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Thursday, 15 November 2007 |
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Hi Andrej,
good morning, evening or night.
I have only just stumbled across The Odd Couple on nifty.org and am enjoying it so much that I decided to check out your site. I am some what of a slow reader, that and when I really like certain parts I tend to re-read them.
In short I loved your story, every bit of it. I often look for story's that have more a story than the usual rump in the bedroom thou I do enjoy those to. I often look for authors that tell great tales and a wonderful way of telling them. even if it doesn't end how I want it too.
What was different about your tale was not just it's writing but also the translation of it made it a fun read.
You are now among my list of to read authors. I loved the way you wrote your characters and showed how they grew (evolved) and still kept their own roles.
The way you showed the development of the relationship and Maurizio's learning and growing what I wouldn't give for a man like that not because of the whole straight guy meets gay guy but because of the way you wrote how he thought and how Stefano would overcomplicate things. It was beautifully written.
Even the bit with Renato's fight showed not a surprising but definitely a good and strong resolution of that possible loose end. As was the one dealing with Nathalia.
I truly enjoyed reading your tale and look forward to reading more of your stories.
With friendly regards,
Cain
A very pleased fan
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Wednesday, 06 June 2007 |
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Dear Andrej
I've read most of your stories - well, the ones available in English or French. It would be interesting to read the Italian originals
Many of the stories are touching and deal with real human issues. This has a real liberating force. The love interest is more engaging than the sexual interest
The treatment of crises is generally good and inventive - and there is a real enlivening of the text when the plot is rendered more complex
I find the endless and repetitive sex scenes dreary and adding almost nothing. This has made me think what is at the heart of the 'turn on'. It is always some telling detail
I have no difficulty with the notion of 'the turn on': I mean only that thing that attracts, excites - the gesture, some quality, some 'reminder'... It participates in the nature of the poetic. Frequently this - 'the ting' - is unexpected, is it not? We are caught unprepared. So that it is not merely a matter of type - or sexual technique, for that matter
In this respect the sex scenes aren't sufficiently differentiated - and the same applies to the characters. I find many of the older characters - with their tendency to impose various moral imperatives - rather unpleasant, mean even. It is their awakening to life and possibility that is often at stake - but I wonder if it is the 'sexual giving' that is the true sign of any real development or something else. The fact that men can love each other should not come as any surprise - but what is it that we love in each other? A thousand ejaculations doesn't necessarily take anybody anywhere - mostly to tedium
I endorse your position on the middle class - with its public respectability and private squalor, even its fondness for the illicit. But there is a problem where the love interest is itself constructed in these terms - as if the working class/street boy/farm boy/thief (the wild/the innocent) is the site of redemption of the unfulfilled or 'restricted' middle class man/professional/authority figure.
The recuperation of an aspect of the self through the love object is the interesting theme. And it is your refusal of the refusal that is good - if my remark makes sense. I could point to many examples ...
The story of the boy who talks to the boy in the coma (in "A Thosand loves, On Love") - and makes love to him - is an extreme case of the finding of the repressed or abandoned self in the other. But what to make of the older man (in "The Odd Couple") who, having lost his lover of many years standing, returns to his home city and takes up with the removalist? While I found this story of great interest this older man represents an instance of what I'm calling meanness - and an assumed self-superiority that seems hardly justified. It is the boy who, despite everything, has retained his 'aliveness', not the older man - and a moral force that is driven from within not by moral dictates or calculation
For the moment, my best regards
John
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Wednesday, 17 January 2007 |
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Dear Andrej,
I've read one of your story, "The Odd Couple"
well, I think that it was a really nice story, the pace was kind of slow, but it wasn't too slow so the readers wouldn't get bored with it :) ... I love Maurizio character, I think that you've succeeded in describing of a selfish yet affectionate person in this story :)
the other thing I want to comment is the ending part, I think that it seemed kind of rush to settle things between Maurizio and Stefano, especially that Stefano found out about Maurizio's encounter with another woman, but all in all, your story is very good and I think that you are an excellent writer :)
Love,
Dizzy
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Saturday, 21 January 2006 |
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Hey, Andrej,
I finished The Odd Couple and it was very sweet. I'm happy it turned out that way. I love it. Your story made me cry a couple of times. I had feelings for the characters, like they were real people, which I need to have in a story to get my head into it, so to speak. Anyway, I think your writing is great. Any translation problems are very minor, and I think you're awesome. For some reason, the way it was translated reminded me of a series of books I read about a totally different subject - the author was Giovanni Guareschi and he wrote about a character named Don Camillo, a priest, and the comic adventures he had. I know I'll enjoy reading your other stories, and I'll definitely write you about how I feel.
Thanks,
Norma
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Friday, 13 January 2006 |
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Hey Andrej,
Well, I finally finished Goldfinch. I loved the parts about all the 'good' men who loved each other, but I found the rape scenes a bit heavy. I understand that they were necessary for the story, but I m not that rough myself, and I had to move on quickly.
I see that you posted another story - The Odd Couple. Sounds like my kind of thing, even though there is a great difference in ages between the main characters. Of course, not being able to see them, lessens the difference, so I go along and enjoy it.
Best wishes and much love, my friend. You do good stuff.
Alastair
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Wednesday, 26 August 1998 |
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In your story "The Odd Couple" I am growing to love Maurizio. In some ways he reminds me of people whom I have known and loved.
Maurizio's gentle nature comes out more in his behavior and the content of what he says, rather than how he says it. The fact that he is listening to Stefano, considering what the man says, and talking about readjusting his perspective on life (such as the description of what his father told him) to me is what sets him apart from Renato. I think that in the U.S., we tend to judge people's social class by the way they speak. But within a social class, how one behaves does more to show values and character than the way one speaks.
I am also identifying very much with Stefano. Like him, I have lost much in life, though not a lover to disease. I feel the man's loneliness and his sense of compassion that only deep loss can refine. And finally, I sense that you too, Andrej, must know some of this, else your characters would not be evoking the response in me that they do. Thank you for this experience.
I am thoroughly wound up in your story, Andrej. You are an excellent story teller and I am learning much from you.
Henry
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