Rendez-vous

by Stefano Paparozzi

"Rendez-vous" is a long story told by a peculiar narrator, about an ordinary life of an ordinary boy; a life made extra-ordinary by some little odd events which occur as often as he grows up, until the final resolution.
This 9400 words novelette won Robot Award in its original language (Italian) and has appeared on Robot, an historic Italian Sci-Fi magazine.

24 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Nato a Roma nel 1986, dopo aver frequentato l’Istituto d’Arte nella Capitale e il Conservatorio a Latina, Stefano Paparozzi si è trasferito a Mestre per lavoro.

Ha esordito vincendo il Premio Robot nel 2015 con il racconto Rendez-vous, pubblicato sull’omonima rivista. Nel 2016 il racconto Pranzo di Natale è stato pubblicato nell’antologia Dinosauria (Ed. Pendragon).

Nel 2018, Zona 42 pubblica il suo primo romanzo, Madre Nostra.

Sul suo blog VersoErcole realizza sottotitoli (fra cui quelli della serie The Outer Limits), recensisce saltuariamente libri, film e serie TV, e ancor più saltuariamente pubblica nuovi racconti brevi.

Contatti: ste.paparozzi [at] gmail.com

Reviews

[Peter Difatta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this long short story in exchange for giving an honest review. When I first started reading it, I was immediately hit with the fact that it was delivered in second-person narrative mode. I can’t remember having read anything like that, although through some quick research, I learned that while it is less common than first or third person, it nevertheless is useful to convey a certain feeling, mainly one of detachment. Then I noticed the phrasing was also alien to what I was used to, likely because it is a translation from Italian to English and I said, oh, oh! What have I gotten myself into? Nevertheless, since it was only a long short story, I soldiered on, finished it, and laid it aside with a lot a questions in my head about what it was about? I slept on it, and the story stayed in my head. Little by little, I began realizing what it is about. Or, at least, I think I did. So, it is definitely interesting and will make you think.

On the surface, it is about an ordinary young man seeking his place in the world regarding a career and normal interaction with parents, his sister, and friends, including his love interests. It involves dealing with parental approval about both career and his lifestyle choices with differing reactions from Mother, Father, sister and friends. Then, he begins experiencing unusual things. Basically, he experiences a repeat of certain episodes in his life, a déjà vu, and wonders if he is having some sort of psychotic episode.

It is only until the very end of the story that the story starts to make sense and you realize why the author chose the second person narrative and what the déjà vu occurrences were really about. It is a cleverly written and intriguing story, and if you can get past the second person point of view, and the unusual phrasing, it is enjoyable.