Pinocchio in Venice

by Robert Coover

Pinocchio in Venice is a carnivalesque reemersion in the well-known fairy tale – as well as magic realism, Mann’s Death in Venice , and Nabokov’s Lolita – with the puppet, now an aged Nobel Prize winner and aesthete, returning to Venice to pay his final tribute. As he turns back to wood, Robert Coover’s hero is reunited with his old friends and foes while he painfully searches for the Blue-Haired Fairy who put flesh on his limbs. Written in Coover’s signature style, this is both a brilliant meditation on what it means to be human and a hilarious and bawdy adventure. Pinocchio in Venice represents Coover at his finest.

Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Contemporary, Novels, Literary Fiction, Italy, Psychological

330 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Robert Lowell Coover was an American novelist, short story writer, and T. B. Stowell Professor Emeritus in Literary Arts at Brown University. He is generally considered a writer of fabulation and metafiction. He became a proponent of electronic literature and was a founder of the Electronic Literature Organization.

Reviews

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pinocchio in Venice is commedia dell’arte performed on the postmodernistic stage. And it is an absurdist comedy to boot.
Everything begins with an arrival…

…after arduous travels across two continents and as many centuries, pursued by harsh weather and threatened with worse, an aging emeritus professor from an American university, burdened with illness, jet lag, great misgivings, and an excess of luggage, eases himself and his encumbrances down from his carriage onto a railway platform in what many hold to be the most magical city in the world, experiencing not so much that hot terror which initiates are said to suffer when their eyes first light on an image of eternal beauty, as rather that cold chill that strikes lonely travelers who find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He recalls his Italian childhood as a wooden puppet… He came here to finish his book but at once he is caught in the whirlwind of misadventures… He meets all the personages from an old tale… And now he sees Venice as Catchfools of old…

…he feels the mockery cast upon his own shabby self-deceptions, the impostures and evasions, grand pretensions, the many masks he’s worn – and not least that of flesh itself, now falling from him like dried-up actor’s putty. Ah, he was right to come here, after all, old piece of rot-riven firewood that he is, to share his shame with the defrocked sheep and peacocks, the wingless butterflies and combless cocks of Fools’ Trap.

Sawdust to sawdust for you are wood and to wood you shall return.

[Tony]

Venice is not like other cities . . . to reach some places you must cross a bridge twice. We are given that warning early on in this ribald, phantasmagorical novel, early enough that the wordplay and the spoof on Collodi's classic work was still fun. Like when the one talking dog sayeth to the other talking dog: With all that hard thinking you do, Mela, I'm surprised your rectum doesn't fall out. With Coover you never know if his scatalogical double entendre is mere slapstick or hides a deeper meaning. Like maybe you have to cross the same bridge twice to get it. Which, after awhile, I really couldn't do. Impossible really.

"Impossible really," he says, describing for Melampetta the film studio's futile attempts to cast the part of the Blue-Haired Fairy, "like a painter trying to paint the color of air, or a composer reaching for the sound of grace---"
"Yes, or a theologian trying to imagine the taste of manna, which has been likened severally unto angel breath, Orphic eggs, the froth on a virgin's milk, pressed mistletoe, dream jelly, lingam dew, fairy pee, the alchemical Power of Projection, and the excreta of greenflies on tamarisk leaves. I know what you mean. It's like going after the ineffable with a butterfly net, or trying to catch time in a teaspoon. Or, as the immortal Immaculate Kunt once said, in an attempt to describe by way of the practical reason the odor of sanctity: 'Toe-cheese is only the half of it.'"

Toe-cheese, indeed.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I cannot remember the last piece of fiction I’ve read that had required reading as a prerequisite. Yes, it is possible to read this work of Coover without first having read A Death in Venice and Collodi’s Pinocchio, but the reader would unfortunately miss out on entirely too many jokes and plot points divined from those works. The more recent the reading of those two, the better.

