he's so non-existent.
Halfway through the book, I decided to no longer think of it as a book, but rather as a work of art of sorts.
After all, a work of art, like a poem or an abstract painting, doesn't have to be logical either and can still convey an image or a story or a feeling.
You describe perfectly well what I find most annoying about the book! I asked myself what the sense of the whole story actually is. I mean, it makes me almost angry. I would go so far as to say that, all things considered, I don't like the book. It's simply a short book with a too long story without (logical) sense. That's of course only my personal opinion. And don't get me started on that stupid letter.
I'm glad I didn't do the bookclub - it sounds like he would do my nut!
That's a pretty accurate summary of Hervé's character. His life somehow just happens to him and the sense of the story is maybe just to show exactly this. I think there are many people who are very similar to Hervé - they somehow do what's expected of them without really taking control over their own lives. It's a bit depressing to witness this but also can serve as a reminder to take stock of our own lives and remind us that we actually can change things, if we just take action.
@Eduard, it's a relief if someone else feels simular. @Eduard and @BvHvSu26 thanks for the corrections, I'll work them in tomorrow. And, yes, @Caro, maybe Hervé is a good reminder to take action. Maybe this is one possible messages of the book.
Great analysis! I think you are exactly right about Hervé Joncour not participating actively in determining the outcome of his own life, and I think this is definitely something that Baricco was trying to get across. I still have a lot of other questions about the book, though. I'll write a post here about them, and maybe that will help me to think about them more clearly.