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Εκμυστηρεύσεις
Ένας νέος άντρας, o Πιέτρο, ζει µια θυελλώδη ερωτική ιστορία µε την Τερέζα, µια πρώην µαθήτριά του. Μετά από έναν ακόµη καβγά, η Τερέζα τού προτείνει ν’ αποκαλύψουν ο ένας στον άλλον το πιο ένοχο µυστικό τους, κάτι που, αν µαθευτεί, θα µπορούσε να τους καταστρέψει για πάντα. Στο τέλος της αµοιβαίας εξοµολόγησης ο Πιέτρο λέει: «Δεν µπορούµε πια να χωρίσουµε, είµαστε στ’ αλήθεια ο ένας στα χέρια του άλλου». Λίγο αργότερα, οι δρόµοι τους χωρίζουν.
Ο Πιέτρο γνωρίζει τη Νάντια και γοητεύεται. Λίγες µέρες πριν τον γάµο τους, η Τερέζα επανεµφανίζεται. Και µαζί µ’ εκείνη, η σκιά των αµοιβαίων εκµυστηρεύσεών τους. Από εκείνη τη στιγµή το µυστικό του θα τον κυνηγάει σαν απειλή.
Μετά τα Κορδόνια, ο Ντοµένικο Σταρνόνε ανατέµνει ακόµη βαθύτερα την αµφισηµία της συναισθηµατικής ζωής µας. Με βλέµµα συνωµοτικό και ταυτόχρονα αποστασιοποιηµένο, µε την καυστική ελαφρότητα που τον διακρίνει, παρουσιάζει το πορτρέτο ενός άντρα σε άνιση αναµέτρηση µε τον ίδιο του τον εαυτό.
Ο Πιέτρο γνωρίζει τη Νάντια και γοητεύεται. Λίγες µέρες πριν τον γάµο τους, η Τερέζα επανεµφανίζεται. Και µαζί µ’ εκείνη, η σκιά των αµοιβαίων εκµυστηρεύσεών τους. Από εκείνη τη στιγµή το µυστικό του θα τον κυνηγάει σαν απειλή.
Μετά τα Κορδόνια, ο Ντοµένικο Σταρνόνε ανατέµνει ακόµη βαθύτερα την αµφισηµία της συναισθηµατικής ζωής µας. Με βλέµµα συνωµοτικό και ταυτόχρονα αποστασιοποιηµένο, µε την καυστική ελαφρότητα που τον διακρίνει, παρουσιάζει το πορτρέτο ενός άντρα σε άνιση αναµέτρηση µε τον ίδιο του τον εαυτό.
240 pages, Paperback
First published November 19, 2019
264 people are currently reading
6993 people want to read
About the author
Domenico Starnone
42 books794 followersDomenico Starnone (Saviano, 1943) è uno scrittore, sceneggiatore e giornalista italiano.
Ha collaborato e collabora a numerosi giornali (l'Unità, Il manifesto per cui è stato redattore delle pagine culturali) e riviste di satira (Cuore, Tango, Boxer), con temi generalmente improntati alla sua attività di insegnante di liceo.
Ha scritto con costanza su Linus, negli anni '70-'80.
Ha lavorato anche come sceneggiatore; film come La scuola di Daniele Luchetti, Denti di Gabriele Salvatores e Auguri professore di Riccardo Milani sono ispirati a suoi libri.
Il suo libro maggiormente apprezzato, Via Gemito, ha vinto il Premio Strega nel 2001.
Ha collaborato e collabora a numerosi giornali (l'Unità, Il manifesto per cui è stato redattore delle pagine culturali) e riviste di satira (Cuore, Tango, Boxer), con temi generalmente improntati alla sua attività di insegnante di liceo.
Ha scritto con costanza su Linus, negli anni '70-'80.
Ha lavorato anche come sceneggiatore; film come La scuola di Daniele Luchetti, Denti di Gabriele Salvatores e Auguri professore di Riccardo Milani sono ispirati a suoi libri.
Il suo libro maggiormente apprezzato, Via Gemito, ha vinto il Premio Strega nel 2001.
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Want to read
November 15, 2025adding books that vaguely remind me of sally rooney again
(reading for a substack post)
(reading for a substack post)
December 13, 2024
Iniziando il libro mi sono chiesta il perché di tanto hype nei confronti di Starnone, non trovando niente di speciale o particolare nella sua scrittura né nella trama. Il gioco di confidenza tra Pietro e Teresa mi aveva incuriosito, per poi lasciarmi subito indifferente.
Vengo invece rapita dalla descrizione della sensazione di inadeguatezza provata nei confronti del padre, il difficile rapporto con la moglie, quello enigmatico con Teresa; al momento della riconciliazione con Franchino rimango senza parole.
Un romanzo vero.
Il gioco del cambio di prospettiva mi ha ricordato Kundera, in particolare Lo scherzo, letto a inizio anno.
Sarebbero state cinque stelle se avesse ripreso, alla fine del libro, il punto di vista di Pietro Vella.
Vengo invece rapita dalla descrizione della sensazione di inadeguatezza provata nei confronti del padre, il difficile rapporto con la moglie, quello enigmatico con Teresa; al momento della riconciliazione con Franchino rimango senza parole.
Un romanzo vero.
Il gioco del cambio di prospettiva mi ha ricordato Kundera, in particolare Lo scherzo, letto a inizio anno.
Sarebbero state cinque stelle se avesse ripreso, alla fine del libro, il punto di vista di Pietro Vella.
May 11, 2021
Italian literary superstar Domenico Starnone gives us a psychological tale with a particularly twisted twist: Young teacher Pietro Vella enters a relationship with a former student, Teresa. They fight, they sleep with other people, they push each others buttons, and finally, they make a pact: Both tell each other their darkest secrets - soon after, they split up. Pietro starts a family, he goes on to become a respected author and critic of the educational system pointing out inequalities, while Teresa rises to fame as a scientist. But their paths cross again, and especially Pietro remains haunted by the knowledge he has passed on to Teresa and what she might do with it...
Split in three parts, the first and by far longest section of the novel is told by Pietro, and Starnone finds an elegant and subtle way to reveal the way this difficult character sees the world: Apparently about the same age as the author (who was born in 1943), Pietro does not perceive the power imbalance between him and his former pupil as problematic and he is not particularly supportive of his wife who could have made a career at a university; but at the same time, he is not a classic villain, as he, the first-generation university student, is plagued by self-doubt concerning his work and relationships. Teresa, the strong, independent woman, becomes a controlling factor simply through the truth she knows about him and the fact that he fears the world might hear it.
The second part is told by Pietro's daughter Emma, so we learn her perspective on her father, and, lastly, we hear from mighty Teresa herself. This change of perspectives opens the narrative to various sorts of deceptions: In how far do the characters betray each other, and, most importantly, themselves? Who are they, as perceived by themselves, who do they want to be to the world? The whole tale remains exciting to the very last page, even if I felt let down by the ending, as stringent and smart as it might be.
A wonderful little novel that shows how people are driven by what might happen, by secrets that threaten to destroy their construct of self: "Telling a story means lying, and the better the liar, the better the storyteller."
Split in three parts, the first and by far longest section of the novel is told by Pietro, and Starnone finds an elegant and subtle way to reveal the way this difficult character sees the world: Apparently about the same age as the author (who was born in 1943), Pietro does not perceive the power imbalance between him and his former pupil as problematic and he is not particularly supportive of his wife who could have made a career at a university; but at the same time, he is not a classic villain, as he, the first-generation university student, is plagued by self-doubt concerning his work and relationships. Teresa, the strong, independent woman, becomes a controlling factor simply through the truth she knows about him and the fact that he fears the world might hear it.
The second part is told by Pietro's daughter Emma, so we learn her perspective on her father, and, lastly, we hear from mighty Teresa herself. This change of perspectives opens the narrative to various sorts of deceptions: In how far do the characters betray each other, and, most importantly, themselves? Who are they, as perceived by themselves, who do they want to be to the world? The whole tale remains exciting to the very last page, even if I felt let down by the ending, as stringent and smart as it might be.
A wonderful little novel that shows how people are driven by what might happen, by secrets that threaten to destroy their construct of self: "Telling a story means lying, and the better the liar, the better the storyteller."