I just did a search on the bizarro genre of fiction and it looks like the form is credited to having begun in 1999. I think Wikipedia is missing a trick; if Pinocchio in Venice isn’t the progenitor of bizarro fiction then it is certainly its godfather. This work meets the basic criteria: it’s absurd, it is ribald, it is rife with satire. It has rollicking scenes heading pell-mell through a narrative that the reader can’t help but think the whole thing is going to screech off the page. Like the first time you listened to Total Eclipse of the Heart and you weren’t entirely sure whether Bonnie Tyler’s larynx would hold out through to the end of the song. Coover isn’t just undressing a classic novella and children’s story, he’s slathering it in mineral oil and making it wrestle naked with angry bobcats. His lurid images blaze in the mind like retinal echoes from staring at the sun.

In rating this book I’m stealing from Vonnegut grading of his own novels. My 3 stars are strictly within the Coover Galaxy, much as Vonnegut says he can give himself an A+ for Cat’s Cradle “while knowing that there was a writer named William Shakespeare”. This was my least favorite Coover but still one of the better books I’ve read this year.

[Nathan "N.R." Gaddis]

Coover's Pinocchio is yet another of Coover's novels which the weak of heart and the easily queezey ought to avoid. It's not the excessive poop stuff or the sex stuff ;; we all have to put up with that stuff on a daily basis, like breathing. And it's not really the dimensionality of characterization -- another author may have done something different, like, portray a fully-fleshed=out 3D human Pinocchio slowly losing a dimension as his flesh falls and he becomes wooden once again, perhaps trailing an increasingly wooden prose as the novel progressed. That'd be a very modernistic method and'd probably be a great thing to read. Coover though is probably more moralistic than that, and nihilistic. Basically, rewriting Collodi's little children's book as a portrait of the puppet as an old man, emeritus professor, returning to his roots ;; essentially Coover doubling Collodi. Whence we return to the thought about that type of reader who will want to continue to avoid Coover's Pinocchio, i.e., what will disturb that average reader isn't the lack of sympathetic characterization, but the degree of cruelty with which Coover treats his protagonists (Pinocchio is sympathetic, Our Author is not)--I recall Moore making this very complaint in regard to Lucky Pierre, in which Coover's protag=directed cruelty comes to an extreme akin to the misogyny presented in Darconville's Cat. But the point is, Coover is only following his leader, Collodi, who is rather more than unkind to his little wooden=nosed near=boy. It's as if one can do what one likes with little wooden-boys.

In fine, kudos to my co=readers Brian and Amy without whose fellowship I may have continued to delay my Coover reading to unexcusable lengths. Do read Collodi first. Probably Mann's Venice novella too, which I ought perhaps to have done. But not to worry, Coover's Pinocchio is pure entertainment.

___________________
For the bibliographically aware, I'm tentatively placing this novel alongside three others of Coover's :: John's Wife, Gerald's Party, Lucky Pierre ; none are adequately read. Forthcoming further thoughts here perhaps in my eventual comments on John's Wife.



____________________
Collodi's Pinocchio is bawdy ; can't really believe that Coover's gunna be able to improve upon the tastelessness of the whole thing ;; maybe he's just going to add a touch of Dirty Old Man. Dunno. But at any rate ; here's a quick invite to join a little co=reading of Coover's little novel ;; Brian and Amy already maybe on board ;;; there's a little thread in our little Coover group -- why not join in? https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

abebooks has several signed first/first hd's for your collecting pleasure ::
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Searc...



________________
To read in foresight:

The Adventures Of Pinocchio.

Mann's "Death in Venice."

Disney's 1940 film, probably.

And if anyone can help with an image:
From Pietro Lombardo's Church of Miracles, a 1409 Madonna with child (painting) by Niccolo di Pietro; "an infant Jesus who indeed looks like a cartoon character."

Coover's essay "Tale, Myth, Writer," from Brothers & Beasts: An Anthology of Men on Fairy Tales.

And:
"Notes on Craft: Some Instructions for Readers and Writers of American Fiction: An Interview with Robert Coover," by Gabe Hudson:
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/no...

