Bought Jostein Gaarder's "Vita Brevis" at Fully Booked the other day and I must admit that I’m very much disappointed.

Don’t get me wrong, I very much admire Gaarder's works...but this work proved to be misleading. I’m still not finished reading it (bogged down with writing e-mails of English lesson corrections to my students) so maybe it might be able to redeem itself by having a good ending...so here's hoping.

The book promises:
In a second-hand bookshop in Buenos Aires, Jostein Gaarder makes an exciting find: a transcript of a letter to St Augustine, author of the famous Confessions, from Floria Aemilia, the woman he renounced for chastity.

I was curious about the plot, I honestly thought that it'll be an answer or an undiscovered continuation of St. Augustine's "Confessions" but it proved to be a mere translation of his concubine's supposed love letters to the former. This is a very intense love letter, at times bitter, at times mocking but beautifully written and very articulate. It's both a personal attack on St Augustine and the institution of the Church that he discarded his lover for.

Book Details:

Title Vita Brevis: A Letter to St. Augustine
Author Jostein Gaarder
Reviewed By Purplycookie ( )

Author of Sophie's World shows us all he's not just a one trick pony with this superb pastiche of a letter to St. Augustine from the woman he scorned. Nicely done, with 'translator's' footnotes and lashings of attributions to Latin authors. ( )

A fictional, philosophical letter from Saint Augustine's former lover, Flora Aemilia. The book is also known as 'Vita Brevis' which I like better than 'That Same Flower.' (Also the cover design here, with a tiny tiny picture of Augustine popping out of a naked woman's side is a bit silly).

I read this a long time ago. I found it compelling except for the shakey framing device of the author 'discovering' the text of Flora Aemilia's letter to Augustine. I think it might have worked better without it. ( )