February 3, 2023
Potężnie zmęczyła mnie ta książka. Mam wrażenie, że napisana z perspektywy Teresy byłaby tysiąckrotnie ciekawsza.
June 25, 2021
This was my first Starnone but I'm afraid the intent of the book passed me by and I struggled to engage with it. The premise sounds intriguing: that two lovers exchange confidences on something they've never shared with anyone else and then split up. But the long length of time covered by the novel (about 40-50 years) and the shifting narratives from Pietro to his adult daughter and then to his original lover who knows his 'secret' never really cohered for me.
I was never sure whether we were supposed to see through Pietro's self-satisfied story and the dodgy nature of his relationship with an ex-student. And the idea of the dark secrets exchanged never really came to much (we never learn what the secrets are).
So is this a book about a toxic patriarchal male and the women who serve as his satellites? It can certainly be read in that way but that's hardly a new story. Issues of trust, marriage, ambition, love, reputation dip and out of the story but don't come to any productive fruition. Starnone's prose in this translation is clear and readable but I struggled to understand what this book was trying to do and say. That said, I'd certainly try Starnone again.
Thanks anyway to Europa Editions for an ARC via NetGalley
I was never sure whether we were supposed to see through Pietro's self-satisfied story and the dodgy nature of his relationship with an ex-student. And the idea of the dark secrets exchanged never really came to much (we never learn what the secrets are).
So is this a book about a toxic patriarchal male and the women who serve as his satellites? It can certainly be read in that way but that's hardly a new story. Issues of trust, marriage, ambition, love, reputation dip and out of the story but don't come to any productive fruition. Starnone's prose in this translation is clear and readable but I struggled to understand what this book was trying to do and say. That said, I'd certainly try Starnone again.
Thanks anyway to Europa Editions for an ARC via NetGalley
January 9, 2020
Il mio primo Starnone. Forse non gli ha giovato che io lo leggessi tra un Vargas Llosa (La festa del caprone) e un Bulgakov (Il maestro e Margherita), ma credo che se fosse anche capitato tra il Manuale delle Giovani Marmotte e la ricetta della crostata di mele di Nonna Papera l'esito non sarebbe cambiato.
Può anche darsi che sia colpa mia, della mia scarsa sensibilità: il libro è piaciuto a molti e ha avuto recensioni lusinghiere. Non saprei, però a me è sembrato esile, inconsistente, davvero poca cosa...
https://youtu.be/e75ch6FgxIA
...un'emozione da poco :)
Può anche darsi che sia colpa mia, della mia scarsa sensibilità: il libro è piaciuto a molti e ha avuto recensioni lusinghiere. Non saprei, però a me è sembrato esile, inconsistente, davvero poca cosa...
https://youtu.be/e75ch6FgxIA
...un'emozione da poco :)
May 5, 2022
As I was searching the library for the book “Trust”, by Hernan Diaz… a new release…
….[found it - added myself to the waitlist]….
“Trust”… by Domenico Starnone was readily available. I had remembered seeing it.
I knew it was a Europa book. Plus I had read Starnone before. (Ties)…and loved it….but for the life of me - can’t find my old review—
Anyway —
I downloaded “Trust”….blindly - not remembering anything of what it was about.
The premise is actually interesting….
but….. I don’t know… not sure what the point was.
The Audiobook is read
…read by Domenico…
Jhumpa Lahiri translated it - from Italian to English
(makes sense given her own history)…
I’ve enjoyed numerous Europa books - and other translated ones ….
Lahiri’s transition for “Trust”seemed ‘fine’…in ‘audio-format…not sure how it was as an ebook…
but
Starnone’s voice was filled with overemphasized exaggeration…..
His overly high energy drained my energy.
The story itself…
Trust issues … marriage … confessions, infidelity, love, ambition, illusions, children, careers, ….was a little like stale bread for me. I sometimes eat stale bread if I toast it.
But…
I think it’s one of those type of books where it’s not for everyone…
And many times those types of books ‘are’ for me…
Not ‘too’ much this time.
Ha…I had some ‘trust’ issues with it.
Within this slim book are three stories -
I don’t know — truthfully I’m exhausted —
I’m not the best person to be asking about this book —
I felt there was just too much negativity-nonsense.
….”His business”…
….”Her business”….
….”Their joint business” …
….WHATEVER….business….
Perhaps it was my mood —
I have enough on my own plate these days to appreciate soooo MUCH griping about inadequacies.
I wanted to tell Pietro to grab a paintbrush and go paint a room!!!
Adequate…. The story was adequate!!!
As an audiobook, Starnone’s screaming sentences gave me a headache.
But being fair it had some interesting qualities— it’s not poorly written…
But between the subject and my mood the best I can come up with is
3 average adequate stars.
….[found it - added myself to the waitlist]….
“Trust”… by Domenico Starnone was readily available. I had remembered seeing it.
I knew it was a Europa book. Plus I had read Starnone before. (Ties)…and loved it….but for the life of me - can’t find my old review—
Anyway —
I downloaded “Trust”….blindly - not remembering anything of what it was about.
The premise is actually interesting….
but….. I don’t know… not sure what the point was.
The Audiobook is read
…read by Domenico…
Jhumpa Lahiri translated it - from Italian to English
(makes sense given her own history)…
I’ve enjoyed numerous Europa books - and other translated ones ….
Lahiri’s transition for “Trust”seemed ‘fine’…in ‘audio-format…not sure how it was as an ebook…
but
Starnone’s voice was filled with overemphasized exaggeration…..
His overly high energy drained my energy.
The story itself…
Trust issues … marriage … confessions, infidelity, love, ambition, illusions, children, careers, ….was a little like stale bread for me. I sometimes eat stale bread if I toast it.
But…
I think it’s one of those type of books where it’s not for everyone…
And many times those types of books ‘are’ for me…
Not ‘too’ much this time.
Ha…I had some ‘trust’ issues with it.
Within this slim book are three stories -
I don’t know — truthfully I’m exhausted —
I’m not the best person to be asking about this book —
I felt there was just too much negativity-nonsense.
….”His business”…
….”Her business”….
….”Their joint business” …
….WHATEVER….business….
Perhaps it was my mood —
I have enough on my own plate these days to appreciate soooo MUCH griping about inadequacies.
I wanted to tell Pietro to grab a paintbrush and go paint a room!!!
Adequate…. The story was adequate!!!
As an audiobook, Starnone’s screaming sentences gave me a headache.
But being fair it had some interesting qualities— it’s not poorly written…
But between the subject and my mood the best I can come up with is
3 average adequate stars.
May 1, 2024
Per quanto si studi e ci si addottori, essere Hyde viene facile, diventare Jekyll no.
Chi siamo veramente? Siamo l'idea che vogliamo gli altri abbiano di noi?
O siamo quello che sottende i nostri gesti? Ma soprattutto ciò che muove l'azione è la buona intenzione o la paura che venga rivelato che effettivamente non siamo coincidenti col lato migliore con cui vorremmo combaciare?
non tolleravo l’errore, non tolleravo le conseguenze dell’errore, non tolleravo di dovermi giustificare, non tolleravo niente che mi mettesse di fronte al fatto che non ero capace di essere perfetto, non lo sarei mai stato.
Pietro Vella è un docente. Un marito. Un padre. Un uomo che ha amato due donne. Teresa, studentessa di grandi capacità intellettuali, brillante, caustica, indomita. Nadia misurata, schiva, contenuta e gentilissima, che diventerà la moglie di Pietro e con cui Pietro avrà tre figli.
Con quale delle due donne Pietro avrà il rapporto più autentico? Ma soprattutto per quale motivazione?
Far chiarezza all’interno della vita di coppia, mah, forse è un dovere, ma anche un lusso che è rischioso permettersi
Questo breve romanzo ha una struttura asimmetrica che riprende quella del suo precedente "Lacci": composto da tre racconti, che narrano diversi punti di vista, in contesti temporali distinti e distanti.
Raffinato e crudele. Qui Starnone mi è piaciuto.
-----
1 Maggio 2024. Visto il film con Elio Germano. Beh lui bravissimo, neanche da dire. Diciamo come sia stupefacente che di questo libro non ricordassi NIENTE.
