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Can you hear me?
In the August of 1978, the summer I met Anna Trabuio, my father took a girl into the woods...
I was sixteen.
He had been gone a long time already, but that was it - not even a year after he lost his job and that boy
disappeared - that was when everything broke.
1978.
Ponte, a small community in Northern Italy. An unbearably hot summer like many others. Elia Furenti is sixteen, living an unremarkable life of moderate unhappiness, until the day the beautiful, damaged Anna returns to Ponte and firmly propels Elia to the edge of adulthood.
But then everything starts to unravel.
Elia's father, Ettore, is let go from his job and loses himself in the darkest corners of his mind. A young boy is murdered. And a girl climbs into a van and vanishes in the deep, dark woods...
THE TIMES BESTSELLER | WINNER OF AN ENGLISH PEN AWARD | SHORTLISTED FOR THE TA FIRST TRANSLATION PRIZE | LONGLISTED FOR THE CWA INTERNATIONAL DAGGER AWARD
238 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 31, 2016
39 people are currently reading
1164 people want to read
About the author
Elena Varvello
7 books27 followersElena Varvello nasceu em Turim, em 1971. Publicou vários livros de poesia e os seus contos valeram-lhe os prémios Settembrini e Bagutta para primeira obra. Foi também selecionada para o prémio Strega. Publicou o seu primeiro romance em 2011.
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July 16, 2024
TU VUO' FA' L'AMERICANA
All’inizio si può restare spiazzati: il furgone, il dondolo e il portico, scaldare il caffè, tutti termini che evocano stelle-e-strisce… Cos’è, Varvello vuol fare l’americana? Allora perché i suoi personaggi si chiamano Elia ed Ettore, Anna e Stefano, Marta e Ida e Simona? Che c’entrano questi nomi con gli Stati Uniti?
E che fa, scrive per sentenze, vuole imitare certi scrittori USA, farci sentire la scuola di scrittura creativa (Varvello insegna alla scuola Holden)?
Dopo qualche pagina, però, chissenefrega: la scrittura secca, pressoché lapidaria, che scandisce il tempo a mo’ di metronomo, la conoscenza dei personaggi che si consolida, l’ambientazione, l’atmosfera che si taglia a fette, la storia, l’economia della narrazione… io sono rimasto conquistato, catturato.
E ho cominciato a godere. E divertirmi.
Bella educazione sentimentale, lui sedicenne e lei 36enne, madre del suo migliore amico. Il sogno di tutti da ragazzi…
E al contempo thriller, noir, suspense…
La colpa del padre, l’innocenza del figlio….: mentre Elia diventa uomo, suo padre diventa mostro, e la madre cerca di arginare entrambe le situazioni.
Storia molto cinematografica anche nella costruzione, inteso come complimento: ho amato le ‘sospensioni’ della Varvello, che mi hanno evocato il magnifico cinema di uno dei miei registi preferiti, Michael Mann.
Bella la voce narrante in prima persona, che è quella del protagonista, il sedicenne Elia. Bello quando racconta cose alle quali Elia non assiste, la voce si traveste quasi da narratore impersonale, ma resta quella di Elia, un meccanismo che mi ha particolarmente convinto.
Ho letto da qualche parte che in questo libro ‘il colpevole si intuisce fin dalle prime righe’: in realtà non è vero, Varvello, per bocca d’Elia, ci dice subito chi è il colpevole e qual è il crimine – solo che è così brava a costruire il suo romanzo che il lettore vive l’attesa della colpa come se non sapesse né cosa sta per succedere né chi è il colpevole e chi la vittima.
E poi, comunque, c’è una sorpresa finale, una chicca regalata al lettore.
Quell'estate in cui ciascuno di noi tenne per sé i suoi segreti.
All’inizio si può restare spiazzati: il furgone, il dondolo e il portico, scaldare il caffè, tutti termini che evocano stelle-e-strisce… Cos’è, Varvello vuol fare l’americana? Allora perché i suoi personaggi si chiamano Elia ed Ettore, Anna e Stefano, Marta e Ida e Simona? Che c’entrano questi nomi con gli Stati Uniti?
E che fa, scrive per sentenze, vuole imitare certi scrittori USA, farci sentire la scuola di scrittura creativa (Varvello insegna alla scuola Holden)?
Dopo qualche pagina, però, chissenefrega: la scrittura secca, pressoché lapidaria, che scandisce il tempo a mo’ di metronomo, la conoscenza dei personaggi che si consolida, l’ambientazione, l’atmosfera che si taglia a fette, la storia, l’economia della narrazione… io sono rimasto conquistato, catturato.
E ho cominciato a godere. E divertirmi.
Bella educazione sentimentale, lui sedicenne e lei 36enne, madre del suo migliore amico. Il sogno di tutti da ragazzi…
E al contempo thriller, noir, suspense…
La colpa del padre, l’innocenza del figlio….: mentre Elia diventa uomo, suo padre diventa mostro, e la madre cerca di arginare entrambe le situazioni.
Storia molto cinematografica anche nella costruzione, inteso come complimento: ho amato le ‘sospensioni’ della Varvello, che mi hanno evocato il magnifico cinema di uno dei miei registi preferiti, Michael Mann.
Bella la voce narrante in prima persona, che è quella del protagonista, il sedicenne Elia. Bello quando racconta cose alle quali Elia non assiste, la voce si traveste quasi da narratore impersonale, ma resta quella di Elia, un meccanismo che mi ha particolarmente convinto.
Ho letto da qualche parte che in questo libro ‘il colpevole si intuisce fin dalle prime righe’: in realtà non è vero, Varvello, per bocca d’Elia, ci dice subito chi è il colpevole e qual è il crimine – solo che è così brava a costruire il suo romanzo che il lettore vive l’attesa della colpa come se non sapesse né cosa sta per succedere né chi è il colpevole e chi la vittima.
E poi, comunque, c’è una sorpresa finale, una chicca regalata al lettore.
Quell'estate in cui ciascuno di noi tenne per sé i suoi segreti.
August 16, 2017
Northern Italy is brilliantly imagined in this dark insight into on young boy's awakening to the truth of his family's buried secrets. As he begins to discover more about himself, so too does his knowledge of his father's nefarious dark side grow.
Whilst a dark and twisted tale, I felt this introduced the ultimate intrigue of the tale far too soon and, instead of being a thrilling tale, became more of an insight into a mentally unwell individual from one closest to him. Not to say it was any less impactful because of this, it just wasn't what I had come to expect from the synopsis.
I received a copy of this in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, Elena Varvello for this opportunity.
