Le nostre anime di notte

"Dove sei?" "Intendi in che punto della casa? " "Sei in camera da letto? " "Sì, stavo leggendo. È un po' come fare sesso telefonico? " "Siamo soltanto due vecchi che parlano al buio, rispose Addie. (Le nostre anime di notte )/ "Where are you? " "You mean where in the house? " "Are you in your bedroom? " "Yes, I've been reading. Is this some kind of phone sex? " "It's just two old people talking in the dark, Addie said. (Our Souls at Night).

I've just finished reading my first Harouf novel, "Our Souls at Night", the Italian translation. In one sentence, it's truly and simply an homage to love. It just broke my heart. This quiet story in its simplicity is so meaningful, a thoughtful story that reflects the complexity of human condition. No wonder The Library Journal described his writing as "honest storytelling that is compelling and rings true." The plot is not much to know about. We have Addie Moore and Louis Waters, both in their 70s, neighbours not friends who live in Holt, Colorado. One day, Addie approaches Louis and asks if he would consider coming to her house occasionally, to share her bed. Nothing sexual just conversation. What follows is so aching and beautiful and solemn. I love how they open up and talk about their lives and pasts, their hopes and desires. The title of the book reflects the theme of the novel so well. Meanwhile, they deal with their neighbours and friends spreading rumours and the grumblings from their children Holly (Louis's daughter) and Gene (Addie's son). Also Addie's son is going through a separation and for a while, her sad and insecure grandson Jamie, comes to stay with her. Such a short book but with a lot of meaning and substance to it. With this novel, Harouf shows us how much poetry is it in the everyday life if we choose to live it with a bit of courage; how much responsibility we have as parents, and at the same time how many handicaps and how it's practically impossible to escape stifling generational patterns of behaviour. Am I rambling too much about it? Just read it!

History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund

Such an unsettling, coming of age story this is. It's the first time I read a novel in which the title has nothing to do with the development of the plot. The story is told from Linda's point of view, a 14 year old girl who lived in Northern Minnesota. She is socially awkward, no friends and a strange relationship with her parents mostly related to a lack of communication. Linda's knowledge of the world is limited because of the remoteness of the place in which she lives and this makes the story so unusual. However, she is a good judge of people, she is highly obsessed with observing people's gestures, activities. At the same time she knows so little about the world especially the grow up world and what should be taken for granted. It is her deep love for nature and her surroundings that allows her to connect with Paul, a 4 year old child she baby sits. Together they participate in games and daily walks in the woods. We learn from the start that Paul dies in peculiar circumstances but we don't know exactly what happens until the end. Other than that, the novel jumps forward and backward in time with a plot that succeeds to maintain the reader's attention. There is also a peculiarity about this novel that I enjoyed so much. It's strongly related to the setting, the atmosphere inside and outside home and characters. All characters within the story seem to be slightly detached from their present and this is not attributed only to their geographical remoted lives. On the surface they seem so ordinary and not very likable, but I've found them so interesting because of that weirdness and detachment. The language is poetical and it makes the writing and the winter descriptions so lovely. The pacing is slow and most of the events happen so quietly that they hardly seem to happen at all. Having said all that I can only say that I thoroughly enjoyed the novel and I recommend it to you all. Did you read it and if so did you enjoy it?

Great poetical stories!

“Maybe if I’d been someone else I’d see it differently. But isn’t that the crux of the problem? Wouldn’t we all act differently if we were someone else?” 

What a disappointment!

I wanted to like this book so much. I had so many high expectations about it. I liked  to idea of the story and the blurb I read on goodreads about it just caught my attention. I love the cover of the novel but that's about it.I've tried to hard to like it, I read 100 pages and then I had to stop reading.The language is so bad and the way the story is put into words is awful.I feel like I am reading a paper written by an 11 years old student who is doing his/her best to write a story by using simple and direct sentences.

"I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide

Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied; 

And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,

And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying"

(Sea Fever by John Masefield)

My reading list: Living the American Dream

My reading list: Living the American Dream: Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opprtunity to read such an amazing book. The story is set before and during the economic crisis of 200...

Living the American Dream

Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opprtunity to read such an amazing book. The story is set before and during the economic crisis of 2007/2008. The main theme of the book is an old one "Follow the American Dream". This time, however the opproach is different and I enjoyed it so much. We see the American Dream from two different angles. On the one hand, we have the Jende Jonga family, Cameroonian immigrants who are desperately trying to get the green card and stay in the USA (New York). On the other hand, we have the Edwards, a wealthy upper class family, living in New York, who show the positive and negative idea of paradise held by the immigrants. 
The Jongas are deffinitely West African in their ideals, cultural practices, and still they wish to give their son and daughter a better life possible. There are so many cultural differences and multi-layered perspectives in this novel. For example, the Edwards, eldest son longs to abandon the law school and leave USA for India in search of spirituality and a better inner life, whereas Jende truly believes that the opprtunity to become a lawyer is the best thing he could give his son. We also notice the contrasts between a family of priviledge and a family with little and the powerful dynamic created between the two. We see the yearnings for home, Cameroon (Limbe town), whilst trying to fit into a new world, the eternal immigrant heart caught up between two worlds. There are so many other interesting themes and issues treated in this novel, the problem of race, violence, man controlling women, marriage, divorce, economic crisis, etc. There is so much pain and grief that traspasses in this novel. The plot is character driven, and the language is simple but wonderful. Definitely a novel that I would love to re read in the future!