Chi siamo veramente? Siamo l'idea che vogliamo gli altri abbiano di noi?
O siamo quello che sottende i nostri gesti? Ma soprattutto ciò che muove l'azione è la buona intenzione o la paura che venga rivelato che effettivamente non siamo coincidenti col lato migliore con cui vorremmo combaciare?
non tolleravo l’errore, non tolleravo le conseguenze dell’errore, non tolleravo di dovermi giustificare, non tolleravo niente che mi mettesse di fronte al fatto che non ero capace di essere perfetto, non lo sarei mai stato.
Pietro Vella è un docente. Un marito. Un padre. Un uomo che ha amato due donne. Teresa, studentessa di grandi capacità intellettuali, brillante, caustica, indomita. Nadia misurata, schiva, contenuta e gentilissima, che diventerà la moglie di Pietro e con cui Pietro avrà tre figli.
Con quale delle due donne Pietro avrà il rapporto più autentico? Ma soprattutto per quale motivazione?
Far chiarezza all’interno della vita di coppia, mah, forse è un dovere, ma anche un lusso che è rischioso permettersi
Questo breve romanzo ha una struttura asimmetrica che riprende quella del suo precedente "Lacci": composto da tre racconti, che narrano diversi punti di vista, in contesti temporali distinti e distanti.
Raffinato e crudele. Qui Starnone mi è piaciuto.
-----
1 Maggio 2024. Visto il film con Elio Germano. Beh lui bravissimo, neanche da dire. Diciamo come sia stupefacente che di questo libro non ricordassi NIENTE.
January 14, 2020
Pensai: ci innamoriamo di persone che sembrano vere ma non esistono, sono una nostra invenzione. Una cosa è la persona amata, altra cosa è la persona reale, che finché l'amiamo non vediamo mai davvero.
[70/100]
[70/100]
May 19, 2022
This book was written by an Italian and it was translated into English by Jhumpa Lahiri.
I picked this book out of the New Arrival section of my local library on Monday because it was published by Europa Editions, and I tend to like that publishing house. When I picked it out, I was not aware the author was from Italy. I went to the library that day because I had ordered a book there, The Penguin Book of Italian Short Stories. Minor coincidence I think. 😉
And then today I heard on my public radio station an interview by Jhumpa Lahiri, the translator of the Starnone novel. Major coincidence I think! 😉 😉
This short novel was an enjoyable read. It was cleverly constructed told by three different people who were connected to each other. An overriding premise of the novel was that when Pietro and Theresa were lovers, and they were having a difficult time of getting along as the relationship progressed, Theresa suggested to Pietro that they each tell one another the most godawful thing they had ever done in their lives. She thought that if they knew each other’s worst and darkest secret, they could never split up for fear that they would tell other people about their lover’s secret (‘...we can never split up now, we we’re really beholden to each other...’). Well, they split up soon after that. Did Pietro tell another person or persons Theresa’s darkest secret and what were the consequences? Did Theresa tell another person or persons Pietro’s darkest secret and what were the consequences? Well let me tell you...oops I can’t. I Can’t reveal spoilers you know! 🙃
I never heard of this author, but good golly he has quite a track record (e.g., finalist for the National Book Award). I need to get out more often...I feel like I live under a rock.
I liked this novel well enough so that I want to read two earlier novels of his that supposedly are related to this one, not with the same characters but supposedly with the same style of writing — ‘Ties’ and ‘Trick’.
Reviews:
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert... (wow, his wife is Anita Raja...and she is thought by some to be a person behind the pseudonym, Elena Ferrante, author of The Neapolitan Quartet (My Brilliant Friend; The Story of a New Name; Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay; The Story of the Lost Child). And then this from Wikipedia: In September 2017, a team of scholars, computer scientists, philologists and linguists at the University of Padua analyzed 150 novels written in Italian by 40 different authors, including seven books by Elena Ferrante, but none by Raja. Based on analysis using several authorship attribution models, they concluded that Anita Raja's husband, author and journalist Domenico Starnone, is the probable author of the Ferrante novels. Raja has worked for E/O Publishing as copy editor and has been editing Starnone's books for years. Ferrante has repeatedly dismissed suggestions that she is actually a man, telling Vanity Fair in 2015 that questions about her gender are rooted in a presumed "weakness" of female writers.
• https://www.latimes.com/entertainment...
• https://www.complete-review.com/revie...
I picked this book out of the New Arrival section of my local library on Monday because it was published by Europa Editions, and I tend to like that publishing house. When I picked it out, I was not aware the author was from Italy. I went to the library that day because I had ordered a book there, The Penguin Book of Italian Short Stories. Minor coincidence I think. 😉
And then today I heard on my public radio station an interview by Jhumpa Lahiri, the translator of the Starnone novel. Major coincidence I think! 😉 😉
This short novel was an enjoyable read. It was cleverly constructed told by three different people who were connected to each other. An overriding premise of the novel was that when Pietro and Theresa were lovers, and they were having a difficult time of getting along as the relationship progressed, Theresa suggested to Pietro that they each tell one another the most godawful thing they had ever done in their lives. She thought that if they knew each other’s worst and darkest secret, they could never split up for fear that they would tell other people about their lover’s secret (‘...we can never split up now, we we’re really beholden to each other...’). Well, they split up soon after that. Did Pietro tell another person or persons Theresa’s darkest secret and what were the consequences? Did Theresa tell another person or persons Pietro’s darkest secret and what were the consequences? Well let me tell you...oops I can’t. I Can’t reveal spoilers you know! 🙃
I never heard of this author, but good golly he has quite a track record (e.g., finalist for the National Book Award). I need to get out more often...I feel like I live under a rock.
I liked this novel well enough so that I want to read two earlier novels of his that supposedly are related to this one, not with the same characters but supposedly with the same style of writing — ‘Ties’ and ‘Trick’.
Reviews:
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert... (wow, his wife is Anita Raja...and she is thought by some to be a person behind the pseudonym, Elena Ferrante, author of The Neapolitan Quartet (My Brilliant Friend; The Story of a New Name; Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay; The Story of the Lost Child). And then this from Wikipedia: In September 2017, a team of scholars, computer scientists, philologists and linguists at the University of Padua analyzed 150 novels written in Italian by 40 different authors, including seven books by Elena Ferrante, but none by Raja. Based on analysis using several authorship attribution models, they concluded that Anita Raja's husband, author and journalist Domenico Starnone, is the probable author of the Ferrante novels. Raja has worked for E/O Publishing as copy editor and has been editing Starnone's books for years. Ferrante has repeatedly dismissed suggestions that she is actually a man, telling Vanity Fair in 2015 that questions about her gender are rooted in a presumed "weakness" of female writers.
• https://www.latimes.com/entertainment...
• https://www.complete-review.com/revie...
July 17, 2020
I gave this author a second chance, but there won't be a third one... Nothing in this book, same as in the previous one, touched me in any way... Neither language, nor style, nor story itself... Maybe I've read too many better books in any possible way due to my vocation that it made me unable to enjoy such books...
Odličan prevod, ali me je i po drugi put ovaj autor ostavio potpuno ravnodušnom... Definitivno odustajem od ovog autora...
Odličan prevod, ali me je i po drugi put ovaj autor ostavio potpuno ravnodušnom... Definitivno odustajem od ovog autora...
January 18, 2020
Pietro Vella si sente mediocre, conosce le proprie debolezze, sa di non avere lampi di genio e nemmeno un naturale acume. No. È un insegnante di liceo, un letterato, meticoloso nel suo lavoro, apparentemente sicuro di sé, abile affabulatore e discreto ascoltatore, in piena coerenza col mestiere.
Tant’è che una sua brillantissima allieva ne è affascinata. Una volta diplomata ne diventa l’amante e l’amata. Relazione non facile, come si può immaginare. Anzi: decisamente tumultuosa e turbolenta. Il legame continuerà nel tempo, nonostante l’inevitabile separazione. Perché Pietro sposerà Nadia, collega di talento che però non riesce a sfondare. Lui sì, invece. Perché l’immagine che il nostro (anti)eroe offre al mondo è quella di un professionista di spessore, intellettuale di talento dalle idee originali, destinate alla pubblicazione e al successo, sia pure settoriale e relativo. I rapporti tra moglie e marito inevitabilmente si intorbidano...