Whilst a dark and twisted tale, I felt this introduced the ultimate intrigue of the tale far too soon and, instead of being a thrilling tale, became more of an insight into a mentally unwell individual from one closest to him. Not to say it was any less impactful because of this, it just wasn't what I had come to expect from the synopsis.
I received a copy of this in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, Elena Varvello for this opportunity.
March 25, 2017
Can you Hear Me? is an emotionally intense and I thought extraordinarily beautiful coming of age tale that focuses on one teenage boy dealing with his own life awakening and a mentally ill parent. There is a crime element but that is not what this is about. Going to stay with me this one - a fuller review will follow nearer publication by Two Roads in July.
August 23, 2018
“In the August of 1978, the summer I met Anna Trabuio, my father took a girl into the woods.”
Few are the writers that can draw me to a book from the very first line, Elena Varvello is now one of those authors. The author is waving a story that comes from the past, shining the present and revealing a heartbreaking future; a future you wish you could change but deep down knows it’s a fixed point in the life of our narrator. This book is more like a dance than a story, a dance that’s both coy and mysterious and despite revealing early on what’s going to take place; you can’t help but be invested in the lives of each character.
“On the edge of the pool – he told my mother – he’d sometimes start screaming into the silence, to prove he wasn’t afraid, and his cries suddenly moved the stars and the wind, the leaves and the water and the creatures, the white, tired face of the moon. In those moments, he was God.”
The writing style is beautiful and full of light and darkness. It complemented the story and gave it extra wings. The words were hard to read sometimes because they carried this sense of longing and loss that was honest, sad and genuine.
Our story takes place in the summer of 1987 and it revolves around a father ( Ettore Furenti) and his son ( Elia Furenti) and its defining poignant genuine and utterly realistic relationship and a summer night that changed both their lives in a way impossible to ignore or shake down. It’s the story of a family incapable of letting go of a promise of hope and love and the truth that shattered that possibility. And in its core, it is the story of a boy coming to the realization that he never knew his father, never truly understand him and despite that distance between them and the horrible thing his father did that fateful summer night, he still loves him and that love is never really going anywhere.
“I knew nothing, back then, of the ways in which love can show itself, of the force with which it can push us into a corner and take our breath away.”
What’s also fascinating about the story is how it gives up its secrets right from the first chapters and yet it still manages to keep my attention till the end. The mystery is not what drives the story forward; it is the characters and the different dynamics between them all that gives the book its heart and soul. It is not a murder mystery or a psychological thriller that hangs everything on its twists. This book is much more than that, it’s the tale of a boy having to grow up in the midst of a tragedy, and it’s about a father losing his way ad being misunderstood and never really knowing how to fix the void inside of him, it’s about a mother loving unconditionally and losing that love in the worst way possible and it’s the story of real people searching for what is missing in their lives and maybe never really finding it.
“If you keep things to yourself they don’t seem as real.”
Poignant, genuine and deeply melancholic, Can you hear me is a beautifully underrated story about family, love and loss. You should definitely give it a chance.
June 24, 2018
Can You Hear Me? by Elena Varvello was originally published in Italian in 2016 under the title La vita felice (The Happy Life), and was recently translated into English by Alex Valente. It's part thriller, part coming of age novel set in Northern Italy in 1978 and follows a sixteen-year-old boy Elia Furenti, whose father is suffering a mental breakdown after being laid off his job.
I'm struggling to get my thoughts together on this book, and I think it's because it felt more like a first draft than a finished novel to me, and it's hard to critique something with such abundant potential. It's gripping and eerie and the setting of this small Northern Italian town is brilliantly realized, and the examination of mental health at a time when the vocabulary and resources for Elia's father's breakdown weren't readily available was handled very well.
Interestingly, most of this book's tension came from a subplot whose climax is spelled out to us from the very beginning. Can You Hear Me? opens with Elia telling the reader that his father kidnaps a girl and drives her into the woods - and then in a series of chapters scattered through Elia's own narrative, he speculates on what exactly happened in his father's van, what the girl was thinking and feeling in those moments. There isn't much of a mystery here, but these chapters are filled with such a sense of foreboding that I found this technique - stating the resolution and then backtracking to hypothesize on the details - quite effective.
Where this book fell short for me was the coming of age element, which was just so paint-by-numbers. Elia meets a boy his age, Stefano, and is drawn to Stefano's young mother, Anna, who, according to this book's summary, 'propels Elia to the edge of adulthood'. I mean, we can probably all fill in the blanks from there.
There's also an undeniable sense of detachment from all of these characters, who all speak in abstract, fragmented sentences (this is where I'm wondering if I should have opted for the Italian text instead of the translation) and walk around all in varying states of apathy. Elia's teenage ennui just felt so generic to me - it was like Varvello took a handful of bildungsroman protagonists and put them in a blender to achieve peak indifference but then forgot to imbue her creation with any sort of personality of his own. And then multiply this vacuousness by ten and you get Anna.
Varvello says in an afterward that Elia's father was loosely based on her own father, and this shows in how he is clearly the most intriguing figure in this novel. And while her decision to tell his story from the point of view of his teenage son clearly came from her own personal history, Elia's own narrative just never came to life in a satisfying way. This novel just felt too short and fragmented to pack a real emotional punch, and I think it could have benefited from fleshing out the majority of these characters. But I did race through this and find it sufficiently tense and engrossing.
Thank you to Netgalley, Quercus, and Elena Varvello for the advanced copy provided in exchange for an honest review.
I'm struggling to get my thoughts together on this book, and I think it's because it felt more like a first draft than a finished novel to me, and it's hard to critique something with such abundant potential. It's gripping and eerie and the setting of this small Northern Italian town is brilliantly realized, and the examination of mental health at a time when the vocabulary and resources for Elia's father's breakdown weren't readily available was handled very well.
Interestingly, most of this book's tension came from a subplot whose climax is spelled out to us from the very beginning. Can You Hear Me? opens with Elia telling the reader that his father kidnaps a girl and drives her into the woods - and then in a series of chapters scattered through Elia's own narrative, he speculates on what exactly happened in his father's van, what the girl was thinking and feeling in those moments. There isn't much of a mystery here, but these chapters are filled with such a sense of foreboding that I found this technique - stating the resolution and then backtracking to hypothesize on the details - quite effective.
Where this book fell short for me was the coming of age element, which was just so paint-by-numbers. Elia meets a boy his age, Stefano, and is drawn to Stefano's young mother, Anna, who, according to this book's summary, 'propels Elia to the edge of adulthood'. I mean, we can probably all fill in the blanks from there.
