Ricci Website Earns First Comment on Origin of Species
Almost three years after Nino Ricci’s novel The Origin of Species was first published, its webpage has finally garnered its first reader comment.
“I am at a point in this book where I am not sure I want to finish reading it,” wrote Linda Anderson Stewart, going on to describe the book as “one of the most depressing ” she had read in a long time.
Ricci was ecstatic when the comment showed up on his website dashboard.
“Never mind the Governor General’s Award, never mind the Order of Canada. As far as I’m concerned, this is what counts. Contact. Bridging the digital divide.”
Ricci says he hopes Ms. Anderson Stewart’s comment will spur other readers to post their opinions of his novel.
“I am no Polly Anna,” Ms. Anderson Stewart ended her post, “but I don’t find any of these characters worth reading about, other than to confirm all my worst opinions of human nature.”
What did you learn in school today? Sharing.
My biggest problem in reading this fabulous book is that I read it too quickly and missed many of the insights that are (I realise now) are clearly there. Now I will have to start again and take my time as on the first read I pressed on relentlessly to find out at what point Alex was going to get that epiphany about his own life and how it tied in with Esther, Galapogos, Maria and Jiri (that horrible disaster of a man). Admittedly I still have about 5 pages to read and have slowed it right down. Nino Ricci is a genius. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in overarching theories and their vulnerability to change.
Thank you, Justine, for the kind words. I emailed this one to my mother immediately, highlighting the phrase “Nino Ricci is a genius,” which I may also use on the cover of my next book.
Linda,
Nino takes you far away from all the fluff in the world. When he writes about something depressing, which he usually does, it makes me glad because he takes the time to describe thoughts and feelings that send me off into clouds of vivid images and emotions.
Nino overcomes the need for a happy story that moves along quickly, because every word Nino writes is an experience to be marvelled over. He describes a whole character through the tiniest details of facial expression and body language. In The Origin of Species he took me to Galapagos and made me feel the water and see and smell the land and the creatures. This work is a beautiful and poetic journey into how people really do think and feel. He gives us brutal reality, but in such a magical way.