Quello Che Ti Nascondevo by Marina di Guardo

Due to work and summer-related reasons, my reading slowed down the last weeks, and will keep this pace until the end of August probably. I am operating right now at a bare minimum level, covering mostly my spots of the book tours while spending the rest of my summer days out in the sun - most probably reading and thinking about new projects.

But I still have projects to work on, and one of them is improving my Italian at a highly professional level. A mission partly accomplished this year, with an increasing number of books in Italian that I had the chance to read. 

My latest one was a women-centered thriller, writen by Marina di Guardo, the mother of the famous Italian infuencers Chiara and Valetina Ferragni, herself an active user and consumer of social media: Quello Che Ti Nascodevo/What I was hiding from you.  

One year after the death of his beloved Allegra, in an accident in the mountains, Giacomo uses to listen to her old audio messages. But as he catches the voice of a man calling her ´baby´, his life is shuttered. The more he dives into his wife´s past, the more shocking the revelation of her infidelity. But no matter how disturbing the revelations, he doesn´t stop trying to find him. And as some of the women he dated - as a married man, with a Tinder profile - are also found dead, he is on a mission trying to solve the mystery of their murder.

The reading is suspenseful although some coincidences - too many to count - are weakening the plot. I was caught by the beginning and shocked by the ending. Although the main storyteller is a man, Giacomo, the women do play the most important role in the story: their betrayal, expectations and the violence they often are submitted to. The childhood trauma is alongside the topic of the violence against women are very important topic framed in the story, reflected not only into the history of the characters but strongly motivating their acts. 

From the point of view of the vocabulary, I´ve learned a lot of new slang words, mostly relevant for Milano area where the action is taking part. There may be better thrillers around, but this one resonated with me for the women-focus and modern takes on couple and relationships.

My Italian journey continues.

Rating: 3 stars

Le Perfezioni by Vincenzo Latronico

 

Although with less speed as in the previous months, I´ve conntinued this month my Italian reading agenda. This time, I got Le Perfezioni/La Chiave di Berlino by Vicenzo Latronico, a book set in Berlin at the end of the first decade of 2000s. The book was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize and was translated into several languges, including English by Sophie Hughes for Fitzcarraldo Editions. 

As someone who moved to Berlin during the same time, I felt compelled to read this book. The author left Italy at almost the same time - those were the times when I made a lot of Italian friends, brought to Berlin by Berlusconi´s governments, but he is currently back in Italy.

His life in Berlin is reflected in the accurate description of places and events, ways of being and expectations of people the novel - an offline, third person account of the - almost perfect - life of Anna and Tom, Italian creatives, having the best of their life in the city.

Latronice, a member of anti-gentrification collective in Milan, is observing the silent yet radical twists taking place during those time: as Berlin is becoming more international, sought-after, its identity is getting more standardized and the city soulless. The living costs are high and the available apartments dire. The image of the city is turning into an illusion, a projection of what people expect to find here: maybe a smaller or bigger slice of ´home´, a promise of freedom, but at a lower prize.

Anna and Tom may explore other similar ´paradises´: Portugal, Sicily - while turning back and forth to Berlin in their subletted apartment - who may lose an apartment in a city where scarcity is pushing natives out of its urban borders?

The language - for an Italian student - is relatively sophisticated, C1 level and up, in my opinion, but highly literarily enjoyable. The ambiances, including the olfactive moments are very vivid and immersive.

For a contemporary novel set in the 2000s, the show-format, without characters and a proper story, the short length - 136 pages in the original Italian version - suits very well. But exactly this unclear space between essay - on gentrification and spectacle-society we are more and more each day immersed into - and hipster story leaved a space for expectations that wasn´t properly filled.

Berlin is still the hype, even when it is not what it used - or we expected it - to be, therefore, it is still so much to say and in so many different ways. Le Perfezioni uses the commonality of the inspiration, but ends up in many respects mostly as an exercise in imperfection.

Rating: 3.5 stars 

Comme in un Film by Anna Nicoletto

My Italian learning spree is going just fine, but I am struggling sometimes to finding good books to read, as opposed to books I read for the sake of vocabulary or grammar exercises. My best read of the last four weeks was a funny romcom with a well built plot: Come in un Film - Like in a movie, in my own translation - by the self-publishing phenomenon Anna Nicoletto. 

Told alternatively from the perspective of the two main protagonists - Cloe and Sebastiano, former schoolmates, enemies that are about to become lovers - it is built around a movie theatre. Aurora, a movie theatre in a small Italian town belonged to Cloe´s family for generations, but as her beloved aunt wants to retire, there is no interest on Cloe´s side to get involved in the business. As she meets Sebastiano, now a successful businessman, owning more than half of the town and interested to purchase Aurora as well, old inimities seem to melt. 

The story is sugary, but it keeps you interested as there are always new elements diverting the story, although the ending may be predictable. From the point of view of the language, I´ve learned a lot, especially everyday language and conversations. 

It was an enjoyable as well as useful read, and I am just getting started with my Italian reads. More - and more serious - to come in the next days.

Ti odio, ma ti amo di più by Anna Premoli, illustrated by Michele Brutomesso

I am following very seriously my Italian lessons plan - and Spanish too - and this month, more than ever, I´ve spent a lot of time in the company of this language. As my desire to learn is unstoppable, so it is my lack of criteria in my choice of books. I am not very much familiar right now with what it´s hot off the press in the Italian publishing realm and I still need to research what are the noteworthy authors to explore right now. As I am sure this time will come soon, I just enjoy my full immersion into the language.

My latest literary choices was a book by a very popular author, Anna Premoli -  Ti odio, ma ti amo di più (in my own translation I hate you, but I love you even more) I love chicklit and not ashame to recognize it, therefore reading with pleasure may open up my interest towards the language as well.

The characters of this book, Ian and Jenny are about to celebrate ten years of marriage and he - belonging to the English nobility - is surprising her - a down to earth, feminist and anti-priviledge kind of woman - with a trip to an undisclosed destination. Ten years and two children after, their relationship keeps a special dynamic built on love, respect and very different lifestyles.

The two main protagonists do share alternatively their stories, but most of the novel is focused on their interactions, thoughts about each other given their very different background. The dynamic is interesting but unfortunately the plot is simplistic and largely underdeveloped. 

From the point of view of the language learning, I´ve learned many new everyday words and expressions so I am relatively happy with my choice.

My favorite part so far were the illustrations by Michele Brutomesso, colours and black-and-white, which suited the ambiance of the book. 

Rating: 2.5 stars

Ragazze Perdute by Max and Francesco Morini

I continued this month my efforts to maintain and develop my Italian skills with a short, slow-paced novel read in the original language.

Ragazze Perdute - Lost girls, in my own translation - by the duo Max and Francesco Morini - traces an unsolved crime of a teenager girl that happened in the 1980s, to our 2020s. Told my Francesco, her short-term boyfriend, at 30 years distance, it has a strong socially and politically-critical perspective that connects directly with the crime itself. 

What starts as a first love story of some teenagers, reveals deep social rifts - family background may influence and determine the choice of friends - ends in a terrible crime with political and religious motivations. The story enfolds following the back and forth in time, through diary entries and memories.

Clearly I´ve followed the socio-political background, and found some interest in the crime part. The pace is slow and the construction is not very elaborated, but because the story itself is relatively short, it suits the brevity of the narrative.

If you are learning Italian, the book works for a B2 advanced level.

Rating: 3 stars