There's also an undeniable sense of detachment from all of these characters, who all speak in abstract, fragmented sentences (this is where I'm wondering if I should have opted for the Italian text instead of the translation) and walk around all in varying states of apathy. Elia's teenage ennui just felt so generic to me - it was like Varvello took a handful of bildungsroman protagonists and put them in a blender to achieve peak indifference but then forgot to imbue her creation with any sort of personality of his own. And then multiply this vacuousness by ten and you get Anna.
Varvello says in an afterward that Elia's father was loosely based on her own father, and this shows in how he is clearly the most intriguing figure in this novel. And while her decision to tell his story from the point of view of his teenage son clearly came from her own personal history, Elia's own narrative just never came to life in a satisfying way. This novel just felt too short and fragmented to pack a real emotional punch, and I think it could have benefited from fleshing out the majority of these characters. But I did race through this and find it sufficiently tense and engrossing.
Thank you to Netgalley, Quercus, and Elena Varvello for the advanced copy provided in exchange for an honest review.
July 24, 2017
When in doubt, rate it three stars.
August 7, 2017
In the August of 1978, in the summer Elia Furenti's father Ettore, took a girl into the woods. Ettore stopped the van and asked the girl where she was going, he told her to get in. The girl accepted the lift because she knew him. When he left the road and stopped the van Ettore made her get out, he then dragged her along with him. The authors own father suffered from bipolar disorder and this is where when writing Can You Hear Me the author began transforming reality into fiction.
June 2, 2016
Ho ritrovato – in una storia del tutto diversa dalla precedente – le stesse atmosfere che mi avevano impressionato ne “La luce perfetta del giorno”. I luoghi di Elena Varvello – boschi, villette isolate, stazioni di servizio, piazzali di ristoranti chiusi - sembrano quasi un altro personaggio. Ci parlano, evocano solitudine, spaesamento, a tratti anche squallore, e recitano una parte importante nella storia.
La storia è tragica, un groviglio di dolore e orrore che pare senza possibilità di redenzione e salvezza. Colpisce forte, diretta, senza retorica, senza morbosità, con un raro senso di misura. La leggiamo in una prospettiva particolare, assumendo il punto di vista di un figlio che vive la storia dei genitori, ma vive soprattutto la propria storia. E nella pena di ciò che accade, comprende infine di avere diritto ad una vita felice, nonostante il fardello di ciò che è stato, dei gesti compiuti e di quelli omessi.
Per fare questo, Elena Varvello scrive un libro in prima persona, dal punto di vista di un uomo adulto che rivive sé stesso adolescente. E credo che questo sia il vero piccolo miracolo di questo libro. Perché Elia è un sedicenne credibilissimo, e io non ricordo esempi tanto credibili di adolescenti maschi interpretati da scrittrici donne. Credo sia già molto difficile scrivere in prima persona di un adolescente, perché è un età che tendiamo a rimuovere, a rendere elegiaca o a cancellare. Se poi l’adolescente è di un altro sesso, ecco che l’operazione diventa degna solo di chi ha veramente un grande talento.
La storia è tragica, un groviglio di dolore e orrore che pare senza possibilità di redenzione e salvezza. Colpisce forte, diretta, senza retorica, senza morbosità, con un raro senso di misura. La leggiamo in una prospettiva particolare, assumendo il punto di vista di un figlio che vive la storia dei genitori, ma vive soprattutto la propria storia. E nella pena di ciò che accade, comprende infine di avere diritto ad una vita felice, nonostante il fardello di ciò che è stato, dei gesti compiuti e di quelli omessi.
Per fare questo, Elena Varvello scrive un libro in prima persona, dal punto di vista di un uomo adulto che rivive sé stesso adolescente. E credo che questo sia il vero piccolo miracolo di questo libro. Perché Elia è un sedicenne credibilissimo, e io non ricordo esempi tanto credibili di adolescenti maschi interpretati da scrittrici donne. Credo sia già molto difficile scrivere in prima persona di un adolescente, perché è un età che tendiamo a rimuovere, a rendere elegiaca o a cancellare. Se poi l’adolescente è di un altro sesso, ecco che l’operazione diventa degna solo di chi ha veramente un grande talento.
February 2, 2019
Ένα από τα μεγαλύτερα ταλέντα που μπορεί να διαθέτει ένας συγγραφέας, δεν είναι άλλο από το να καταφέρνει να σε αιχμαλωτίσει από τις πρώτες, κιόλας, γραμμές, της ιστορίας του. Μία τέτοια συγγραφέας είναι η Elena Varvello, που με το "Ευτυχισμένη ζωή" με ξάφνιασε πολύ ευχάριστα, προσφέροντάς μου ένα μυθιστόρημα αρκετά διαφορετικό απ' ότι περίμενα, πολύ πιο δαιδαλώδες, περίπλοκο, μυστηριώδες και γοητευτικό απ' όσο φανταζόμουν και, σίγουρα, που κατάφερε να πλημμυρίσει την καρδιά και το μυαλό μου με πολύ πιο έντονα και ισχυρά συναισθήματα απ' όσο θα μπορούσα να ελπίζω.
Η ιστορία μάς ταξιδεύει πίσω στο 1978, σε ένα μικρό ιταλικό χωριό, ένα πολύ θερμό καλοκαίρι, μας συστήνει μια συγκεκριμένη ομάδα ανθρώπων και μας παρουσιάζει τη ζωή τους, οδηγώντας μας στο παρόν, αλλά και στο μέλλον που αυτοί θα έχουν, κυρίως, εξαιτίας μίας συγκεκριμένης νύχτας που έμελλε να σημαδέψει τις ζωές όλων και να τις οδηγήσει σε δρόμους που δεν είχαν ποτέ τους φανταστεί. Ο Ελία, που ζει μαζί με τον πατέρα του, στα δεκαέξι του μόλις χρόνια καλείται να ακολουθήσει το μονοπάτι της ενηλικίωσης και μέσα από μια μακρά και δύσκολη διαδρομή να ανακαλύψει ποιος πραγματικά είναι. Σε αυτό θα παίξει ρόλο τόσο ο πατέρας του και οι δικές του πράξεις, όσο και η επιστροφή της γοητευτικής Άννας που επιστρέφει στο μικρό χωριό ταράσσοντας τις ισορροπίες, όπως αυτές θα ταραχτούν και με αφορμή ένα αποτρόπαιο έγκλημα και μία εξαφάνιση, με όλα αυτά να κρύβουν τις σκιές τους περισσότερα απ' όσα φαίνονται.