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

If the idea of Pini as a mother-fucker (for who can the Blue-haired fairy be but mother and lover?) with his nose as penis (watch how it grows!) makes you laugh, you will enjoy this a great deal. If, however, you are not fond of puns, phallus-jokes and lots and lots of shit-jokes, then this is probably not for you.

I personally found it a lot of fun, and wonderfully well written, with some great riffs on the nature of self. But, ultimately, there is nothing here which will really "stay with me"....

[Andrew]

My version of Pinocchio in Venice has the first thing that Coover says about himself in the author bio is that he is an "Iowan" who lives in Rhode Island and Europe. Not Iowa-born, an Iowan. As a fellow Iowan, I get it, it's something that's in your bones, even though I haven't lived there in over a decade, and almost certainly never will again. Especially as, like Coover, I've determined to live a very un-Iowan life. That is part of it.

Pinocchio in Venice. Also very, very un-Iowan. Pinocchio returns to the land where he was made and it gets weird. Fast. If you've read much Coover, you know how that shit goes down. The whole thing turns into an orgy of the bizarre -- transformations flesh to wood, body parts appearing/disappearing, sex acts that would make Sade himself blush -- which was especially impressive given the way that the Real Feels sneak in on you, something that Coover is almost uniquely able to do.

He's a national treasure, and it's a damn shame that he doesn't get the kudos he deserves -- 'round these parts DeLillo's most popular novel (White Noise) has 82,000 ratings, Pynchon's (Gravity's Rainbow) has 34,000 ratings, Barth's (The Sot-Weed Factor) has 7000. Coover tops out at a mere 2000. READ HIM.

[Rebecca Alcazaze · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m rarely so relieved to have finished a book.

Some parts were pretty fun and, as someone with fond memories of Venice’s eerie/‘thin’ places, I found the general Venice-ness of the narrative relatively evocative, but the actual act of reading this was a tedious process. This goes beyond magic realism but I’m starting to realise I really dislike magic realism and I rather disliked this.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this book as much as I hoped I would but a big part of it is because the language was so dense and the movement so metaphysical that I found myself having to go back because I suddenly wasn't sure what I had been reading for the past five pages. This is one of those books where every word has importance and everything is a symbol for something else, and it is truly masterfully written, but went right over my head, much as I hate to admit it.

The story follows a decrepitly aged Pinocchio as he returns to his homeland in Venice to finish his final master work and probably end his life. Since becoming a real boy he has recieved world wide fame, won the Nobel Prize for philosophy and even had several movie adaptation made about his life. He is more miserable now then he ever has been. What follows is a wandering of Pinocchio through a Venice haunted by the magic of his wooden life and gangrenous from the rampant yuppie tourism as he hunts for the Azure Fairy, literally falls apart and gradually turns back into a wooden puppet.

The scenes are often absurd and perverse, but nonetheless masterfully written and hilarious. Pinocchio receives oral sex from two mastiffs, is used as a sex toy by the image of the Azure fairy, is forced to join an anarchic Venetian punk band of marionettes, and is obscurely coddled by a self-proclaiming loaf, though also a beautiful former student, and this is in the beginning of the book.

this is a book best for an upper level English or Philosophy class, and while it can be read for pleasure, will certainly need to b e read actively. I recommend it, but only to those who are much braver readers thab myself.

[Stella · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the idea behind this book. I love the whole carnivalesque atmosphere and the ludic mania that Coover creates like no one else. My first encounter with Coover's writing was actually "A Political Fable" in which The Cat in the Hat runs for President, in which the narrative similarly disintegrates as the Rebelaisian energy reaches its peak. In Pinocchio in Venice, it's not only the narrative that disintegrates but Pinocchio's "I-ness" as his limbs fall off and he starts turning back into a wooden puppet. I found it very moving as Pinocchio starts questioning his humanity (as well as his puppet-ishness), his destiny and dreams at the end of his long life. The text of course does not want you to be overly moved and it does everything to prevent this from happening--with long confusing ramblings through Venice backstreets, suspensions of logic, misleading headings, Pinocchio's own plunge into hallucinogenic madness where the reader stops comprehending exactly what is happening. But the truth is, that the humanity of Coover's text starts peeking through its over-stylized mask--the flesh is revealed as the wooden veneer chips away. It is in these moments that Coover succeeds the most. Yet (and perhaps this is because the devices that Coover uses have been so over-used since this book's publication and I have encountered them so often that they have ceased to be original, creative, or clever), there is some element to this text that seems to be somewhat formulaic not so much in terms of structure, but in terms of all the post-modern literary crutches. Coover was obviously a very unique and original writer, but he wrote many similar types of narratives before this one that do exactly what this text does. Sure, every writer has a signature style and voice, but Coover just seems overly comfortable and complacent with his so there were moments where I wearied of reading passages where the same thing happens over and over again. Carnivals should be fun and less predictable, less ordered and more unrestrained.

