Trois années-lumière

by Andrea Canobbio

La quarantaine, divorcé et sans enfants, Claudio Viberti est médecin à l'hôpital. C'est là qu'il rencontre Mattia, un jeune garçon soigné pour troubles de l'alimentation, et sa mère, Cecilia Re, médecin urgentiste, dont il tombe éperdument amoureux. Mais Cecilia vient juste de quitter son mari, Luca, elle voit en Viberti un ami et un confident, à la rigueur un amant, certainement pas quelqu'un avec qui refaire sa vie. Un jour où il doit déjeuner avec Cecilia, Viberti fait la connaissance de sa soeur, Silvia, qui l'accompagne. Dans un moment d'égarement, il passe la nuit avec elle, une simple aventure, qui ne sera pas sans conséquences : de leur rencontre naîtra un enfant qui, devenu adulte, racontera l'histoire de ses "trois parents" et, plus largement, d'une grande famille d'aujourd'hui, avec ses joies et ses peines. Placé sous le signe de Nabokov et de Flaubert, Trois années-lumière est le portrait tour à tour comique et tragique d'un triangle amoureux, mené avec une verve formidable et une grande clairvoyance psychologique, confirmant qu'Andrea Canobbio est bien l'un des meilleurs romanciers italiens actuels.

Genres: Fiction, Italian Literature, Italy

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 23, 2013

Reviews

[Alta]

In Andrea Canobbio’s Three Light-Years, the narrator (who makes several discreet appearances at the beginning and the ending of the novel) imagines the three years, which led to his birth, before his mother’s pregnancy. This is the frame, or rather, the pretext of the drama involving two main characters: his father, Claudio, and the woman he falls in love with, Cecilia—both doctors in the same hospital. In intelligent, thoughtful prose—for which we have to thank the translator, Anne Milano Appel—Canobbio takes us through the daily lives of these characters. For a while, Claudio, who is unattached, seems both like a hopeless lover and a voyeur into Cecilia’s life, a recently divorced woman with two growing children. Then, the balance shifts, and Cecilia responds to Claudio’s attentions. When, finally, the reader is led to believe that a relationship between the two is possible, fate intervenes: Claudio is introduced to Silvia, Cecilia’s eccentric sister. The novel’s ending is somewhat ambiguous, yet the narrator gives us subtle hints about how he grew up and who raised him, so we can imagine the outcome of the drama between Claudio, Cecilia and Silvia. This is a novel about contemporary couples, which should resonate with readers everywhere.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far my novel of the year. About memory, consciousness, the difficulty of understanding others and ourselves. As I did in 2014 with Life after Life, I must immediately read it again!

[Robert Wechsler]

The first part of this novel is a well-written imagined history of a son’s father meeting the son’s mother, and how their relationship proceeds. And then the novel switches to a third-person account of the mother’s life with her family, and the novel lost me.

[Simone Subliminalpop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prima Claudio (nella cui vita non succede niente da dieci anni), per tanto tempo, poi Claudio e Cecilia (medici nello stesso ospedale che si incontrano casualmente), e infine Claudio, Cecilia e Silvia (quest’ultime sorelle).
Claudio che sente la pressione dell’ultima possibilità, ma nonostante questo rimane troppo sul limitare, come sembra aver sempre fatto. Cecilia che una possibilità l’ha appena chiusa e non sa se avrà la voglia e le forze per riaprirne subito un’altra. Silvia che si ritrova incastrata tra queste possibilità senza nemmeno rendersene conto.
Una buona storia, raccontata in modo ottimo, grazie soprattutto ai cambi di voce e all’incursione, mai invadente, del passato dei protagonisti.
È il primo libro che leggo di Andrea Canobbio e sono rimasto sorpreso dalla sua scrittura: chiara e ritmata, sicura di sé stessa, dotata di uno sguardo profondo in grado di cogliere sia il particolare che l’insieme, l’interno e l’esterno, il singolo filo e la trama.

http://www.subliminalpop.com/?p=7305

[Elise Shick · Rating 4 out of 5]

The structure of the writing revealing different point of view from each three characters made the narrator’s ‘fabricated’ memories ever more complete and triggered this thought in me: this thing about tracing memories, isn’t it just another process of filling in the blanks? Memories are mixtures of realities and imaginations. THREE LIGHT YEARS definitely reveals Canobbio’s skills in manoeuvring this process of filing in the blanks. The way the book is written really draws the reader closely to the characters’ states of mind.

[Sophia Tseng · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good lord, it is a wonder I finished this book. A red flag would Have been if I’d noticed that the book was about lovers plagued by indecision. A large portion of this book is written in passive tense and discloses nothing, as if you are spending boring and repetitive hours in suspension as people figure out what to do with their lives😩. The cover is peaceful and sedate but the book was a waste of time.

[Maisarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, couldn’t finish this. Too slow and draggy. Characters lack depth. Might try again another time.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

too wordy at parts

[Lily MacKenzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dear Fellow Readers,

An experience I had the other night in my small reading group has caused me to think about how to read and respond to literary fiction without shutting down discussion. One of our fellow readers tends to immediately jump in and express her opinions before there’s an opportunity to explore a book’s many themes and characters. In this case, she said the book made her feel claustrophobic and it was difficult for her to finish it.