Αν έπρεπε να περιγράψω με μία φράση το βιβλίο αυτό θα το χαρακτήριζα ως τρυφερά μελαγχολικό. Πρόκειται για μια ιστορία που ακροβατεί ανάμεσα στο φως και στο σκοτάδι, στην ελπίδα και στην απελπισία, στην αγάπη και στο μίσος, και όλα αυτά εκδηλώνονται στο έπακρο, στον απόλυτο βαθμό, κυριεύουν τους ήρωές μας και μαζί με αυτούς κυριεύουν κι εμάς, φέρνοντάς μας όλους αντιμέτωπους με διλήμματα βαθιά ανθρώπινα, ακραία συναισθηματικά, μα και εξαιρετικά ηθικά. Γιατί, εκεί που τελειώνει το συναίσθημα ξεκινά η λογική κι εκεί που τελειώνει το λάθος ξεκινάει το σωστό κι εμείς καλούμαστε να επιλέξουμε τον έναν δρόμο ή τον άλλον. Τον δρόμο εκείνο που μπορεί να μας καταδικάσει και να μας οδηγήσει βαθιά μέσα στην Κόλαση, ή τον δρόμο εκείνο που μπορεί να μας οδηγήσει στην εξιλέωση και στον Παράδεισο, έστω κι αν αυτός αποδειχθεί προσωπικός και μόνο.
Πολλά αυτά που μου άφησε το βιβλίο αυτό, εκείνο, όμως, που έμεινε περισσότερο απ' όλα χαραγμένο στο μυαλό μου, είναι η σχέση ανάμεσα στον Ελία και στον πατέρα του, οι οικογενειακοί δεσμοί και η δύναμη αυτών, όπως και η δύναμη μιας υπόσχεσης που παλεύει κόντρα σε ό,τι δυσλειτουργικό έρχεται στο διάβα της, προκειμένου να διατηρηθεί ζωντανή, συνοδευόμενη από την ελπίδα και την αγάπη που μονάχα στον πυρήνα των πιο βαθιών σχέσεων μπορεί να γεννηθεί, να ανθίσει και τελικά να καρποφορήσει προσφέροντάς μας το καλύτερό της κομμάτι. Κι αν τελικά τα καταφέρει, είναι αυτό αρκετό για να ευτυχίσουμε, ή πάντα θα ζητάμε κάτι περισσότερο, κάτι που δεν μπορούμε να έχουμε και, ίσως, κάτι που δεν έχει γράψει η μοίρα για εμάς;
Το βιβλίο αυτό, παρά που από την αρχή σχεδόν ανοίγει όλα του τα χαρτιά μπροστά στα μάτια μας, και παρά που μας φανερώνει μυστικά που θα μπορούσαν να αποδυναμώσουν την αφήγηση και την πορεία των γεγονότων που το αφορούν, καταφέρνει να διατηρήσει το ενδιαφέρον μας χωρίς αυτό να χάσει την έντασή του, ούτε για μια στιγμή. Εμπεριέχει στοιχεία θρίλερ και μυστηρίου, αλλά δεν στηρίζεται στις ανατροπές του. Αντίθετα, στηρίζεται στους χαρακτήρες του και στην ιστορία καθενός από αυτούς. Μα πάνω απ' όλα, στηρίζεται στην ιστορία ενός νεαρού αγοριού που μέσα από ένα τραγικό οδοιπορικό, μέσα από μια οικογενειακή και προσωπική τραγωδία, προσπαθεί να μαζέψει τα κομμάτια του, να ανακτήσει την πίστη του και να ανακαλύψει ποιος είναι. Στην ιστορία ενός πατέρα που χάνει τον δρόμο του και που δεν ξέρει πως να διαχειριστεί το κενό μέσα του. Στην ίδια την αγάπη και του τραύματος που προκαλεί η απώλεια αυτής, ειδικά όταν αυτή έχει επέλθει βίαια. Στην ανάγκη των ανθρώπων να βρουν αυτό που τους λείπει για να μπορέσουν να ολοκληρώσουν το παζλ της ύπαρξής τους, με κίνδυνο να μην το καταφέρουν ποτέ.
Η ιστορία μάς ταξιδεύει πίσω στο 1978, σε ένα μικρό ιταλικό χωριό, ένα πολύ θερμό καλοκαίρι, μας συστήνει μια συγκεκριμένη ομάδα ανθρώπων και μας παρουσιάζει τη ζωή τους, οδηγώντας μας στο παρόν, αλλά και στο μέλλον που αυτοί θα έχουν, κυρίως, εξαιτίας μίας συγκεκριμένης νύχτας που έμελλε να σημαδέψει τις ζωές όλων και να τις οδηγήσει σε δρόμους που δεν είχαν ποτέ τους φανταστεί. Ο Ελία, που ζει μαζί με τον πατέρα του, στα δεκαέξι του μόλις χρόνια καλείται να ακολουθήσει το μονοπάτι της ενηλικίωσης και μέσα από μια μακρά και δύσκολη διαδρομή να ανακαλύψει ποιος πραγματικά είναι. Σε αυτό θα παίξει ρόλο τόσο ο πατέρας του και οι δικές του πράξεις, όσο και η επιστροφή της γοητευτικής Άννας που επιστρέφει στο μικρό χωριό ταράσσοντας τις ισορροπίες, όπως αυτές θα ταραχτούν και με αφορμή ένα αποτρόπαιο έγκλημα και μία εξαφάνιση, με όλα αυτά να κρύβουν τις σκιές τους περισσότερα απ' όσα φαίνονται.
Αν έπρεπε να περιγράψω με μία φράση το βιβλίο αυτό θα το χαρακτήριζα ως τρυφερά μελαγχολικό. Πρόκειται για μια ιστορία που ακροβατεί ανάμεσα στο φως και στο σκοτάδι, στην ελπίδα και στην απελπισία, στην αγάπη και στο μίσος, και όλα αυτά εκδηλώνονται στο έπακρο, στον απόλυτο βαθμό, κυριεύουν τους ήρωές μας και μαζί με αυτούς κυριεύουν κι εμάς, φέρνοντάς μας όλους αντιμέτωπους με διλήμματα βαθιά ανθρώπινα, ακραία συναισθηματικά, μα και εξαιρετικά ηθικά. Γιατί, εκεί που τελειώνει το συναίσθημα ξεκινά η λογική κι εκεί που τελειώνει το λάθος ξεκινάει το σωστό κι εμείς καλούμαστε να επιλέξουμε τον έναν δρόμο ή τον άλλον. Τον δρόμο εκείνο που μπορεί να μας καταδικάσει και να μας οδηγήσει βαθιά μέσα στην Κόλαση, ή τον δρόμο εκείνο που μπορεί να μας οδηγήσει στην εξιλέωση και στον Παράδεισο, έστω κι αν αυτός αποδειχθεί προσωπικός και μόνο.