Abbiamo quindi un tema che ricorre negli ultimi romanzi: la contrapposizione di quel che un individuo percepisce (e sa) di sé e quello che di lui credono e pensano gli altri.
Il problema della relazione con sé e con gli altri, l’impossibilità di essere veri, trasparenti e perciò liberi, l’inabissarsi fatale dentro i contorti intrecci dei rapporti umani, i lacci insomma, continuano a essere argomento di studio e di scrittura da parte di Starnone.
Rispetto ai precedenti (Lacci e Scherzetto) Confidenza appare più debole, forse meno credibile e più aleatorio. La sospensione, o la mancata conclusione, è una delle strategie vincenti di chi scrive; Starnone ne fa spesso uso con abili mosse a effetto che avvincono e affascinano chi legge, ma qui i personaggi sono troppo sfuggenti e anche troppo contorti: insomma, a mio parere, poco incisivi e poco credibili.
Tant’è che una sua brillantissima allieva ne è affascinata. Una volta diplomata ne diventa l’amante e l’amata. Relazione non facile, come si può immaginare. Anzi: decisamente tumultuosa e turbolenta. Il legame continuerà nel tempo, nonostante l’inevitabile separazione. Perché Pietro sposerà Nadia, collega di talento che però non riesce a sfondare. Lui sì, invece. Perché l’immagine che il nostro (anti)eroe offre al mondo è quella di un professionista di spessore, intellettuale di talento dalle idee originali, destinate alla pubblicazione e al successo, sia pure settoriale e relativo. I rapporti tra moglie e marito inevitabilmente si intorbidano...
Abbiamo quindi un tema che ricorre negli ultimi romanzi: la contrapposizione di quel che un individuo percepisce (e sa) di sé e quello che di lui credono e pensano gli altri.
Il problema della relazione con sé e con gli altri, l’impossibilità di essere veri, trasparenti e perciò liberi, l’inabissarsi fatale dentro i contorti intrecci dei rapporti umani, i lacci insomma, continuano a essere argomento di studio e di scrittura da parte di Starnone.
Rispetto ai precedenti (Lacci e Scherzetto) Confidenza appare più debole, forse meno credibile e più aleatorio. La sospensione, o la mancata conclusione, è una delle strategie vincenti di chi scrive; Starnone ne fa spesso uso con abili mosse a effetto che avvincono e affascinano chi legge, ma qui i personaggi sono troppo sfuggenti e anche troppo contorti: insomma, a mio parere, poco incisivi e poco credibili.
July 7, 2021
2.5, rounded down, after waiting a day to gather my thoughts. I very much enjoyed Starnone's sharp and suspenseful novellas Ties and Trick, both of which were deftly translated (as is Trust) by Jhumpa Lahiri. Oddly, Lahiri's afterword, which describes this translation as her daily Covid side project and points out Latinate and classical allusions in the original Italian that eluded me entirely, is far more lucid than Starnone's narrative, which felt baggy, redundant, and monotonous.
Especially in the novella's first two-thirds, which take the form of a memoir by Pietro, a high-school teacher who recounts his torrid and operatically melodramatic affair with his former student Teresa (in the unreconstructed Fellini/Ferrante-ish patriarchy of Rome in the 1970s) and its lifelong obsessive aftermath. Both Pietro and Teresa confess a horrible, life-ruining secret to the other (no spoilers), and after their sudden breakup.
Pietro marries a small-town math teacher on the rebound and becomes a checked-out family man, while Teresa blazes a brilliant career in science, becoming a professor at MIT who continues to exchange (occasionally threatening) letters with Pietro. For their entire adult lives, they surveil each other in a chaste "ethical marriage," as Teresa exploits the secret to blackmail Pietro into remaining faithful to his long-suffering wife and falling into the arms of an obscure object of desire who tempts him relentlessly.
This sounds like it might be the setup for a lean and suspenseful psychological thriller about stalking from afar and the lifetime fallout of romantic obsession. But it's interrupted by dreadfully dull lectures and debates about educational reform and padded out with narrative longueurs. Pietro is a frustratingly opaque protagonist, with few defining characteristics beyond a pedantic commitment to pedagogy and an unconscious and pervasive misogyny that corrodes his relationships with his lover, wife, and daughter.
The novel concludes with two additional first-person confessions, by Pietro's daughter Emma and Teresa herself, which don't resolve any of the lingering narrative tension. Nor do they supply any new revelations about Pietro's own moral blind spots and madonna/whore complex, which could be glimpsed from low Earth orbit by any semi-sentient being.
Thanks to Europa Editions and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of Trust in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
Especially in the novella's first two-thirds, which take the form of a memoir by Pietro, a high-school teacher who recounts his torrid and operatically melodramatic affair with his former student Teresa (in the unreconstructed Fellini/Ferrante-ish patriarchy of Rome in the 1970s) and its lifelong obsessive aftermath. Both Pietro and Teresa confess a horrible, life-ruining secret to the other (no spoilers), and after their sudden breakup.
Pietro marries a small-town math teacher on the rebound and becomes a checked-out family man, while Teresa blazes a brilliant career in science, becoming a professor at MIT who continues to exchange (occasionally threatening) letters with Pietro. For their entire adult lives, they surveil each other in a chaste "ethical marriage," as Teresa exploits the secret to blackmail Pietro into remaining faithful to his long-suffering wife and falling into the arms of an obscure object of desire who tempts him relentlessly.
This sounds like it might be the setup for a lean and suspenseful psychological thriller about stalking from afar and the lifetime fallout of romantic obsession. But it's interrupted by dreadfully dull lectures and debates about educational reform and padded out with narrative longueurs. Pietro is a frustratingly opaque protagonist, with few defining characteristics beyond a pedantic commitment to pedagogy and an unconscious and pervasive misogyny that corrodes his relationships with his lover, wife, and daughter.
The novel concludes with two additional first-person confessions, by Pietro's daughter Emma and Teresa herself, which don't resolve any of the lingering narrative tension. Nor do they supply any new revelations about Pietro's own moral blind spots and madonna/whore complex, which could be glimpsed from low Earth orbit by any semi-sentient being.
Thanks to Europa Editions and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of Trust in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
August 14, 2020
Segundo livro do Starnone que leio e a escrita dele é realmente muito envolvente. Você pisca e já leu o livro todo sem nem perceber. Gostei bastante da premissa do romance e de como ele é desenvolvido. Claro que eu esperava um final diferente, mas acho que fui surpreendida positivamente. A única coisa que me incomoda é que, como leitora da Ferrante, eu não consigo deixar de achar que essa história seria muito mais fascinante se fosse contada pela perspectiva das mulheres, pois gastura de homem branco heterossexual se achando o centro do universo.
September 3, 2025
Тази година определено е белязана от откриването на нови автори, които заемат смели позиции в графа любими!
За Доменико Старноне чух абсолютно случайно и бях учудена, когато открих, че е издаван в България. Като оставим настрана всички недостатъци, нуждата от коректор, странната корица и липсата на какъвто и да маркетинг - аз съм влюбена в стила и писането на автора!
Още с първите редове усетих химията и хубавото писане. Предвкусих добрата история и някак (без да правя директни сравнения) усетих вайба на Елена Феранте. Страхотен роман! Историята е прелюбопитна и макар със скромните 146 страници нищо не и липсва. Пиетро и Тереза имат странна връзка. Той е бил нейн учител в гимназията, впоследствие стават двойка. Авторът ни дава съвсем бегъл поглед на отношенията им, които са странни и бурни. Една вечер след поредната караница Тереза предлага на Пиетро да си кажат по една грозна тайна, за която никой друг не знае. Малко след това се разделят, Пиетро се жени за Надя и живота му тръгва в друга посока. Силата на споделените тайни ги държи тясно свързани макар и разделени физически. Тайните им се превръщат в невидимо въже, което ги държи здраво заедно. Тази невидима връзка преследва Пиетро през годините, измъчва го и не му дава мира.
Една история за брака, за любовта, за семейните отношения, за противоборството между партньорите, за ролите в семейството, за желанията и мечтите. Много, много ми хареса колко умело Старноне пресъзадава семейните отношения между Пиетро и Нина! Нишката с реализирането и интелектуалното съревнование между двамата силно ми напомни птношенията на Лила и Лену от тетралогията на Феранте.