What can you say after a statement like that? I probed a little, asking what it was that made her feel claustrophobic, wondering if it was something in herself she was reacting too and not just the book. As Lionel Trilling once said, novels can read us as much as we read them. I forget what my fellow reader said, but the damage had been done. Her strong reaction dampened further comments. It's natural to dislike certain characters just as we do people we run into in actual life. But as readers, don't we want to understand what it is about the character/person we dislike? What psychological elements are at play in this situation? It's an opportunity for self-reflection and self-knowledge, one of the main reasons I read.

We were discussing Italian author Andrea Canobbio's prize-winning novel, Three Light-Years. The title suggests that the narrative will move at a lightning pace, but it doesn’t. It’s a sedate stroll through the lives of its three main characters, Cecilia, her sister Sylvia, and Claudio. The narrator, another character, has a minor role as the son of this triad, and the narrative is his attempt to piece together what had led to his birth.

The author/narrator does a masterful job of exploring the emotional dynamics (or lack of them) that brought these three people together, and as a reader I felt it deeply when Cecilia and Claudio failed to connect more fully. Therefore, I had hoped my fellow readers and I could have a serious exploration of the psychological dynamics operating between these two characters, as well as the cultural pressures they lived under. Both had been married previously. Both were still bound in multiple ways to their pasts. It seemed like a rich opportunity to learn something both about Italian culture, if one can generalize that much, and also about the interior lives of these three characters. I also had hoped we could discuss the work's structure, images, and more.

When it comes to reading and responding to literary works, I believe it’s important to take the inductive approach, saving our judgments until we’ve not only finished reading the book but also until after we’ve been engaged in a thorough discussion of it. Otherwise we are prejudging and jumping to unwarranted conclusions. We also are missing out on the kind insights other group members can bring to the conversation.

[Liviu · Rating 5 out of 5]

wonderful novel; while the topic is mundane (shy middle age doctor who still lives near his mother, ex wife and her family, troubled ER doctor, mother of two kids, each with his and her own problems, and separated/later divorced form her husband for no particular reason beyond drift, her vivacious sister who unwittingly both creates trouble and brings the main characters together, their families and history) and set in an Italian city early 00's or so, the way the story is told through pov's from the unborn child of Claudio and the three main characters (Claudio, Cecilia and Silvia) all going through some of the same events and showing how different they were perceived by each, while also moving the storyline and revealing past events, and the poignant nature of the prose which is both realistic and sentimental made Three Light-Years a favorite which i could not put down as well as making me look for more works by the author

overall, wonderful, life affirming, touching and a great read

[Anne Herbison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well worth the effort in the end. I felt like going back to the start to re-read it, but the book was due back to the library, having taken me a good two to three weeks to read. Some at my book group thought it was better to read this book in a concentrated space of time. I enjoyed the narrative point of view, and the way events were replayed from the perspective of each of the three main characters. The urban settings and interiors added layers to the reader's understanding of the characters as did the view out to courtyards from which people could be observed, and the sky, the weather, and even the outer space and sci fi metaphors which link to the title. I was also aware that this is a translation from Italian as I read, and I wondered how English idioms and expressions had been chosen to give as close a representation of the original as possible.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally absorbing. In particular I am struck by how this story felt like a detail of a much larger canvas--so many parts of it go right up to the edge of the page, as it were, and it's left to the reader to know how they might continue off the page, in life. Meanwhile what's actually in the book is so assured in its choice of which incident, which anecdote, is most telling. Reading this book was a rich experience.

[Karol · Rating 4 out of 5]

A constructed life story: memory or desire?

Lovely writing; original, nuanced, and unexpected plot; carefully described characters and relationships. On the other hand, some of the transitions from past to present were awkwardly inserted...they almost seemed to be added in by someone different than the writer of the rest of the book! Odd somehow.

[Elselinevester · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mooie spannende opzet, waarbij in ieder deel telkens vanui een persoon meer het verhaal wordt verteld. Wel erg veel woorden om in feite 3 of 4 gebeurtenissen vanuit verschillende perspevtieven te beschrijven. Gaandeweg wordt het hele verhaal pas duidelijk

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous novel. A romance between two divorced people, told from multiple perspectives. Intelligent and engrossing. I particularly liked the way the author weaved the characters' other real-life problems into the story.

[Beau · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was left feeling like something was lost in translation. Despite a few elegant passages, the first "book" was boring as hell. Then again, how exciting can divorcees falling in love in a hospital canteen be? Maybe I expected too much.

[Gaby · Rating 3 out of 5]

a well-written novel with very likable characters. low-key, easy to read, easy to identify with the ambivalence of both the woman and the man who, at this time in their live, are not quite sure what they want

[Aviva · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I saw another review that said this was a slow burn. I'd go along with that. It was never wonderful, but had enough character development to keep me reading and by then end, I really wanted to know what was going on. And, typical non-American book, didn't wrap everything up with a bow.

[Elena · Rating 1 out of 5]

Inconcludente!

[Mimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

quite beautifully written. I recommend this book

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mildly interesting, disjointed, with an terribly unsatisfying ending.

[Laurie Dunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written and captivating, a bit slow paced, but sticks with you.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sad sad sad

[lou. · Rating 4 out of 5]

L'ho molto amato, e ho desiderato che fosse la mia prima rece su doppiozero.
❤

[Cassie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful writing yet too slow.