Πολλά αυτά που μου άφησε το βιβλίο αυτό, εκείνο, όμως, που έμεινε περισσότερο απ' όλα χαραγμένο στο μυαλό μου, είναι η σχέση ανάμεσα στον Ελία και στον πατέρα του, οι οικογενειακοί δεσμοί και η δύναμη αυτών, όπως και η δύναμη μιας υπόσχεσης που παλεύει κόντρα σε ό,τι δυσλειτουργικό έρχεται στο διάβα της, προκειμένου να διατηρηθεί ζωντανή, συνοδευόμενη από την ελπίδα και την αγάπη που μονάχα στον πυρήνα των πιο βαθιών σχέσεων μπορεί να γεννηθεί, να ανθίσει και τελικά να καρποφορήσει προσφέροντάς μας το καλύτερό της κομμάτι. Κι αν τελικά τα καταφέρει, είναι αυτό αρκετό για να ευτυχίσουμε, ή πάντα θα ζητάμε κάτι περισσότερο, κάτι που δεν μπορούμε να έχουμε και, ίσως, κάτι που δεν έχει γράψει η μοίρα για εμάς;
Το βιβλίο αυτό, παρά που από την αρχή σχεδόν ανοίγει όλα του τα χαρτιά μπροστά στα μάτια μας, και παρά που μας φανερώνει μυστικά που θα μπορούσαν να αποδυναμώσουν την αφήγηση και την πορεία των γεγονότων που το αφορούν, καταφέρνει να διατηρήσει το ενδιαφέρον μας χωρίς αυτό να χάσει την έντασή του, ούτε για μια στιγμή. Εμπεριέχει στοιχεία θρίλερ και μυστηρίου, αλλά δεν στηρίζεται στις ανατροπές του. Αντίθετα, στηρίζεται στους χαρακτήρες του και στην ιστορία καθενός από αυτούς. Μα πάνω απ' όλα, στηρίζεται στην ιστορία ενός νεαρού αγοριού που μέσα από ένα τραγικό οδοιπορικό, μέσα από μια οικογενειακή και προσωπική τραγωδία, προσπαθεί να μαζέψει τα κομμάτια του, να ανακτήσει την πίστη του και να ανακαλύψει ποιος είναι. Στην ιστορία ενός πατέρα που χάνει τον δρόμο του και που δεν ξέρει πως να διαχειριστεί το κενό μέσα του. Στην ίδια την αγάπη και του τραύματος που προκαλεί η απώλεια αυτής, ειδικά όταν αυτή έχει επέλθει βίαια. Στην ανάγκη των ανθρώπων να βρουν αυτό που τους λείπει για να μπορέσουν να ολοκληρώσουν το παζλ της ύπαρξής τους, με κίνδυνο να μην το καταφέρουν ποτέ.
June 13, 2018
Waterstones thriller book of the month, June 2018.
First of all: from my point of view this is not a thriller, nor I am recommending it as one. If I had to describe it, it would be as a coming of age novel, or even as a psychological drama, but definitely not a thriller. The main reason being that you know from page one (kind of) who is the culprit of the kidnapping.
The main character is a boy who lives in a small and uneventful town so he is very bored of everything and the typical 16 year old. To be fair all the characters were ok, but I did not specially connect with any of them. I felt mostly indifferent towards all of them.
There are some things that I just did not get at all, like the fact that the phrase ‘can you hear me?’ is repeated all over toward the beginning of the book and then it stops.
It is a very light and easy to read novel. If you are considering it for a holiday read of a sunny afternoon in the garden it may be ideal. It is not very gruesome and especially if you like drama it may be a great option for you.
I do like a lot the way it describes what it is like to live with someone who has a mental health problem. I felt it was very accurate, as then it is clarified it comes from the own author experience, and I do really do recommend it if that is your interest. The way it describes how it affects the family and all its members is simply too accurate.
First of all: from my point of view this is not a thriller, nor I am recommending it as one. If I had to describe it, it would be as a coming of age novel, or even as a psychological drama, but definitely not a thriller. The main reason being that you know from page one (kind of) who is the culprit of the kidnapping.
The main character is a boy who lives in a small and uneventful town so he is very bored of everything and the typical 16 year old. To be fair all the characters were ok, but I did not specially connect with any of them. I felt mostly indifferent towards all of them.
There are some things that I just did not get at all, like the fact that the phrase ‘can you hear me?’ is repeated all over toward the beginning of the book and then it stops.
It is a very light and easy to read novel. If you are considering it for a holiday read of a sunny afternoon in the garden it may be ideal. It is not very gruesome and especially if you like drama it may be a great option for you.
I do like a lot the way it describes what it is like to live with someone who has a mental health problem. I felt it was very accurate, as then it is clarified it comes from the own author experience, and I do really do recommend it if that is your interest. The way it describes how it affects the family and all its members is simply too accurate.
June 4, 2018
This is a book that isn't just about the mystery, it's about the relationships. It's about the breakdown of someone's mental health, and how when It is triggered it can affect those around them. The story is gripping, you are given just enough throughout to keep you hooked. You need to know. A very well written book.
June 19, 2017
Very intense coming of age story of a sixteen year old boy and his relationship with a neighbouring friend, his family, and most especially the boy's father. All of the pared-back writing is cut through with a feeling of menace and brilliantly uncomfortable tension.
July 27, 2016
"Avevo sedici anni, dice la voce narrante ripercorrendo la sua iniziazione all'età adulta, quell'estate in cui mio padre portò nei boschi una ragazza. Quell'estate in cui ciascuno di noi tenne per sé i suoi segreti." Tutto inizia lì ed Elia, ormai adulto, dopo tanti anni, ripercorre i fatti di quell'estate, che cambia inesorabilmente il destino della sua famiglia. Una famiglia apparentemente normale, fino al giorno in cui il padre perde improvvisamente il lavoro e poco alla volta, comincia a comportarsi in modo strano : vede complotti e nemici dappertutto, passa ore dentro il garage, sparisce misteriosamente fino a notte fonda a bordo del suo furgone. L'autrice, nuova per me, mi ha piacevolmente stupito con questo romanzo noir- di formazione, in cui riesce dalle prime pagine a tenerti incollato alla lettura, dosando sapientemente la suspense e i dettagli, senza dare certezze, ma incuriosendo il lettore e facendogli presagire la tragedia che si abbatterà sulla famiglia. Un romanzo che parla di rapporti all'interno della famiglia, dove ognuno cerca meccanismi di difesa per sopravvivere al disastro : la madre non riesce ad affrontare la realtà e cerca di comportarsi come se il marito non fosse cambiato, il figlio sa fin dall'inizio che qualcosa di terribile sta per accadere e non si capacita del fatto che tutto questo stia accadendo proprio a suo padre. Abilissima l'autrice a tenere il lettore in un clima di tempo sospeso e a dilatare gli eventi fino alla fine, trasmettendo in chi legge un disagio, un malessere che fa presagire il finale. Un romanzo che parla anche della scoperta dell'amore, del desiderio e dell'amicizia, rendendolo un'opera complessa, che affronta tematiche molteplici, con uno stile sempre molto asciutto, essenziale, scarno, dove niente è lasciato al caso.
