Natalia Ginzburg’s novella The Dry Heart starts brilliantly with a woman shooting her husband in the face - then loses all momentum as Ginzburg takes us back to the beginning where we have to see the woman meet the man, go through the courtship, get married, blah blah blah. Boo!
What seemed like a promising piece of exciting noir or crime fiction is really a dull sorta-romance-sorta-slice-of-life story about the dreary ups and downs of a relationship and how the woman came to shoot the man in the face. If I told you the reason was the most cliched thing the man was doing, you’d be as impressed as me. Oh, wow, the imagination…
Ginzburg is a decent writer. Considering this was originally published in 1947, it doesn’t feel anywhere close to its age and even has a contemporary flavour to it. The premise is intriguing, if misleading, and the episode near the end about the baby is moving.
Unfortunately though, the story is mostly very dull and I didn’t find The Dry Heart an interesting read at all. Natalia Ginzburg is a relatively unknown writer for a reason!
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