Абсолютно задължително ще прочета всичко, което има на български от автора!
За Доменико Старноне чух абсолютно случайно и бях учудена, когато открих, че е издаван в България. Като оставим настрана всички недостатъци, нуждата от коректор, странната корица и липсата на какъвто и да маркетинг - аз съм влюбена в стила и писането на автора!
Още с първите редове усетих химията и хубавото писане. Предвкусих добрата история и някак (без да правя директни сравнения) усетих вайба на Елена Феранте. Страхотен роман! Историята е прелюбопитна и макар със скромните 146 страници нищо не и липсва. Пиетро и Тереза имат странна връзка. Той е бил нейн учител в гимназията, впоследствие стават двойка. Авторът ни дава съвсем бегъл поглед на отношенията им, които са странни и бурни. Една вечер след поредната караница Тереза предлага на Пиетро да си кажат по една грозна тайна, за която никой друг не знае. Малко след това се разделят, Пиетро се жени за Надя и живота му тръгва в друга посока. Силата на споделените тайни ги държи тясно свързани макар и разделени физически. Тайните им се превръщат в невидимо въже, което ги държи здраво заедно. Тази невидима връзка преследва Пиетро през годините, измъчва го и не му дава мира.
Една история за брака, за любовта, за семейните отношения, за противоборството между партньорите, за ролите в семейството, за желанията и мечтите. Много, много ми хареса колко умело Старноне пресъзадава семейните отношения между Пиетро и Нина! Нишката с реализирането и интелектуалното съревнование между двамата силно ми напомни птношенията на Лила и Лену от тетралогията на Феранте.
Абсолютно задължително ще прочета всичко, което има на български от автора!
November 28, 2022
Ο Πιέτρο ζεί μια θυελλώδη σχέση με την Τερέζα. Οι δρόμεις τους χωρίζουν, αλλά τους ενώνουν το μυστικό που ο καθένας τους έχει μοιραστεί με τον άλλο.
Ο Πιέτρο, συνεχίζει τη ζωή του, παντρεύεται, κάνει οικογένεια και επαγγελματικά ανέρχεται. Όμως, στο πίσω μέρος του μυαλού του, υπάρχει πάντα εκείνη.
Οι εκμηστηρεύσεις, χωρίζονται σε 3 μέρη με κυρίαρχη την διήγηση του Πιέτρο, όπου εκείνος πέρα από τη σχέση του με την Τερέζα, μας αναλύει τις σκέψεις του για την παιδεία και το εκπαιδευτικό σύστημα, καθώς και το κατά πόσο παίζει ρόλο η καταγωγή μας και το κοινωνικό μας υπόβαθρο στην μετέπειτα εξέλιξη μας.
Σε αυτό το βιβλίο, που δεν θυμίζει καθόλου τα Κορδόνια, ο Starnone με την απλή γλώσσα του, φτιάχνει χαρακτήρες που ξέρουν τι θέλουν ή τουλάχιστον έτσι νομίζουν. Θα μπορούσε να μείνει μόνο στα λόγια του Πιέτρο. Προσθέτωντας όμως και τις άλλες δύο διηγήσεις, μας δείχνει πως οι άλλοι αντιλαμβάνονται εμάς και όσα αντιπροσωπεύουμε. Είναι καθαρά θέμα οπτικής και αντίληψης.
"Άλλο είναι το πρόσωπο που αγαπάμε και άλλο το πραγματικό πρόσωπο, που όσο το αγαπάμε, δεν το βλέπουμε ποτέ αληθινά. Πόσο χρόνο, είπα μέσα μου, σπαταλάμε στις ερωτικές σχέσεις. Στη διάρκεια αυτών των χρόνων κυριολεκτικά επινόησα ένα πρόσωπο."
3,5 αστέρια
Ο Πιέτρο, συνεχίζει τη ζωή του, παντρεύεται, κάνει οικογένεια και επαγγελματικά ανέρχεται. Όμως, στο πίσω μέρος του μυαλού του, υπάρχει πάντα εκείνη.
Οι εκμηστηρεύσεις, χωρίζονται σε 3 μέρη με κυρίαρχη την διήγηση του Πιέτρο, όπου εκείνος πέρα από τη σχέση του με την Τερέζα, μας αναλύει τις σκέψεις του για την παιδεία και το εκπαιδευτικό σύστημα, καθώς και το κατά πόσο παίζει ρόλο η καταγωγή μας και το κοινωνικό μας υπόβαθρο στην μετέπειτα εξέλιξη μας.
Σε αυτό το βιβλίο, που δεν θυμίζει καθόλου τα Κορδόνια, ο Starnone με την απλή γλώσσα του, φτιάχνει χαρακτήρες που ξέρουν τι θέλουν ή τουλάχιστον έτσι νομίζουν. Θα μπορούσε να μείνει μόνο στα λόγια του Πιέτρο. Προσθέτωντας όμως και τις άλλες δύο διηγήσεις, μας δείχνει πως οι άλλοι αντιλαμβάνονται εμάς και όσα αντιπροσωπεύουμε. Είναι καθαρά θέμα οπτικής και αντίληψης.
"Άλλο είναι το πρόσωπο που αγαπάμε και άλλο το πραγματικό πρόσωπο, που όσο το αγαπάμε, δεν το βλέπουμε ποτέ αληθινά. Πόσο χρόνο, είπα μέσα μου, σπαταλάμε στις ερωτικές σχέσεις. Στη διάρκεια αυτών των χρόνων κυριολεκτικά επινόησα ένα πρόσωπο."
3,5 αστέρια
May 15, 2024
Ci innamoriamo di persone che sembrano vere ma non esistono, sono una nostra invenzione
Per non guastare il gusto della lettura a chi volesse affrontarla mi fermo anch’io. Mi era piaciuto “Lacci”, avevo abbandonato esasperato “Via Gemito”; "Confidenza" potrebbe essere un buon approdo per coloro che non hanno mai letto Starnone. Non so se vi ritroverete nelle riflessioni di Pietro, certamente vi verrà offerto un nuovo punto di vista per rileggere alcune delle vostre esperienze. Quando avviene ciò, un libro, a mio avviso, non è mai un cattivo libro.
Per non guastare il gusto della lettura a chi volesse affrontarla mi fermo anch’io. Mi era piaciuto “Lacci”, avevo abbandonato esasperato “Via Gemito”; "Confidenza" potrebbe essere un buon approdo per coloro che non hanno mai letto Starnone. Non so se vi ritroverete nelle riflessioni di Pietro, certamente vi verrà offerto un nuovo punto di vista per rileggere alcune delle vostre esperienze. Quando avviene ciò, un libro, a mio avviso, non è mai un cattivo libro.
June 11, 2021
Why is she so dissatisfied, I’m her husband, the father of her children, she should be happy about the impression I make: the better things go for me, the better off her life, and Emma’s, and Sergio’s, and that of the baby who’s about to arrive.
Trust has been translated by Jhumpa Lahiri (who also recently translated her own novel Whereabouts) from the original Italian Confidenza by Domenico Starnone. Her erudite translator's afterword was for me the strongest part of a book with which I otherwise failed to connect.
The bulk (75%) of Trust is narrated by Pietro, a teacher and latterly writer about teaching. This part is set in (I think) the 1970s and 1980s, ending when Pietro is around 40. He starts his story with an account of how he fell into a passionate relationship with one of his former students, Teresa, after she graduated from university (and Pietro would have been around 30). But after a crisis in their relationship, comes the novel's McGuffin:
But now we were scared; we’d risked losing each other. And I think it was that fear that prompted us, right after that, to find a way to nail down our codependence for good. Teresa cautiously put forward a plan. She said: Let’s say I tell you a secret, something so awful that I’ve never even told it to myself, but then you have to confide something just as horrible to me, something that would destroy your life if anyone came to know it. She smiled, as if she were inviting me to play a game, but deep down she looked quite tense. He anxiety was contagious, I was stunned, I was concerned that, at only twenty-three years of age, she could already have a secret so very unmentionable. I, at thirty, had one, and it had to do with an affair so embarrassing that I blushed just thinking about it.
...