April 23, 2022
Proprio come anticipato nella quarta di copertina, già dalle primissime pagine si entra in una storia dal ritmo incalzante. Si capisce subito che sta per succedere qualcosa di grave. E sembra quasi che anche gli stessi protagonisti ne siano consapevoli, e si trascinino nelle loro vite aspettando che questo "qualcosa" si manifesti e accada.
Mi ha colpito il modo di raccontare le dinamiche delle relazioni tre i personaggi: non banali e complicate e, proprio per questo, decisamente reali.
E mi ha dato da riflettere anche lo sguardo nella mente di Ettore. Un nomo per cui è impossibile provare simpatia, ma, allo stesso tempo, di cui si riconoscono le profonde incapacità, fino a quasi provarne pietà.
Devo dire che non è un romanzo che mi rimarrà particolarmente impresso, se non fosse per l'ambientazione. Questo paese solitario, in mezzo a boschi e cascate, che mi sono immaginata come un luogo desolato e trasandato: proprio come i personaggi che lo abitano.
Mi ha colpito il modo di raccontare le dinamiche delle relazioni tre i personaggi: non banali e complicate e, proprio per questo, decisamente reali.
E mi ha dato da riflettere anche lo sguardo nella mente di Ettore. Un nomo per cui è impossibile provare simpatia, ma, allo stesso tempo, di cui si riconoscono le profonde incapacità, fino a quasi provarne pietà.
Devo dire che non è un romanzo che mi rimarrà particolarmente impresso, se non fosse per l'ambientazione. Questo paese solitario, in mezzo a boschi e cascate, che mi sono immaginata come un luogo desolato e trasandato: proprio come i personaggi che lo abitano.
September 29, 2021
Incipit
Nell’agosto del 1978, l’estate in cui incontrai Anna Trabuio, mio padre portò nei boschi una ragazza.
La vita felice Incipitmania
Nell’agosto del 1978, l’estate in cui incontrai Anna Trabuio, mio padre portò nei boschi una ragazza.
La vita felice Incipitmania
December 12, 2021
Travolgente. Fina dalle prime pagine emerge l’angoscia e l’attesa della tragedia. La scrittura è asciutta è essenziale, rende ancora più spigoloso il racconto.
August 31, 2021
„Książka, dzięki której Włosi pokochali thrillery”.
Świetna informacja, ale jaki jest jej tytuł? Bo na pewno nie chodziło o „Czy mnie słyszysz?”.
Książka Eleny Varvello to dla mnie zwykła oniczyna*. Młody chłopak, Elia, zdradza nam prawdę o swoim ojcu, a prawda ta jest właściwie strasznie nijaka. Facet stracił pracę i poprzestawiały mu się klepki. Przy okazji dowiadujemy się o romansie, który Elia nawiązał z duża starszą kobietą, generalnie sprawy dorastania i inicjacji. Jakby się uprzeć, to może gdzieś tam można znaleźć drugie dno i głębsze przemyślenia, ale mi się nie za bardzo chciało. Miał być thriller – nie ma thrillera. Jedyne co jest w tej książce intrygujące to okładka.
*oniczyna – książka/film o niczym :)
4/10
Świetna informacja, ale jaki jest jej tytuł? Bo na pewno nie chodziło o „Czy mnie słyszysz?”.
Książka Eleny Varvello to dla mnie zwykła oniczyna*. Młody chłopak, Elia, zdradza nam prawdę o swoim ojcu, a prawda ta jest właściwie strasznie nijaka. Facet stracił pracę i poprzestawiały mu się klepki. Przy okazji dowiadujemy się o romansie, który Elia nawiązał z duża starszą kobietą, generalnie sprawy dorastania i inicjacji. Jakby się uprzeć, to może gdzieś tam można znaleźć drugie dno i głębsze przemyślenia, ale mi się nie za bardzo chciało. Miał być thriller – nie ma thrillera. Jedyne co jest w tej książce intrygujące to okładka.
*oniczyna – książka/film o niczym :)
4/10
February 21, 2017
Romanzo breve che richiama La settimana bianca di Emmanuel Carrère. La montagna qui è raccontata in un altro modo: non c’è neve, nella storia, appare solo in un flashback di poche righe; è una montagna dove è estate e fa caldo.
Siamo alla fine degli anni ’70, ma l’unica differenza con l’oggi è l’assenza degli odierni strumenti di comunicazione. Il protagonista Elia, un adolescente, trascorre le giornate dell’estate caldissima girovagando con un nuovo amico, e desiderandone la madre. Niente internet, niente cazzeggi al computer, niente serie tv, niente videogames. In realtà, non c’è quasi nemmeno la televisione, in questo mondo isolato sul monte.
Poi c’è il buio del bosco, c’è la paura di Elia della follia del padre, che lo lambisce senza manifestarsi in modo violento; eppure, insieme al protagonista proviamo un malessere senza nome. E infine, c’è una storia che interseca la cronaca estiva, una storia cupa, spaventosa, la storia del destino del padre di Elia, che si compie lungo l’arco del romanzo.
Elementi semplici, amministrati con mestiere e precisione. Un bel romanzo di formazione e di suspense, che però non riesce ad evitare di trasmettere anche la freddezza della costruzione a tavolino.
Siamo alla fine degli anni ’70, ma l’unica differenza con l’oggi è l’assenza degli odierni strumenti di comunicazione. Il protagonista Elia, un adolescente, trascorre le giornate dell’estate caldissima girovagando con un nuovo amico, e desiderandone la madre. Niente internet, niente cazzeggi al computer, niente serie tv, niente videogames. In realtà, non c’è quasi nemmeno la televisione, in questo mondo isolato sul monte.
Poi c’è il buio del bosco, c’è la paura di Elia della follia del padre, che lo lambisce senza manifestarsi in modo violento; eppure, insieme al protagonista proviamo un malessere senza nome. E infine, c’è una storia che interseca la cronaca estiva, una storia cupa, spaventosa, la storia del destino del padre di Elia, che si compie lungo l’arco del romanzo.