On another note, Melampetta was amaziing!

[Rosemary Biggio · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is more artifice than art, a fictional equivalent of a Mapplethrope photo. This novel is the ribald on steroids. The book does not justify the reader’s energy output, “love’s labour’s lost”. Even the most avid bibliophile will find the task of reading the novel from start to finish daunting. If you like magical realism but have little taste for the vulgar, Angela Carter’s works are a better choice.

[Marc · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably best enjoyed by a reader quite familiar with the original Pinocchio story since this is a carnivalesque riff whereby the grown human Pinocchio returns to Venice and puppethood. His nose reveals itself as a substitute phallus and various torture and debauchery ensues as he faces his own mortality and learns the limits of friendship and aesthetics. Pretty typical Coover meta-fiction but it just wasn't working for me.

[Jim · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book. . .

I read this book cover to cover for one reason and one reason only: So I could say it was the worst book I'd ever read. I mean, can you really physically throw a book in the garbage after 150 pages and say you've read it? Not if it's 330 pages. . . which this is.

So. . . worst book I ever read!

[Alan Newman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who better to ask the question “what does it mean to be human?” than Pinocchio. When we meet him he is an ancient professor who wins the Nobel prize for his exploration of “I-ness”. He returns to his home town Venice at Carnival, a modern tourist trap where nothing and no one is what it seems. His sojourn there is surreal, Rabelasian, and Joycean— Pinocchio is searching for his mother, the Blue Fairy, loses everything and almost everyone dear to him. In the epiphanic end, Mom takes the blame. Like Joyce Coover sees motherhood as repressive, smothering, relying on guilt to suppress the son’s I-ness—conflating the smothering Mother, the Madonna, a gumchewing temptress and the Blue Fairy. Surprisingly misogynistic

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pinocchio gets his wish and becomes a real boy. Aaaahhhh! But does he live happily ever after?

Sadly life is no fairy tale... nor is this book.

In the book Pinocchio returns to Italy and meets up with his old friends - and enemies!

Coover is a very imaginative story teller; skilful use of language create grotesque characters and nightmarish situations.

Pinocchio - the human - gets to deal with all the crap the rest of us have to manage - growing old, failures in relationships, the loss of mental agility and the inevitability of death.

Very much worth the effort in this novel novel.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read. Coover can always be counted on that. PostModern Disney. Meta Fairy Tale! Very witty, but, once again, Coover can be counted on for that. "Difficult" but beautiful. He writes books that you read less for the plot, then for the sheer beauty of the writing. This was Ribald, (Hell,downright obscene!) Scatological, and Mystic all wrapped up in one package. I will read more Coover, (I also have Lucky Pierre, and Noir to read) but not for a while. I think need a complete change of pace.

Hmmm...what now? Part of me is thinking hard-boiled fiction, but I picked up Le Morte D'Arthur, in the Middle English, and it's SUCH gorgeous prose! Do I dare?

[Mientras Leo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro fantástico que contiene una lectura que va mucho más allá de lo que puede parecer a simple vista. Mezclando cuento y una vieja leyenda de la maravillosa ciudad, el autor es capaz de montar una fábula tan divertida como cruel.
http://entremontonesdelibros.blogspot...

