“Darek remains silent, suspended on the remains of the Tibetan bridge of our foursome friendship.”
Friendship torn and never mended, love killed and then brought back to life, the awareness of no longer being the same people you thought you were until a few moments before. A passage common to many people, and that everyone faces in their own way, because there is no right way to do it. This is the central theme of the book, trying to keep the reader emotionally unstable.
The story tells the story of a group of friends Leonardo, Antonio, Barbara and Darek who met during their university years, but remained friends despite living in different countries (precisely Italy and Poland).
The chapters are divided into days, as if to mark the time necessary for Leonardo and Barbara to make the irreparable mistake, and the eternal one to pay the consequences.
Friendship and love are told in their highest form, that is to love the other person so much that you are able to forgive whether you are talking about a girlfriend or a friend. Always assuming that it is possible to go back after a betrayal.
Krakow is not only the background of the story told, but an integral part of the story. The city so dear to Leonardo modifies and guides his choices. A city in transformation as all the characters are in transformation, now aware (perhaps not all) of the end of their youth, and close to entering adulthood.
The reading is certainly flowing, perhaps a few too many typos. We really liked some series of names starting with the same letter, to indicate a kind of circular climax; made to shore up a mood or a particular moment in the story. Here are two examples: Inexorable. Charming. Uncompromising. Inaccurate. Unstable; Counterproductive. Nonsense. Against traffic. Upstream. Upwind. Versus.
In some ways the author’s prose is still immature, in others it is already ready to be grasped and savored in all its nuances.
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Valentino De Bernardis, Cracovia, il sogno dopo, A&B Editrice, Acireale-Roma, 2011