“Perfect: an insult from an ignorant person is always flattering.”
We picked this book up at random in a bookstore, drawn by the cover. We didn’t know the author and felt guilty, but then we discovered it was a debut novel, and so we felt justified. So, first of all, let’s start by complimenting the publisher for a spot-on graphic design.
The story is about Isa M., a young student from Turin who organizes a party at her family’s villa. She invites classmates, friends, and, like any university party, many friends of friends who have very little to do with the hostess. The cheerful atmosphere is, however, disturbed by the unexplained absence of Ezio, Isa M.’s most anticipated guest. The mood worsens when he finds a threatening note: if by the end of the evening no one had found the courage to touch the cassowary bird (a bird resembling an ostrich, to give you an idea), Ezio would die.
A tasteless joke, or a genuine threat? In both cases, who was behind it? Ezio himself or some mad murderer? But above all, what’s the point of challenging university students to touch a cassowary kept in a private home in Turin? These and other questions will accompany the reader until a raw ending, making for a delightful read.
Although the format is familiar—and we don’t mean that in a negative sense—with a group of young people living in, or sharing, a common space like a villa with a garden (since Boccaccio’s Decameron, if you will), we enjoyed the book.
The text and the very colloquial vocabulary, not among our favorites, nonetheless successfully convey the world of youth, the interpersonal relationships of a certain age group, when one is too young to be considered an adult and too old to be (or rather, feel like) an adolescent. Yes, it’s true, in some places the style is still immature, but let’s give this young writer time to mature so we can reap its best fruits tomorrow.
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Leonardo San Pietro, Festa con casuario, Sellerio, Palermo 2025