Title: Silk
Author: Alessandro Baricco
Publisher: Vintage Books
Pages: 91

I read on a fansite that Keira Knightley recommended this book as a summer read. She is starring in the movie version, which will be released in 2007. Because I am definitely going to see this movie, I decided to read the book first.

The story is quite simple. It's about a Frenchman, Hervé Joncour, who trades in silkworm eggs in the 1800s. He always goes to Africa to get them, but then there is an epidemic that makes the eggs useless. The entire world seems to have been stricken by this epidemic, except for Japan. He makes a deal with another silk trader in the village and goes to Japan, which is a dangerous thing to do. Japan is very hostile toward foreigners and he doesn't speak the language.

In Japan he meets a man, who speaks French fluently. He is willing to make a deal with him. While Hervé is there he meets a young woman, who he immediately falls in love with. But he is married and his wife Hélène is waiting for him in France. He becomes so possessed with the girl that he can't get her out of his head when he goes back to France. He wants to go back to Japan almost immediately...

It is a very easy read, in the sense of number of pages, but also in language use and sentence constructions. The sentences aren't very long and there is a lot of repetition. For instance, the journey to and from Africa is repeated almost exactly when he goes for a second time.

The writing style is refreshing. The novel is divided into several scenes that take up about a page, sometimes 2. You could call them one page chapters. There isn't that much dialogue. Even though the author has a great eye for small details the descriptions of places or people aren't that extensive. This gives the story a very direct no-nonsense feeling to it. You don't feel like going into a maze of descriptions and forgetting about the story, like some other novels.

In short it is a very interesting, refreshing historical novel that keeps you turning the pages and wanting to finish it in one go. One thing I wanted to see more of was the wife's side of the story. You mostly see everything from Hervé's point of view and are sort of wondering what is happening with Hélène. I think that if the author would have spent more time on her side as well, I would have felt more sorry for her. I wonder how they will take of this in the movie. Keira is the first person on the credits list, so I hope they will make the part of Hélène a bit bigger. I'm sure they will have to add lots to the story to make it into a 2 hour movie.

Verdict: I give the book a 8.0/10