Elementi semplici, amministrati con mestiere e precisione. Un bel romanzo di formazione e di suspense, che però non riesce ad evitare di trasmettere anche la freddezza della costruzione a tavolino.
February 16, 2020
Este livro foi muito difícil de ler. A escrita é acessível e a linguagem é corrente mas o sentido é sombrio e angustiante. A família na perspectiva de Elia, um rapaz solitário de dezasseis anos que se confronta com o comportamento errante do pai desde que perdeu o emprego e a cegueira apaixonada da mãe.
Capítulos curtos, frases enigmáticas carregadas de emoção para descrever a degradação mental de um homem que amava os seus.
O discernimento de Elia que ouve o assobio do vento e sente o cheiro da noite nas pequenas coisas. O bem que não obstante tudo, damos e recebemos. A vida feliz.
Capítulos curtos, frases enigmáticas carregadas de emoção para descrever a degradação mental de um homem que amava os seus.
O discernimento de Elia que ouve o assobio do vento e sente o cheiro da noite nas pequenas coisas. O bem que não obstante tudo, damos e recebemos. A vida feliz.
June 2, 2018
I don't get this at all, marketed as a coming of age thriller but it isn't. It's not a crime novel and to be honest it doesn't really tick the boxes of a psychological thriller. If anything its literary fiction. Reading other reviews maybe I'm out of sync but at no time did I feel disturbed. This is a novel about someone with mental health issues whose family ignore the illness.
October 23, 2018
Thrilling, tense and haunting.
August 4, 2017
I sometimes feel I am missing something. Other people love a book, people whose opinions I respect and often share, but I just don’t get it. I feel a bit like this with Can You Hear Me? It is marketed as both suspense and coming-of-age. It is a coming-of-age story, but I am struggling to find any suspense.
The narrator, 16-year-old Elia, begins by telling you the climax of the story. His father is having some kind of mental crisis. Elia suspects he was involved in the disappearance of a boy and he will go on to take the teenage babysitter from next door into the woods.
Of course many great books employ this technique and yet still manage to pique your curiosity because you want to know how they get there, books as diverse as Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier or Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. However here, I didn’t feel that there was any interest or anything to feel curious about, because there is no struggle or conflict, no sense that anyone is trying to influence events.
Elia drifts through the summer, doing coming-of-age stuff, hanging out with a kid his parents disapprove of, challenging him to dares, getting the hots for his mate’s mum, and meanwhile his father is disintegrating. Elia signals his unease by putting a picture of the missing boy on his wall and saying inarticulate teenage boy things to his mum along the lines of, what about that boy, though?
The characters speak in abstractions so you know that they’re deep, such as when Elia’s mother says to him, ‘I’ve thought about some things, you know? I don’t know why they felt so important. They don’t matter at all now. You have your life to live.’ And so it goes on to the inevitable.
There’s a sense of overwhelming passivity about it, there’s no suspense because the characters don’t do anything or even look remotely as if they might. It’s very moody and atmospheric but you feel like you want to puncture it, like ask them why no one thought to contact the police or a mental health professional. Elia’s mum works in a library, she could have looked it up.
If it weren’t for the fact that it came highly recommended, I wouldn’t have finished it.
*
I received a copy of Can You Hear Me? from the publisher via Netgalley.
This review first appeared on my blog https://katevane.wordpress.com/
The narrator, 16-year-old Elia, begins by telling you the climax of the story. His father is having some kind of mental crisis. Elia suspects he was involved in the disappearance of a boy and he will go on to take the teenage babysitter from next door into the woods.
Of course many great books employ this technique and yet still manage to pique your curiosity because you want to know how they get there, books as diverse as Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier or Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. However here, I didn’t feel that there was any interest or anything to feel curious about, because there is no struggle or conflict, no sense that anyone is trying to influence events.
Elia drifts through the summer, doing coming-of-age stuff, hanging out with a kid his parents disapprove of, challenging him to dares, getting the hots for his mate’s mum, and meanwhile his father is disintegrating. Elia signals his unease by putting a picture of the missing boy on his wall and saying inarticulate teenage boy things to his mum along the lines of, what about that boy, though?
The characters speak in abstractions so you know that they’re deep, such as when Elia’s mother says to him, ‘I’ve thought about some things, you know? I don’t know why they felt so important. They don’t matter at all now. You have your life to live.’ And so it goes on to the inevitable.
There’s a sense of overwhelming passivity about it, there’s no suspense because the characters don’t do anything or even look remotely as if they might. It’s very moody and atmospheric but you feel like you want to puncture it, like ask them why no one thought to contact the police or a mental health professional. Elia’s mum works in a library, she could have looked it up.
If it weren’t for the fact that it came highly recommended, I wouldn’t have finished it.
*
I received a copy of Can You Hear Me? from the publisher via Netgalley.
This review first appeared on my blog https://katevane.wordpress.com/
June 24, 2018
I experienced a mild sense of excitement that I would have to talk about this book for a whole month wearing my bookseller hat, so I started reading with a heightened sense of anticipation. Now I love a translated slow-burner as much as the next person, but for some reason or other this one just didn’t hit the spot. Unlike undoubtedly hundreds of others, I was unerringly frustrated by this obvious hybrid of autobiography and fiction, at odds with my usual enjoyment for the genre- for example Karl Ove Knausgard or Edward St Aubyn. I felt for the most part I was just an incidental passenger to the author’s cathartic writing exercise, which revealed itself quickly to be what I perceived to be an exploration of her own father’s mental disturbance. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with this, but I felt it was to the detriment of what could have been an infinitely more engaging experience for the reader.
Sometimes as a bookseller, I recommend books to people with the words, “Well, nothing really happens, but things don’t happen in a beautifully written way”, and this is what I was longing for in this book. There was a real feeling of deferred happenings in this book, and at times a notable compulsion by the author to pull back from events that could have given some substance and interest to the whole affair. Yes there’s a tangible thread of violence running through the book, and a not altogether convincing seduction, but the weirdly overemotional tone that reveals itself in the words and deeds of some characters, does begin to feel like some kind of therapy group literature, and a real lost the feel of dramatic tension to what cites itself as a thriller. As I said, I was looking forward to this one immensely, but feel I must go elsewhere for my Italian fiction fix, where nothing can happen, as long as it doesn’t not happen beautifully.