[Terry]

I had to set this one aside. In was charmed by the concept, but Coover's writing style, at least for this book, left me frustrated. Too much barnstorming with the language. too dense for me! or maybe I'm too dense for it!

[Rick · Rating 2 out of 5]

love your puppet
but don't coddle him

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a book about poo.

[Bill · Rating 1 out of 5]

Coover's worst by far. Avoid.

[Alhimik · Rating 4 out of 5]

По анекдоту к каждой главе этого замечательного романа в том же гротескно-абсурдно-философском стиле:

Глава 1. ВХОД
Профессор приехал в Венецию с трудом всей его жизни.
Носильщик в маске Чумного Доктора его спрашивает:
"У вас есть что-то ценное?"
"Только жизнь и эта рукопись".
"Тогда оставьте себе жизнь, рукопись я и сам украду".

Глава 2. КОМПАНЬОНЫ В МАСКАХ
"Почему мы второй час ходим кругами?" - спросил профессор.
"Это не круги, это спираль экзистенциального кризиса", - ответил носильщик, роняя багаж профессора в канал.

Глава 3. РЕСТОРАН "ГАМБЕРО РОССО"
Официант подал счет: "500 евро".
"За хлеб и вино?!"
"Нет, за воспоминания о детстве, которые вы тут переживали".

Глава 4. НОЧЬ УБИЙЦ
Полицейский: "Вы арестованы за попытку проникновения!"
Профессор: "Но это же мой отель!"
"Именно поэтому. Здесь все номера уже украдены".

Глава 5. СПАСЕНИЕ АЛИДОРО
Пёс сказал полиции: "Он не бродяга, он профессор!"
"Это еще хуже. Бродяги хотя бы не пишут жалоб", - вздохнул сержант.

Глава 6. ФИЛОСОФСКИЙ СТОРОЖ
Сторожевые псы спорят:
"Человек - это звучит гордо!"
"Нет, это звучит голодно. Дай ему бутерброд".

Глава 7. СТРАННОЕ РОЖДЕНИЕ
"Я родился из воображения Феи", - сказал профессор.
"Значит, ты налоговый вычет?" - уточнил Алидоро.

Глава 8. ФИЛЬМ ЕГО ЖИЗНИ
Голливудский продюсер:
"Мы сделаем Фею чирлидершей!"
"Тогда я буду деревянным мячом", - ответил профессор.

Глава 9. ДЬЯВОЛЬСКАЯ МУКА
"Мои уши отваливаются!"
"Не переживай, - сказал пёс, - они тебе для слушания лекций все равно не нужны".

Глава 10. ТРИ КОРОЛЕВСТВА
"Венеция - это Страна Игрушек, Ловушка для Дураков и..."
"И мой кошелёк", - добавил профессор, проверяя пустые карманы.

Глава 11. ИСКУССТВО И ДУХ
"Моя теория искусства - это порядок из хаоса!"
"Твоя жизнь - лучшее подтверждение теории", - заметила Блубелл.

Глава 12. В ДОМЕ МЁРТВЫХ
Блубелл в церкви: "Эти фрески ужасны!"
"Это не фрески, это мои студенческие работы", - пробормотал профессор.

Глава 13. ГОВОРЯЩИЙ СВЕРЧОК
Арлекино: "Привет, Пиноккио!"
"Я профессор!"
"Ага, а я - настоящий арлекин. Бежим, за нами полиция!"

Глава 14. ГРАН ТЕАТРО ДЕИ БУРАТТИНИ
"Мы играем панк-рок на нитках!"
"Как и вся моя карьера", - вздохнул профессор.

Глава 15. ПОЕЗДКА НА ГОНДОЛЕ
Гондольер-лиса: "С вас 200 евро".
"Но мы всего 100 метров проплыли!"
"Зато каких атмосферных!"

Глава 16. МАЛЕНЬКИЙ ЧЕЛОВЕК
Эудженио: "Если ты умрёшь, я устрою тебе пышные похороны!"
"А если выживу?"
"Тогда скромные, но с канапе".