—Now you know something about me that no one else does.
—The same goes for you.
—We can never split up now, we’re really beholden to each other.
—Yes.
—Aren’t you happy?
—Yes.
—It was your idea.
—Of course.
—I’m crazy about you.
—Me too.
—So much.
—So so much. A few days later, without arguing, on the contrary, using courteous language that we’d never used before, we told each other that our affair had reached its natural end.
Teresa eventually moves to the US where she becomes a successful, even famous scientist. Meanwhile Pietro marries Nadia, a mathematician and fellow teacher, and a very different personality.
This first story takes us over the first decade or so of their marriage. Pietro finds some success as a writer of books, and seems to take it for granted his career, based on a rather flimsy essay making some rather obvious points on education, is somehow more important than his wife’s research in algebraic surfaces - the quote that opens my review is one of a number of such misogynistic musings.
Meanwhile, his emotional connection to Teresa, revolving around the mutual assured destruction of their respective secrets, continues.
The Second Story is the novel (around 15% of the book) an Third Story (10%) are both set around 40 years later, in the present day. The Second Story is narrated by Pietro's daughter, Emma, and the third by Teresa herself, both revolving around a presidential award for Pietro's services to education - Emma lobbies to have him chosen for the award and invites Teresa, as a former and now highly successful student, to make a speech praising Pietro - of course Pietro is worried the speech may turn out very different.
As I signalled earlier, I struggled to connect with this novel I'm afraid. In Pietro's own self-account he is highly successful, charismatic and attracts both female and male admirers, but that isn't how he comes across to this reader. If that were his own delusions, then this could be an interesting character study, but then Emma and even Teresa's accounts, far from exposing his lack of self-awareness, seem to reinforce this view. And the McGuffin at the heart of the novel seemed rather unconvincing to me - two 20-somethings telling each other a secret and then still feeling 50 years later that its revelation would shatter their life (to be fair Teresa does hint at the implausibility of this).
Reluctantly, as Starnone is a fine writer, 2 stars. Thanks to the publisher via Netgalley for the ARC.
Trust has been translated by Jhumpa Lahiri (who also recently translated her own novel Whereabouts) from the original Italian Confidenza by Domenico Starnone. Her erudite translator's afterword was for me the strongest part of a book with which I otherwise failed to connect.
The bulk (75%) of Trust is narrated by Pietro, a teacher and latterly writer about teaching. This part is set in (I think) the 1970s and 1980s, ending when Pietro is around 40. He starts his story with an account of how he fell into a passionate relationship with one of his former students, Teresa, after she graduated from university (and Pietro would have been around 30). But after a crisis in their relationship, comes the novel's McGuffin:
But now we were scared; we’d risked losing each other. And I think it was that fear that prompted us, right after that, to find a way to nail down our codependence for good. Teresa cautiously put forward a plan. She said: Let’s say I tell you a secret, something so awful that I’ve never even told it to myself, but then you have to confide something just as horrible to me, something that would destroy your life if anyone came to know it. She smiled, as if she were inviting me to play a game, but deep down she looked quite tense. He anxiety was contagious, I was stunned, I was concerned that, at only twenty-three years of age, she could already have a secret so very unmentionable. I, at thirty, had one, and it had to do with an affair so embarrassing that I blushed just thinking about it.
...
—Now you know something about me that no one else does.
—The same goes for you.
—We can never split up now, we’re really beholden to each other.
—Yes.
—Aren’t you happy?
—Yes.
—It was your idea.
—Of course.
—I’m crazy about you.
—Me too.
—So much.
—So so much. A few days later, without arguing, on the contrary, using courteous language that we’d never used before, we told each other that our affair had reached its natural end.
Teresa eventually moves to the US where she becomes a successful, even famous scientist. Meanwhile Pietro marries Nadia, a mathematician and fellow teacher, and a very different personality.
This first story takes us over the first decade or so of their marriage. Pietro finds some success as a writer of books, and seems to take it for granted his career, based on a rather flimsy essay making some rather obvious points on education, is somehow more important than his wife’s research in algebraic surfaces - the quote that opens my review is one of a number of such misogynistic musings.
Meanwhile, his emotional connection to Teresa, revolving around the mutual assured destruction of their respective secrets, continues.
The Second Story is the novel (around 15% of the book) an Third Story (10%) are both set around 40 years later, in the present day. The Second Story is narrated by Pietro's daughter, Emma, and the third by Teresa herself, both revolving around a presidential award for Pietro's services to education - Emma lobbies to have him chosen for the award and invites Teresa, as a former and now highly successful student, to make a speech praising Pietro - of course Pietro is worried the speech may turn out very different.
As I signalled earlier, I struggled to connect with this novel I'm afraid. In Pietro's own self-account he is highly successful, charismatic and attracts both female and male admirers, but that isn't how he comes across to this reader. If that were his own delusions, then this could be an interesting character study, but then Emma and even Teresa's accounts, far from exposing his lack of self-awareness, seem to reinforce this view. And the McGuffin at the heart of the novel seemed rather unconvincing to me - two 20-somethings telling each other a secret and then still feeling 50 years later that its revelation would shatter their life (to be fair Teresa does hint at the implausibility of this).
Reluctantly, as Starnone is a fine writer, 2 stars. Thanks to the publisher via Netgalley for the ARC.
November 29, 2019
Tre racconti, un uomo, Pietro Vella, sua moglie Nadia, sua figlia Emma e la sua alunna migliore, che poi diventerà una scienziata affermata, Teresa.
Un uomo dal bell'aspetto, che ha una storia con la sua studentessa modello, dopo il diploma di lei, una storia di amore-odio, che per poter essere governata, occorre frapporre tra i due una distanza oceanica.
L'amore di Pietro e Nadia: un amore durato una vita, in cui però non c'è mai l'abbandono vero e tra i due c'è sempre lo spazio necessario per accogliere il risentimento (di lei), le frustrazioni (di entrambi), e l'ombra di Teresa.
L'amore di Pietro ed Emma: quello che ci può essere tra padre e figlia, l'adulazione completa della figlia, per questo padre che tanto aveva fatto per la scuola. Un'adulazione ingombrante che incide sui suoi due matrimoni, sulle sue relazioni sentimentali.
E Pietro, infine, con la costruzione certosina dell'impalcatura che non lo fa aderire pienamente a se stesso, solo Teresa è riuscita a smontarla e per questo lui si è sempre ostinato a tenerla a distanza, a tenerla a bada e a etichettarla con un "donna dal carattere difficile". Teresa, la donna con la quale Pietro stringe un matrimonio "etico": se uno dei due avesse tradito la fiducia dell'altro, allora questo sarebbe stato autorizzato a svelare a tutti le confidenze turpi, rivelate nei momenti di intimità e custodite nel tempo.
"Gli dirò, a fine giornata: esperimento riuscito, la vita è finita, siamo al sicuro. E aggiungerò per prenderlo in giro: non è la pedagogia dell'affetto che ci migliora, ma la pedagogia dello spavento.
[...] Poi mi sono tornati in mente certi momenti rarissimi di Pietro [...] Erano attimi che sembravano belli, lui con il viso assorto, la bocca socchiusa, gli occhi rivolti a qualcosa di invisibile mentre si ravviava i capelli passandoci le dita. Finché mi accorgevo che qualcosa di veramente repellente lo stava attraversando tutto come uno spasmo insopportabile del sistema nervoso. Io ritraevo subito lo sguardo inorridita, lui no, seguitava ancora per un attimo a guardarsi come se si avesse davanti agli occhi. Certe volte gli chiedevo: Pietro, che c'è? Mi dava spiegazioni volenterose e autoironiche.
È il malessere delle origini [.]
è il malessere delle capacità insufficienti [.]
è il malessere della degradazione dei ruoli [.]
è il malessere del corpo ben fatto [.]
è il malessere della violenza che ha imparato a nascondersi nelle parole."
Siamo creature fragili, che a volte siamo ossessionati dalla falsa idea di perfezione: e non appena qualcuno prova a smontarla, gli affiabbiamo l'etichetta di "pericoloso". Questo libro è un invito a riflettere, a tenere lo sguardo su noi stessi il più possibile pulito: "Lo sguardo degli altri è la nostra ossessione, la nostra gratificazione, la misura della nostra inadeguatezza. Siamo disposti a perderci, curvando la vita intera, pur di somigliare al nostro profilo migliore. È allora che diventiamo pericolosi: quando diamo il meglio, ben sapendo che il peggio si nasconde poco lontano."
