Reviews

Nives by Sacha Naspini

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terezam's review against another edition

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challenging reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

bagusayp's review against another edition

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4.0

On October 6, 2013, everything changed in the life of Luca Balestri with the arrest of his father, Professor Carlo Maria Balestri over the charge of abduction. Fourteen years previously, the eight-year-old Laura disappeared during the summer. She was nowhere to be found. When the police tracked her whereabouts, she has transformed into a twenty-two years old fine woman who integrates well into society, uses her iPhone seamlessly as though fourteen years of isolation inside a container did not surprise her about the advancement of internet technology. The story seems unbelievable to happen in real life, as this sounds like an unlikely social experiment.

Through his novel, Sacha Naspini provides a unique analysis of the nature of crimes, seen from the family of the criminal (in this case, Luca Balestri), as well as those of the victim (the mother of Laura and the childhood friend of Laura, Martina). The problem is that the reappearance of Laura after fourteen years has caused many disruptions to those people. Luca is forced to rewrite the narratives and the memories of his loving father who is a model professor in anthropology into some kind of psychopath. Laura’s mother who has found a new life with her new partner, Danielle, is suddenly forced to make a room for the now-adult Laura in her household.

There are many ways the present moment could change the past, by uncovering new facts that used to be censored. After learning the harsh fact of his father’s secret, Luca is forced to accept the fact that he is the son of a psychopath (and possibly a murderer too). There’s a lot of regret in his confession, as the date of Laura’s abduction coincidentally is also the day when Luca left for Elba to meet her summertime love, Angela, who turns out to have a new boyfriend there. One single instance changed everything in his life, and he was in turn being held prisoner by his father’s crime. He got obsessed with Laura, tailing her across Milan, stalking her on Facebook, and even went so far as to make appointments with Laura’s therapist.

I think this novel is a good illustration of the complexities of human nature, by taking it using an extreme case of abduction. When cases of abduction did not make it into the discovery of the victims and the criminals, it only becomes statistical data in a report compiled by local police authorities. But the discovery changes everything, as it exposes the individuals behind the crime. We can learn the minds of both the criminals and the victims, also how the crimes affected their lives from that. According to knoema.com, the kidnapping rate for Italy was 0.3 cases per 100,000 populations in 2018. This number is significantly lower when compared to Belgium whose rate was 10.3 cases per 100,000 populations. However, it has made me rethink again about the nature of crime and how the guilt is felt sometimes even by those people not directly associated with the crime (the family of both the criminals and the victims who are actually not responsible for the crime itself).

Professor Carlo Maria Balestri in this story follows the usual archetype of a mad scientist, who follows an unethical route to discover facts due to his unsettling personality traits. He leads a double life in this story, as illustrated by Luca’s description of his life from his teenage life into adulthood. Do geniuses tend to have something wrong with their brains? Dr Hannibal Lecter in the Hannibal series also follows this trajectory in his super-calm demeanour as he executed his victims. I forgot where did I read it, but there’s this nice description of how criminals see their victims as no different than a sheet of paper (maybe I read it in one of the Lecter series). To them, slitting the throat of their victims is no different from tearing a sheet of paper. But that maybe should be saved for further discussion.

'Are criminals capable of feeling affection?'
'Yes, they can.'

Thanks to Europa Editions for providing the electronic advance reading copy through NetGalley.

iphigenie72's review

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emotional lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

ullagd's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

lmrising's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

dinahfay's review against another edition

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5.0

Pitch perfect and not at all what you'd expect from the blurb, which suggests a quirky story of a widow in the Italian countryside bringing a hen into the house to keep her company. In fact, the hen is the universe's excuse to put her back in touch with the town vet, from whence the wild ride begins. If it isn't adapted for the stage within the fortnight, I'll eat my hat.