Глава 17. ВИД С ЧАСОВОЙ БАШНИ
Мартен сбрасывает профессора:
"Это не убийство, это перфоманс-арт!"
"Спасибо, теперь я летающее искусство", - думал профессор в полёте.

Глава 18. ЧУДО НЕПРАВИЛЬНО ПРОБИТОГО ЧАСА
"Это чудо, что ты выжил!"
"Нет, это просто часы в Венеции всегда врут", - сказал Эудженио.

Глава 19. У ГРОБА Л'ОМИНО
"Вот где похоронен Маленький Человек".
"Какой трогательный... Это не ты ли в 20 лет?"
"Нет, это мои иллюзии".

Глава 20. ОРИГИНАЛЬНАЯ ВЛАЖНАЯ МЕЧТА
"Я хочу снова стать куклой!"
"Ты и так уже марионетка банковской системы", - заметила Фея.

Глава 21. ШАЛОСТЬ ПЛАТОНА
"Ваш нос меня возбуждает", - сказала Блубелл.
"Тогда моя молодость прошла зря - все смеялись над ним", - вздохнул профессор.

Глава 22. ШЕСТВИЕ В ЧЕСТЬ ГРАФА...
"Почему я должен идти в этой процессии?"
"Потому что ты - живая метафора унижения", - объяснил граф.

Глава 23. ПОСЛЕДНЯЯ ГЛАВА
"Мою рукопись украли и издали!"
"Радуйся - теперь ты официально классик", - сказал священник.

Глава 24. LA BELLA BAMBINA
"Я запечён в тесте как осёл!"
"Зато впервые за долгое время ты в тепле", - утешил повар.

Глава 25. ПРИГОТОВЛЕНО С ЛЮБОВЬЮ
"Я всех прощаю!"
"Не торопись, - сказал Эудженио, - ещё есть 3 главы для новых обид".

Глава 26. ЗВЕЗДА ТАНЦА
Толпа рвёт профессора на части.
"Наконец-то мой перформанс оценили!" - подумал он.

Глава 27. ФАТАЛЬНАЯ КНИГА...
"Я убил Эудженио компьютером!"
"Не переживай, в Венеции это считается естественной смертью", - сказал Лев.

Глава 28. ПОЛЕ ЧУДЕС
"Вот дерево с золотыми монетами!"
"Не трогай! Это наша пенсионная система", - предупредила Фея.

Глава 29. ВЫХОД
Фея: "Я сделаю тебя книгой".
"Спасибо. Будущее поколение хоть узнает, как не надо жить".

[Heronimo Gieronymus · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, yeah, I'm kinda on this escalating Robert Coover completist kick. While I have been a long time admirer, I had maintained for a long time a habit of only reading his shorter things. I was lazy that way. Or if not lazy, merely "particularly disposed." So I have spent a healthy portion of the year heretofore digging into the bigger piles. It has been paradigm-shiftingly rewarding. (I should say that I find JOHN'S WIFE particularly to be one of the great unsung American literary masterpieces.) I have always thought of Coover along w/ John Barth as a true-blue postmodernist. Like, by-the-books (pun-like thing intended) postmodern. We basically owe to Jean-François Lyotard the concept of postmodernism. It is worth noting that Lyotard did not talk about "postmodern works of art," but rather "postmodern inscriptions within the work of art." Generally, the postmodern is something that pops up in books that are still tied very much to modernist literary world-modelling. Barth and Coover are the Grand Poobahs of literary postmodernism in American letters because they are almost always involved in some kind of self-reflexivity and intertextual play. While in his bigger works I have been pleased to see Coover doing oh-so-much more than this, it is of course going to be impossible to deal w/ a book called PINOCCHIO IN VENICE without playing some not inconsiderable lip-service to intertextual play. What unifies most writing we would typify as postmodern in popular discourse is of course irony. I would like to frame PINOCCHIO IN VENICE as a book that is about irony's malicious revenge on Pinocchio. Coover's Pinocchio, long after the events that made him famous, has become a world-renowned multiple-Nobel-Prize-winning professor whose core set of beliefs appear to orbit around I-ness (oh no) and good character reflected in right conduct (oh dear). It is precisely this Pinocchio that Coover maneuvers through an escalating (Venetian) labyrinth of increasingly and deliriously nasty pratfalls-unto-death. An "I-ness" (with its total lack of a place in the postmodern) is thoroughly rebuked (in a manner that finally leads to hallucinatory shape-shifting). This is basically a super fun and very nasty comedy at the expense of all of its poor inventions. What is more postmodern than supplanting oneself in a myriad of invented or co-opted personages and than ruthlessly upending the checkerboard like a nasty little child?

