Hello my dear followers, I know I haven't posted in a long looong time but I'm back with a book review for a famous Romanian book, "The Hatchet" by Mihail Sadoveanu!
If you're Romanian you probably read this when you were a teenager (and the odds are you dreaded it), but shout-out to my non-Romanian friends!
"Girl, don't be foolish and don't cry. Today is a holy Monday and we are starting the fulfillment of our decision"
- "The Hatchet", Mihail Sadoveanu
Rating: 2.5 / 5
A story about justice and self-confidence, "The Hatchet" follows the journey of Vitoria Lipan, who is looking for her missing husband. After Nechifor Lipan doesn't return home, his wife begins to worry and takes the family's fate into her own hands.
The main inspiration source is the balad of Miorița. In it, 2 shepherds -one from Vrancea and one from Hungary- are planning to murder the Moldavian shepherd. The latter is warned by the magical sheep Miorița, but he accepts his fate without fighting back. "The Hatchet" is meant to be a retelling of the ballad from the point of view of the Moldavian shepherd's wife, a strong and daring protagonist. The book encourages readers to fight for what they believe in and have confidence that they can be independent regardless of the prejudices of the people around them.
I didn't really like the structure and pacing and certain choices of Vitoria weren't the best, they weren't justified. She left home after 12 weeks and in this time....her husband had already decomposed. I understand that fasting and religion were important to her, but in my opinion it was a sign for lack of tact. Many events throughout the story were quite irrelevant or even repetitive, Vitoria going from village to village asking about her husband but....that's about it. The ending was a bit rushed, one that is meant to be spectacular but it was exactly as I imagined it, very predictable.
It was interesting, however, to observe the mioritic setting, described not in such great detail, so I did not get tired, and the obsolete mentality and attitudes of people regarding domestic abuse, women or generally new things and concepts.
Astăzi, pentru a cinsti amintirea acestui abil narator, evidențiem câteva (7) aspecte mai puțin sau deloc cunoscute despre Mihail Sadoveanu. Sprijin ne-a oferit profesorul și criticul literar Paul Cernat.
1. Fatalismul optimist ca filosofie (ironică) a istoriei
Din jurnalul din 1919 al lui Mihail Sadoveanu: „Ideia că nu putem ieși, noi românii, decît bine din încurcăturile veacului acestuia,…
24 februarie 1870 – 06 august 1941
151 ani de la nașterea criticului literar, jurnalistului de opinie, poetului și militantului feminist, Izabela Sadoveanu.
Biografia Izabelei Sadoveanu:
Izabela Sadoveanu este fiica Eleonorei (născută Dumitriu) şi a lui Gheorghe Morţun. La scurt timp după naștere, va fi adoptată de Mia şi Alexandru Andrei. Urmează ciclul primar la Bacău, apoi la Iaşi,…
