“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...
“I live like sole, on the seabed. My peers, on land: what can we say to each other?” Teresa is a forty-seven-year-old teacher, stuck in the role of daughter for too long. She lives with her parents in a village never specified, subjected to the limit of perpetual humiliation by her mother Maria, and invisible to the eyes of Alzheimer’s which affects her father Piero. An environment, family and country, which tightens the deadly embrace...
The books chosen by Andrea Salonia This review is available only in the original language _________________________________________________________________________ Trovo meravigliosa la diversità, l’eterogeneità, la differenza, la dissomiglianza, la molteplicità, la varietà. E quest’ultima poi mi piace davvero molto, perché i suoi sinonimi sono molteplicità, assortimento, ricchezza, scelta. Varietà e diversità di colore: giallo, rosso, verde, marrone, nero, rosa, rosa antico, rosa pallido, rosa perlato, grigio, arcobaleno. Differenza e molteplicità di idee, pensieri, opinioni, credo. Dissomiglianze di aspetto:...
The books chosen by Andrea Salonia This review is available only in the original language _________________________________________________________________________ Perché se la malattia è dei famosi suona sempre diversa (almeno un poco, e certamente differente da quella di noi tutti, donne e uomini del quotidiano, qualsivoglia sia la religione, il ceto, lo status, il sesso insito nei cromosomi che ci han donato mamma e papà, lo spessore del portafogli, le tante o poche fotografie sulle mensole di casa, quelle coi visi...
“But mom is still young, still alive despite everything.” This is not a easy book, so don’t approach it thinking you can read it in your spare time. A text that first of all requires a solid basic knowledge of recent Italian history. Without it, one may not be able to put together the constant references to characters and places necessary for the structure of the story, and then again because Loy’s writing always requires...