[Shari · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first adventure into a Coover novel after enjoying his short stories. I found it to be a bit exhausting, though it is masterful. Salman Rushdie has said of Angela Carter (a friend of Coover’s and fellow fabulist) that her novels are too linguistically and symbolically dense, that her style isn’t suited as well to the novel as the short story, and while I haven’t found that to be true of her work for me, I did feel that with this work of Coover’s. As a fan of the original Pinocchio (I’ve worked on adapting Collodi’s work into a play), I enjoyed seeing the transformations and the common themes Coover was playing with. There’s a palpable dampness and woodiness to the novel. But it is a bit of a slog.

[Tommi Bäckström · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kyllä ja ei. Itse romaani on hengästyttävä ja tämän tästä tuli selväksi että siitä jotain ymmärtääkseen olisi hyvä tuntea Pinokkion tarina sellaisena kuin se on alun alkaen kirjoitettu ja muutama muu teos siihen päälle. Ymmärrys sinänsä ei ole mikään ylitsepääsemätön ongelma, mutta henkilögalleria ja tapahtumien hurja vauhti aiheuttivat tämän lukemisessa pientä kompurointia. Tässä oli myös mukana (suomentajan jälkisanojen lisäksi) lyhyempi novelli "Lapsenvahti" ja kirjailijan työstä kertova essee, jotka olivat huomattavasti helpompilukuisia ja joiden ansiosta annoin tälle tähden enemmän kuin muuten olisin. Arvostan myös loppuun liitettyä sanastoa, jonka avulla keskeiset italiankieliset hävyttömyydet on helppo omaksua.

[B · Rating 2 out of 5]

Coover gets 4 or 5 stars for "Is this the work of a genius thinking smart things?"

But I flat-out did not like it.

The characters speak in these long rambles that contain all sorts of puns. Most of the time the things that happen are too inexplicable to feel attached to. And it seems like the status quo just keeps resetting at the end of every chapter.

What I did understand was largely about poop and sex. And it wasn't clear why the author wanted to spend so much time there except that it's humorous.

Basically, the book didn't work for me on the literal level (the story) and perhaps I was too dumb to understand the second, metaphorical level. But this is my review so I pan it.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely bizarre, and one I can't quite wrap my head around. As much as I feel I've learned about Venice-- Coover manages to capture the spirit of the city, or at least make you feel like you've glimpsed into the soul of some presentation of the city, as much as the puppet himself. It's slapstick humor (the innuendo is very fitting for this book) and bizarrely highbrow. And I don't know if I'll ever understand it fully. Make sure you know your Italian culture, or you may end up scrolling endlessly through esoteric Wikipedia pages. But is that ever really a bad thing?

[Charlie Hollis · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a great idea for a book, and there are some seriously good surreal passages throughout, but I just found it way too overcomplicated in many parts, extremely verbose and really difficult to get on with. The absurdly long run on sentences also started to really grate with me after a while. It feels like Coover's just chucking everything he's got at the novel, and I feel like the readability suffers as a result. I ended up binning it halfway through.

[Alistair Leadbetter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rabelaisian and post-modern story of Pinocchio, now a 100 year old prize winning professor and author, returning to visit Venice to finish his magnum opus. Ribald, filthy and learned, with lots of metaphors, more than I caught I imagine. Read Pinocchio and also Death in Venice to get many of the references.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading five chapters, I closed the book. Not a writing style or genre that appeals to me.

[Paschalis]

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