Worth A Read Yes
Length 135
Quick Review It has been Matar’s dream to see Sienese art in person, and he documents that dream in this minute memoir.
If you have a love for art and a desire to not be trapped inside your own home anymore, A Month in Siena by Hisham Matar is a great little book to read. It’s beautiful, inspiring, and consumable in an afternoon.
Matar was drawn to Siena because of the art. After his father died, he found himself immersed in the Sienese School of painting in museums around the world. Over the years, it became a comforting obsession for him. He looked for it everywhere and had a burning desire to explore it more in its home city of Siena, Italy. After publishing The Return, he wanted to center himself and relax, so he made his way to Siena for a month, where he dove head first into the art world and focused on eight significant pieces.
One of my favorite things about reading is the tactility of it. A Month in Siena is a beautiful book with glossy pages and images of some of the notable paintings he mentions within the pages. When talking about art, it’s important to see what is being discussed, and Matar wants the reader to visual immerse themselves in the art as much as he did.
It is more than a memoir or a book about art, it’s a love letter to Siena, to Sienese art, and art history. Matar writes with the confidence of a seasoned writer but with the excitement of a toddler reaching for a favorite sweet. It is evident, he has found himself in the middle of his own personal heaven in Siena. He speaks about getting lost and falling in love with the tangible city instead of the dream he had built up in his mind throughout his life. He fell in love with the city which inspired his beloved art, but he also fell in love with meeting people and unlocking a deeper part of his soul.
The book is beautiful, but you have to have an appreciation and love for art and art history because that is what A Month in Siena is about: Matar’s love for art and the history of the Sienese School of painting. He has a beautiful way of crafting insightful passages, “With every step I pressed deeper into it and, as though in response, it made room.” The sentences create a picture of who he is as a writer but also as a person. He gives meaning to things and the interconnection of everything, “that cities are there in part to render us more intelligent and more intelligible to each other.”
Matar lets the reader into a part of his soul with this tiny memoir. His reverence for art and history come across in every line. I liked reading A Month in Siena, but it’s definitely for a specific demographic of reader.
Memorable Quotes
“I remember thinking I did not mind dying – that it would have to come at some point – but that I was not quite ready yet, that dying now would be a waste, given how much time I had s not learning how to live.”
“And it must surely follow that what lies behind our longing and nostalgia is exactly this need to be accounted for.”
bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna
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Title: A Month in Siena
Author: Hisham Matar
Publisher: Random House
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 9780593129135