“She had married late, had become a mother late and was now aging prematurely.” Total light in the style and in the story told. A book that enlightens the reader for the narrative delicacy of the author, and for the desire to bring out of the shadows one of the least virtuous pages of American history. Total surprise for us, who guiltily did not know the author and the book, but for which we must...
“FRIDAY RE-VERSO” “…where your body announced […] its presence there, at the mercy of your laborious apprenticeship to the work of the world.” On October 15, 2024, Antonio Skármeta died. Many have seen “Il postino” starring Troisi, not as many have read that masterpiece of humanity and literature that is “Ardente paciencia”, translated into Italian as “Il postino di Neruda”. A few days before Skàrmeta’s death, excited by a chat about that title, we decided...
“Everyone is afraid and feels alone, and life is everyone’s prison.” Elba is a young teenager forced to live inside a psychiatric facility in the early eighties. Her only fault is that of being the daughter of a woman hosted in the facility, and when she passes away, rather than being sent to an orphanage, she remains living in the asylum, although she has no diagnosis of insanity. Doctors, nurses, supervisors and patients, each committed...
“In front of the fascist house he cleared his throat, picked up the saliva in his mouth and spat on the ground.” Italy post armistice of September 8th, brothers against brothers, native homeland, a land of contention by foreign feet, and raped by innocent deaths. The action takes place entirely in the Comacchio Valleys, where History – with a capital H – during the Second World War collides and overwhelms the history – with a...
“The brother-in-law thought sadly about the life that awaited him: his dying wife, his children, his work.” Collection of short stories that date back to the dawn of Cassola’s literary production, when in his early twenties he began to give shape to the soul of the writer that dwelt within him. Published in some literary magazines between 1937 and 1942, they were revived in complete form in 1942, only to be revived in 1962 with...
“FRIDAY RE-VERSO” “…and then I held in my hand a story that was no longer true.” The “Re-Verso” Fridays are dedicated to little gems from a few years ago; this time we want to highlight a more recent one: “The shadow of the volcano” by Marco Rossari. Not a rediscovery therefore, for some, we hope, a new happy meeting. Reading this book was a summer. Not a summer of beers and fluttering flowered dresses, no, rather of...
“Everyone wanted to die this year because from next year nothing new will be seen.” The main character of the tale is Nicola, who lived in a mental hospital for thirty-five years. Son of a difficult family situation, officially never born, because his father never decided to register him at the registry office (unlike his brothers), and a mother who was also locked up in a mental hospital, from an early age he will be...
“People think one thing is true to the core.” Can an American novel excite and involve an Italian reader after more than sixty years? If it’s a masterpiece, yes! A modern classic of world literature. Get ready to read the story of a boy, a young teenager, to enter his head, with his language and his way of coding and reading the world. Get ready to immerse yourself in his thoughts, to filter everything through...
“It had never occurred to me that human actions could have a limit, not even when it was mom’s turn.” We’ve discovered a new book to put on your must-read-before-you-die list. When we bought it we didn’t think that it would enter every single cell of our body, to then make us shine with life. Friendship, love, moral values, guilt, memory pride, regrets, and more, dosed with a delicacy that moves the reader. The protagonist...
“Mine has always been a family of fighters.” A book necessary for the collective memory. An isthmus of land, submerged by the ocean of ingratitude, returned visible after too many years, which connects the memory of those who sacrificed their youth, and even their lives, to those who enjoy the fruits of that sacrifice. The role of women during the civil war of 1943-1945 in Italy was soon forgotten, sometimes not even acknowledged, although honoring...
