“FRIDAY RE-VERSO” “And what could not be explained, not even by a fervent imagination, disturbed the necessary order.” This is not a book, but a meeting. First of all, the meeting of the author, Francesca Valente, with her friend and psychiatrist Luciano Sorrentino. Then it is the meeting with a topic, that of mental health, which always creates some problems for public attention: we act a bit like with the mad, we say “yes, yes, it’s...
“The rust of nostalgia scratched between the teeth like sand.” Interesting, and we didn’t expect it. The story surprised us, capable of lighting up and staying alive; a burning soul in the deep waters of the Mediterranean. The story opens with little Farid, a Libyan child who has never seen the sea, and daydreams about the world, as only children can do. The tranquility of everyday life and games is interrupted by the outbreak of...
“So I was forced to steal the chickens […], which was first of all a shame, secondly a serious danger, but above all a necessity.” There are many ways to try to tell a family story: in the first person looking at the past; as a secondary subject who sees the story pass before his eyes and grow with it; as an omniscient voice capable of entering into the emotions and feelings of the various...
“FRIDAY RE-VERSO” “Why did the seasons continue to follow one another for me, while for him time has stopped forever in that May?” In our minds, as we close the book with a closed throat, mortified by a memory that is now ours too, the echo of the literature professor’s voice when he explained to us the greatness of Primo Levi’s writing: he added nothing, because there was nothing to add. The title itself is an...
“Diving into the pool reminds me of the sensation of being wrapped […], a tender embrace that consoles me at the end of a tiring day.” You see the cover of a book, you understand roughly what the book might be about, and then you put it back on the shelf, because you think the topic is not interesting. This is what usually happens with books written by athletes, especially if they are about sports...
“And if no one tells me a story tonight, I know that one day, when I have all the words I need, I’ll tell them to myself.” Finalist of the XXVI edition of the Edoardo Kihlgren Opera Prima Literary Prize, the title does not lie: in the book there are fables and it talks about communism. We are in Albania, between the 80s and 90s, under the communist regime of Hoxa. Said like that, one...
“Restoring memory to news makes them less orphaned.” A hymn to the common good, to always acting thinking that every single choice in our daily life can have a positive impact on the community. Being honest with ourselves before others, acting based on what was once called common sense. Well, if we had to describe the book in a few words, they could only be these. In a double-track story, Sigfrido Ranucci offers us key...
“FRIDAY RE-VERSO” “Don’t let anyone convince you that no one is interested in ideas.” Have you ever seen “Three on the Run”? It’s a 1989 film starring Nick Nolte and Martin Short. Not many people have seen it, but we kept thinking about it while reading. In the film, an absurd trio consisting of a former bank robber just out of prison, a shabby thief who chooses him as a hostage, and his very quiet little...
“I grew up with my mother, not with my father.” Finalist of the XXVI edition of the Edoardo Kihlgren Opera Prima Literary Prize, the text is a family story, in which the author goes fishing in the lake of his dearest memories, what he remembers and what he thought he didn’t remember, to tell the story of his life up to now, and the internal dynamics between his parents and then those with his brothers...
“The commuter’s journey, well, it’s not a journey. It’s three dots in brackets.” We won’t beat around the bush in this review: if you’re here, it’s because you’re looking for a good book, one that can not only keep you company, but that can also really give you something more. We’re talking about Björn Larsson’s Philosophy of the Commuter, which at first glance is aimed only at a certain type of reader: a commuter who...