Tra 3 e 4 stelle.
Un uomo dal bell'aspetto, che ha una storia con la sua studentessa modello, dopo il diploma di lei, una storia di amore-odio, che per poter essere governata, occorre frapporre tra i due una distanza oceanica.
L'amore di Pietro e Nadia: un amore durato una vita, in cui però non c'è mai l'abbandono vero e tra i due c'è sempre lo spazio necessario per accogliere il risentimento (di lei), le frustrazioni (di entrambi), e l'ombra di Teresa.
L'amore di Pietro ed Emma: quello che ci può essere tra padre e figlia, l'adulazione completa della figlia, per questo padre che tanto aveva fatto per la scuola. Un'adulazione ingombrante che incide sui suoi due matrimoni, sulle sue relazioni sentimentali.
E Pietro, infine, con la costruzione certosina dell'impalcatura che non lo fa aderire pienamente a se stesso, solo Teresa è riuscita a smontarla e per questo lui si è sempre ostinato a tenerla a distanza, a tenerla a bada e a etichettarla con un "donna dal carattere difficile". Teresa, la donna con la quale Pietro stringe un matrimonio "etico": se uno dei due avesse tradito la fiducia dell'altro, allora questo sarebbe stato autorizzato a svelare a tutti le confidenze turpi, rivelate nei momenti di intimità e custodite nel tempo.
"Gli dirò, a fine giornata: esperimento riuscito, la vita è finita, siamo al sicuro. E aggiungerò per prenderlo in giro: non è la pedagogia dell'affetto che ci migliora, ma la pedagogia dello spavento.
[...] Poi mi sono tornati in mente certi momenti rarissimi di Pietro [...] Erano attimi che sembravano belli, lui con il viso assorto, la bocca socchiusa, gli occhi rivolti a qualcosa di invisibile mentre si ravviava i capelli passandoci le dita. Finché mi accorgevo che qualcosa di veramente repellente lo stava attraversando tutto come uno spasmo insopportabile del sistema nervoso. Io ritraevo subito lo sguardo inorridita, lui no, seguitava ancora per un attimo a guardarsi come se si avesse davanti agli occhi. Certe volte gli chiedevo: Pietro, che c'è? Mi dava spiegazioni volenterose e autoironiche.
È il malessere delle origini [.]
è il malessere delle capacità insufficienti [.]
è il malessere della degradazione dei ruoli [.]
è il malessere del corpo ben fatto [.]
è il malessere della violenza che ha imparato a nascondersi nelle parole."
Siamo creature fragili, che a volte siamo ossessionati dalla falsa idea di perfezione: e non appena qualcuno prova a smontarla, gli affiabbiamo l'etichetta di "pericoloso". Questo libro è un invito a riflettere, a tenere lo sguardo su noi stessi il più possibile pulito: "Lo sguardo degli altri è la nostra ossessione, la nostra gratificazione, la misura della nostra inadeguatezza. Siamo disposti a perderci, curvando la vita intera, pur di somigliare al nostro profilo migliore. È allora che diventiamo pericolosi: quando diamo il meglio, ben sapendo che il peggio si nasconde poco lontano."
Tra 3 e 4 stelle.
January 25, 2023
For any relationship to sustain, Trust plays an important and deciding factor. We often take it for granted or assume that it's mutual.
Basing on that belief, Trust narrates a tumultuous and captivating relationship between Pietro and Teresa. It shows all the facets of their once shared relationship. Often you meet people and they leave an impression or you would have shared something dark, terrible or unspeakable with them. But it leaves a seed of doubt or like a dagger hanging over your head - what if that unspeakable secret is revealed? As a game of sorts Teresa and Pietro share them but are now haunted by it. From then it begins a new turn to the dynamics they shared as student-professor, lovers and former lovers. The book is divided into three parts of different povs: Pietro, Emma and Teresa. I have to admit that the cutesy modern rom com cover made me hesitate to read this sooner.
What worked and motivated for me to read further was not only the power dynamic shifts but also the the writing. It's lush, speaks volumes and articulates the emotions the characters are going through. In fact the first paragraph that kicks off the book itself had me in it's palm. Instead of focusing on romance, Starnone delved deeper into what made their relationship work. I expected no less after having read his other book, Ties.
As usual, I always have something to pick on and here my qualm was with Emma's parts. I felt that the same could have written from Pietro's pov. To see it from his stance would have been better. I also wouldn't have complained if there were more chapters from Teresa's pov. It dispelled whatever effect Pietro's pov had on me and broke down.
------------------
Excellent use of language and had me hooked from start to finish.
rtc.
Basing on that belief, Trust narrates a tumultuous and captivating relationship between Pietro and Teresa. It shows all the facets of their once shared relationship. Often you meet people and they leave an impression or you would have shared something dark, terrible or unspeakable with them. But it leaves a seed of doubt or like a dagger hanging over your head - what if that unspeakable secret is revealed? As a game of sorts Teresa and Pietro share them but are now haunted by it. From then it begins a new turn to the dynamics they shared as student-professor, lovers and former lovers. The book is divided into three parts of different povs: Pietro, Emma and Teresa. I have to admit that the cutesy modern rom com cover made me hesitate to read this sooner.
What worked and motivated for me to read further was not only the power dynamic shifts but also the the writing. It's lush, speaks volumes and articulates the emotions the characters are going through. In fact the first paragraph that kicks off the book itself had me in it's palm. Instead of focusing on romance, Starnone delved deeper into what made their relationship work. I expected no less after having read his other book, Ties.
As usual, I always have something to pick on and here my qualm was with Emma's parts. I felt that the same could have written from Pietro's pov. To see it from his stance would have been better. I also wouldn't have complained if there were more chapters from Teresa's pov. It dispelled whatever effect Pietro's pov had on me and broke down.
------------------
Excellent use of language and had me hooked from start to finish.
rtc.
August 18, 2021
Bardzo mnie zaskoczyła ta książka pod wieloma względami. Przede wszystkim podoba mi się narracja- nie do końca przepadam za tego typu postaciami w roli głównych bohaterów, ale tutaj poza pogłębionym portretem psychologicznym Pietra jest też sporo rozważań na temat nauczania i roli nauczyciela w procesie edukacji. Początek był średni, ale im dalej, tym mocniej się wciągałem i rzeczywiście czułem trochę w tym „Nieznośną lekkość bytu”. Ostatnie 40 stron kompletnie niespodziewane, ale świetnie domykające całość. Kolejna książka od Pauzy, która zostanie ze mną na dłużej.
June 25, 2021
"Why is she so dissatisfied, I’m her husband, the father of her children, she should be happy about the impression I make: the better things go for me, the better off her life, and Emma’s, and Sergio’s, and that of the baby who’s about to arrive."
This was one hell of a misogynistic narrator. 🙄
The majority of this story told from the MC, an English literature professor Pietro. Whom I found really annoying, persuasive and manipulative. Pietro had a relationship with one of his students, Teresa. In nature she was fearless, free spirited, intelligent an independent woman. But in Pietro's description she was a woman who had sex for fun. What??? Her intelligence and expertise did not made up for who she is but her sex appeal did.
Also he manipulated Nadia a woman who had been in a relationship with someone else and kind of forced her, without baiting an eye to her consent and had an affair with her. In Peitro's description she was demure and polite. She was the kind of women men marries. ????
Anyways I did not like this book at all. Thank you Netgally for the e-arc
This was one hell of a misogynistic narrator. 🙄
The majority of this story told from the MC, an English literature professor Pietro. Whom I found really annoying, persuasive and manipulative. Pietro had a relationship with one of his students, Teresa. In nature she was fearless, free spirited, intelligent an independent woman. But in Pietro's description she was a woman who had sex for fun. What??? Her intelligence and expertise did not made up for who she is but her sex appeal did.
Also he manipulated Nadia a woman who had been in a relationship with someone else and kind of forced her, without baiting an eye to her consent and had an affair with her. In Peitro's description she was demure and polite. She was the kind of women men marries. ????