July 11, 2017
I can’t remember reading a thriller that is as eerily intense as Elena Varvello’s “Can You Hear Me?” This novel is partly a coming-of-age story and partly a mystery. It’s narrated by Elia who recalls the summer of 1978 when he was sixteen and living in a rural Italian town with his parents. His father Ettore Furenti was disconsolate and paranoid after being laid off from his job. The entire town was suffering from economic depression after the local cotton mill closed down, but Ettore’s behaviour became especially erratic as he spun conspiracy theories and disappeared from home for mysterious periods of time. At the same time, a local boy recently went missing and was later found murdered. The narrative alternates between Elia’s memories of that summer and a girl that Ettore has picked up in his car to drive to a remote location. Together these create a chilling account of an abduction and a boy desperately trying to come to terms with his dangerously unhinged father.
Read my full review of Can You Hear Me? by Elena Varvello on LonesomeReader
Read my full review of Can You Hear Me? by Elena Varvello on LonesomeReader
May 28, 2018
It is another 3.5 stars from me for this one. I found it atmospheric with a sense of impending doom that built slowly and effectively. However I also took a while to get to grips with the changing pov within chapters, initially I found this deeply distracting and slightly irritating. Once I got onboard with that however I enjoyed this one.
October 7, 2017
Read this book essentially in one sitting today - as recommended by a "back cover reviewer".
This book certainly needs to be read in a sitting - in my humble opinion. It has a great premise but unfortunately I think a lot may have been lost in translation.
I am not sure if it is a "coming of age" novel, an insight into mental illness or a thriller - all three great themes in their own right. Just missed the point for this reader!
This book certainly needs to be read in a sitting - in my humble opinion. It has a great premise but unfortunately I think a lot may have been lost in translation.
I am not sure if it is a "coming of age" novel, an insight into mental illness or a thriller - all three great themes in their own right. Just missed the point for this reader!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 11, 2018
In 1978 the Northern Italian city of Ponte is deteriorating. Once a busier area, the local factory has closed down, leaving many residents scrambling to find new jobs or down and out on their luck. Elia Furenti’s father, Ettore, is one of those who lost his job. The loss of his job impacts not only his family and their wellbeing, but also his mental state. Ettore is constantly in a volatile mood and has recently started not sleeping. Elia is growing scared of his father’s moods and cannot understand why his mother continues to stand by him.
The murder of a local boy rocks the town of Ponte to its core and soon Elia is questioning his father’s whereabouts at that time. Unable to take his concerns to his mother, Elia looks for friendship in a local boy and his mother, Anna. Former Ponte resident, Anna quickly becomes more than just a motherly figure to sixteen year old Elia and soon their relationship pulls him towards adulthood. Now that a girl from town has gone missing, Elia’s suspicions are even higher against his father. Can he balance the life he has at home and his relationship with Anna or will his world spiral out of control just like the town around him?
Elena Varvello’s CAN YOU HEAR ME? is the coming of age story for Elia Furenti in the summer of 1978. This novel is an intriguing piece of literary fiction with an underlying mystery that fuels the actions Elia will take during the course of the summer. Varvello writes in a manner that truly brings an atmospheric quality to the book and transports the reader straight in to Elia’s rundown hometown of Ponte. You can feel the destruction that the closing of the local factory has caused in this town, not only through the deterioration of Ettore, but also the deterioration of the town and the resident’s quality of living. While I enjoyed the weaving of the chapters, with switches between the abduction of the girl and Elia’s summer unfolding, I was left wanting more from the mystery. I wanted inside of Ettore’s head more, which perhaps is a tall order to request when the story is being told with more of a focus on Elia. I think that this book would have been a quicker and higher rated read for me had I really understood what happened in Ettore’s mind to set him off and more time spent focused on the abduction of the girl and murder of the local boy. For those looking to pick this one up, I would caution that this is a slower read and absolutely more of a literary fiction genre book than a mystery or thriller.
A special thank you to Quercus USA for sending me a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
The murder of a local boy rocks the town of Ponte to its core and soon Elia is questioning his father’s whereabouts at that time. Unable to take his concerns to his mother, Elia looks for friendship in a local boy and his mother, Anna. Former Ponte resident, Anna quickly becomes more than just a motherly figure to sixteen year old Elia and soon their relationship pulls him towards adulthood. Now that a girl from town has gone missing, Elia’s suspicions are even higher against his father. Can he balance the life he has at home and his relationship with Anna or will his world spiral out of control just like the town around him?
Elena Varvello’s CAN YOU HEAR ME? is the coming of age story for Elia Furenti in the summer of 1978. This novel is an intriguing piece of literary fiction with an underlying mystery that fuels the actions Elia will take during the course of the summer. Varvello writes in a manner that truly brings an atmospheric quality to the book and transports the reader straight in to Elia’s rundown hometown of Ponte. You can feel the destruction that the closing of the local factory has caused in this town, not only through the deterioration of Ettore, but also the deterioration of the town and the resident’s quality of living. While I enjoyed the weaving of the chapters, with switches between the abduction of the girl and Elia’s summer unfolding, I was left wanting more from the mystery. I wanted inside of Ettore’s head more, which perhaps is a tall order to request when the story is being told with more of a focus on Elia. I think that this book would have been a quicker and higher rated read for me had I really understood what happened in Ettore’s mind to set him off and more time spent focused on the abduction of the girl and murder of the local boy. For those looking to pick this one up, I would caution that this is a slower read and absolutely more of a literary fiction genre book than a mystery or thriller.
A special thank you to Quercus USA for sending me a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
March 26, 2018
Straight up, five stars. No question. Not the easiest read but this touches you in a way that is hard to describe. It's simple but complex, it deals with the things we really can't handle. It tells us things that we already know but that we are utterly unable to explain. The translation is unbelievable. Once again, I despair that I can't read other languages. I would love to read this in the original Italian. A huge well-done to Alex Valente for making this available to those of us who are too idle to learn.
Bit gushy? You bet. And I'm gushy because this is what writing is all about. Writing is not just a means of transporting a story from A to B. It's not a big bucket or even a set of buckets. It's a magical medium with which great ideas and slippery thoughts can be transmitted from one brain to another. It's a form of telepathy that communicates in such a way that simple conversation just can't do.
I've overdone it now, haven't I?
Bit gushy? You bet. And I'm gushy because this is what writing is all about. Writing is not just a means of transporting a story from A to B. It's not a big bucket or even a set of buckets. It's a magical medium with which great ideas and slippery thoughts can be transmitted from one brain to another. It's a form of telepathy that communicates in such a way that simple conversation just can't do.
I've overdone it now, haven't I?
June 13, 2018
Difficult reading in places, not because of the subject matter, but because the writing style is so stripped down. Also wasn't very thrilling. Also, everyone smokes instead of engaging with each other, which makes for frustrating character interaction.
March 9, 2017
Romanzo di formazione, uno tra i più belli e appassionanti che abbia letto da molto tempo!
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