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188 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 18, 2017
“Fear and curiosity coexisted with mistrust and pity. The shutters remained fastened tight, or else they’d open to hand out sweaters and shoes, electric adapters to charge cell phones, glasses of water, a chair to sit on, and a seat at the table to break bread together. These were flesh-and-blood people, not statistics you read about in the newspapers or numbers shouted out over the television.”This book is written by a man trying to work out his own complicated view of the migrants, from the point of view of the shell-shocked rescuers. This attempt to understand what is at stake is braided together with Enia’s relationship with his Sicilian father and dying uncle. Gradually he unveils the thoughts of those who have spent years witnessing the movement of migrants some of whom are picked up moments before their already-swamped craft sinks irretrievably.
“Little by little, even some of those who regularly inveighed against these immigrant kids started leaving bags in front of the warehouse with donations of shampoo, soap, shoes, and trousers. They’re seeing people on the street who were malnourished, barefoot, raggedy, and so they did their best to help them with their primary needs.”This is a necessary book, beautifully and thoughtfully written, so that all our conscious and unconscious prejudices can bubble up…and float free. And we can be the people we hope to meet, were we in need.
Lampedusa, da “lepas”, lo scoglio che scortica, eroso dalla furia degli elementi, che resiste e conferma una presenza, anche solitaria, nella smisurata vastità del mare aperto. Oppure, Lampedusa da “lampas”, la fiaccola che risplende nel buio, luce che sconfigge lo scuro.


Quando la terra finisce, si sale su una barca. Parto quindi dalle origini, ché è una la fonte da cui sgorga l’acqua che ci abbevera. In fondo, è sempre la stessa storia che si ripete. Una ragazza fenicia scappa dalla città di Tiro, attraversando il deserto fino al suo termine, fino a quando i piedi non riescono più ad andare avanti perché di fronte c’è il mare. Allora incontra un toro bianco, che si piega e la accoglie sul dorso, facendosi barca e solcando il mare, fino a farla approdare a Creta. La ragazza si chiama Europa. Questa è la nostra origine. Siamo figli di una traversata in barca.