Anyways I did not like this book at all. Thank you Netgally for the e-arc
April 3, 2022
Another enjoyable novel from Starnone. I don’t fully know what he was trying to say with it but I had a good time reading it. It looks at relationships and how we reveal ourselves to others, and also digs into the male/female dynamic in both the public and private sphere. Lots of unpack and would probably reward a re-read.
April 10, 2024
(2.5) When I first tried to read this a few years ago, I disliked it instantly, although I’d loved all Starnone’s previous novels. Wanting to catch up on the books of his I’ve missed before the new one comes out later this year, I decided to give it another chance. As it turns out, I probably had the right instinct the first time. The short version of this review: if you’re new to the author, I’d suggest skipping this book; First Execution, Trick and
Ties
(in that order) are all excellent, and much stronger than Trust.
It’s on shaky ground from the start, for two reasons. Teacher Pietro’s relationship with Teresa, a former (high school!) student of his, doesn’t exactly endear him to the reader, and his character doesn’t get any better from there. Then there’s the highly tenuous central idea. Pietro and Teresa agree to tell each other terrible secrets about themselves, only to break up shortly afterwards. Despite the fact that both halves of the couple move on, these secrets create a permanent, life-changing emotional bond between them – but remain unknown to the reader. Which is a problem; without knowing how big or bad the secrets are, it’s difficult to assess whether they plausibly could wield this amount of power. Or indeed whether Pietro is just using the idea as justification for his continuing obsession with, and feeling of ownership over, Teresa. Clearly we’re not going to get that information from his own biased narrative, which constitutes most of the book.
As in Ties, the author uses more than one viewpoint to tell the story – we hear from Emma (Pietro’s daughter) and Teresa towards the end – but here the device is much less effective. It doesn’t feel like we get any meaningfully different perspective on Pietro; while Teresa hints his version of the story is embellished, her uncritical stance warrants much more exploration than it gets. Though well-crafted and not as simplistic as I might be making it sound here, Trust is a frustrating book overall, one that feels half-finished, and the depth that (so far) has characterised Starnone’s other work is curiously absent. Hopefully it was just a misstep.
It’s on shaky ground from the start, for two reasons. Teacher Pietro’s relationship with Teresa, a former (high school!) student of his, doesn’t exactly endear him to the reader, and his character doesn’t get any better from there. Then there’s the highly tenuous central idea. Pietro and Teresa agree to tell each other terrible secrets about themselves, only to break up shortly afterwards. Despite the fact that both halves of the couple move on, these secrets create a permanent, life-changing emotional bond between them – but remain unknown to the reader. Which is a problem; without knowing how big or bad the secrets are, it’s difficult to assess whether they plausibly could wield this amount of power. Or indeed whether Pietro is just using the idea as justification for his continuing obsession with, and feeling of ownership over, Teresa. Clearly we’re not going to get that information from his own biased narrative, which constitutes most of the book.
As in Ties, the author uses more than one viewpoint to tell the story – we hear from Emma (Pietro’s daughter) and Teresa towards the end – but here the device is much less effective. It doesn’t feel like we get any meaningfully different perspective on Pietro; while Teresa hints his version of the story is embellished, her uncritical stance warrants much more exploration than it gets. Though well-crafted and not as simplistic as I might be making it sound here, Trust is a frustrating book overall, one that feels half-finished, and the depth that (so far) has characterised Starnone’s other work is curiously absent. Hopefully it was just a misstep.
June 10, 2021
Trust isn’t a long book. It doesn’t have to be. Even though it is barely 150 pages, it took me a few days to read it and mull over the relationship complexities it presents.
Interestingly the premise at the heart of it brings to mind Jhumpa Lahiri’s opening story in Interpreter of Maladies, entitled A Temporary Matter. In that story, a married couple attempt to mend a failing marriage during an electrical outage, confessing more and more of their secrets to each other until they finally “weep for the things they now know.”
Jhumpa Lahiri is the translator of Trust, and here, two lovers, Pietro and Teresa, decide to confess something they’ve never told anyone before. Rather than uniting them, shortly afterwards, they break up. Pietro marries, has children, achieves career success. But he has forever bound with Teresa, who is, in effect, an exacting Super Ego by knowing what he is capable of.
Trust is narrated in three voices – Pietro by far has the longest story, then his daughter Emma speak after a long passage of time, and finally we hear from Teresa. At the heart of the story is: what improves us? The pedagogy of love or the pedagogy of fear? Does confessing our innermost secrets free the real person who lurks beneath the person who seems real, but are really invented by us?
Trust is that paradox that is emotionally powerful while keeping the reader at arm’s length. Another way to phrase this is it is a book of the mind more than a book of the heart. It left me with much to think about regarding the relationships and how they are constructed, the constructs of fidelity, and whether “love is a lava of crude life that burns the refined one.”
I owe a debt of gratitude to Europa Editions who provided me with a galley of Trust, which will be out this fall, n exchange for an honest review.
November 24, 2019
Che sia o no Elena Ferrante (personalmente ritengo di sì), Domenico Starnone merita di essere letto e studiato con attenzione.
Se ci sono delle similitudini con la scrittrice de "L' amica geniale"?
Se di sicuro s'intravede un immaginario comune, il medesimo patrimonio linguistico e culturale, la stessa Napoli spesso periferica, brutta e marginale, ce n'è una, soprattutto, che ritengo lampante: la capacità di indagare le azioni umane, quell'eterno laborioso grattare la patina delle apparenze per mostrare gli aspetti più laidi e inconfessabili dell'essere umano.
In "Confidenza" c'è quel segreto sussurrato da Pietro a Teresa, quasi per scherzo, che si insinua viscido e strisciante, a saldare e minacciarne il legame per tutto il corso della storia e delle loro esistenze.
Bel romanzo, l'ennesimo, in cui Starnone, da ex docente, parla molto anche di scuola e sistema scolastico, come già in Ex cattedra e Fuori registro.
Se ci sono delle similitudini con la scrittrice de "L' amica geniale"?
Se di sicuro s'intravede un immaginario comune, il medesimo patrimonio linguistico e culturale, la stessa Napoli spesso periferica, brutta e marginale, ce n'è una, soprattutto, che ritengo lampante: la capacità di indagare le azioni umane, quell'eterno laborioso grattare la patina delle apparenze per mostrare gli aspetti più laidi e inconfessabili dell'essere umano.
In "Confidenza" c'è quel segreto sussurrato da Pietro a Teresa, quasi per scherzo, che si insinua viscido e strisciante, a saldare e minacciarne il legame per tutto il corso della storia e delle loro esistenze.
Bel romanzo, l'ennesimo, in cui Starnone, da ex docente, parla molto anche di scuola e sistema scolastico, come già in Ex cattedra e Fuori registro.
April 29, 2024
Un romanzo costruito prevalentemente attraverso flussi di pensiero ,riflessioni, ricordi. Tre i punti di vista che in prima persona raccontano la storia del protagonista Pietro Vella e di come egli abbia influenzato in modo irreversibile le vite di coloro con cui ha intessuto relazioni sentimentali o lavorative. Un romanzo introspettivo che ha come baricentro un segreto che potrebbe,se rivelato, rovinare la vita del protagonista ma che sinceramente ho trovato più un espediente per dare mordente ad una trama si interessante ma non molto dinamica.
September 19, 2021
Stranone sa scrivere e lo fa benissimo. Mi piace molto come costruisce le frasi e molti suoi passaggi sono da leggere ad alta voce. “Confidenza” chiude una trilogia ideale, iniziata con “Lacci”. Il libro mi ha tenuto incollato alle pagine, ma lascia tanti punti in sospeso (e va bene così).
Per me, sono 3 stelle e mezzo perché mi aspettavo una chiusura bomba, ma non c’è stata. Ultimamente Stranone sembra essere ancora schiavo della storia e della struttura di “Lacci”.
“Confidenza” è un ottimo libro, ma non è indimenticabile.
Per me, sono 3 stelle e mezzo perché mi aspettavo una chiusura bomba, ma non c’è stata. Ultimamente Stranone sembra essere ancora schiavo della storia e della struttura di “Lacci”.
“Confidenza” è un ottimo libro, ma non è indimenticabile.
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