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babibartolucci's review against another edition
5.0
Questo libro mi ha smosso diverse sensazioni. A partire dall'orrore per quanto raccontato nei più crudi dettagli. Passando per la vergogna per essere così morbosamente curiosa di proseguire e sapere, sapere, sapere tutti i risvolti più scabrosi. L'ho terminato da pochi minuti quindi non so ancora dire cosa mi ha lasciato.
Lagioia ha romanzato meravigliosamente un fatto di cronaca truce, senza mai risultare di parte, anzi cercando di indagare cosa può accadere nell'animo umano per arrivare a commettere un simile delitto.
Lagioia ha romanzato meravigliosamente un fatto di cronaca truce, senza mai risultare di parte, anzi cercando di indagare cosa può accadere nell'animo umano per arrivare a commettere un simile delitto.
medievalmeal's review against another edition
3.0
I’m not really sure how to talk about this book, it was one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever read. I’m not sure it was worth it. A cocaine bender made these two men go absolutely crazy and it ruined several lives. Just made me really sad and unsettled.
triptofun's review against another edition
5.0
La prima volta che ne ho sentito parlare ho pensato: ecco un libro che non leggerò mai. La cronaca nera non mi ha mai affascinato, al corso di medicina legale ho dovuto fare una full immersion in Wikipedia per capire di cosa si stesse parlando e quindi non avrei mai pensato di interessarmi a un libro fuori dalla mia comfort zone.
Però. Però poi ne ho sentito parlare così bene da così tante persone con gusti letterari diversissimi che ne sono stata irresistibilmente attratta. E avevano tutti dannatamente ragione.
Lagioia riesce in una impresa difficilissima: ricostruire un omicidio violento senza forzare la ricerca delle cause, senza voyeurismo, senza condannare nè giustificare i colpevoli, in un vortice che risucchia dalla prima all'ultima pagina. Il lavoro di documentazione è enorme, ma non è un'inchiesta, è un romanzo che scorre come tale, con personaggi ai quali in qualche modo ci si affeziona.
È inevitabilmente anche un pezzo di storia dell'autore, che si immerge totalmente nella vicenda. In questo senso, e solo in questo, ricorda Carrere e il suo avversario. Per la fascinazione mista a repulsione che in tutti suscita scavare negli abissi dell'animo umano, ma che solo una manciata di scrittori sanno trasformare in vera letteratura.
Però. Però poi ne ho sentito parlare così bene da così tante persone con gusti letterari diversissimi che ne sono stata irresistibilmente attratta. E avevano tutti dannatamente ragione.
Lagioia riesce in una impresa difficilissima: ricostruire un omicidio violento senza forzare la ricerca delle cause, senza voyeurismo, senza condannare nè giustificare i colpevoli, in un vortice che risucchia dalla prima all'ultima pagina. Il lavoro di documentazione è enorme, ma non è un'inchiesta, è un romanzo che scorre come tale, con personaggi ai quali in qualche modo ci si affeziona.
È inevitabilmente anche un pezzo di storia dell'autore, che si immerge totalmente nella vicenda. In questo senso, e solo in questo, ricorda Carrere e il suo avversario. Per la fascinazione mista a repulsione che in tutti suscita scavare negli abissi dell'animo umano, ma che solo una manciata di scrittori sanno trasformare in vera letteratura.
janahagen's review against another edition
Just wasn't what I had expected and in the end wasn't for me.
ridgewaygirl's review against another edition
4.0
"Think of those horror films where a group of kids goes on a retreat for a weekend in a house at the edge of the forest, and at a certain point, at night, while they're all sleeping, monsters arrive?" said the other writer. "Except that in this case the monsters arrive not from the outside but from within, they come from the obscure depths of those kids."
This is work of non-fiction by Italian author Nicola Lagioia, who is known for his crime novels, using the brutal 2016 murder of a young man named Luca Varani by two other young men to explore Roman society more broadly, but also diving deeply into the lives of all three men and their families, as well as his own experiences as he investigates this crime that fascinated all of Italy.
Lagioia is doing something more substantial here than just writing true crime, although that is the easiest description of what this is. It is similar to Emmanuel Carrère's The Adversary, although Lagioia makes this not about his interactions with the two murderers but about their motivations, or more exactly, their attempts to explain their motivations even to themselves. As an American reader, it was startling to see how easily members of the press got access to confidential information like police interviews. While a lot of space is given to the timeline of the crime, the description of the actual murder isn't graphic.
Another focus is the city of Rome, a city that Lagioia portrays as a decaying and corrupt corpse, yet when he and his wife make the decision to leave, they recognize quickly that they made a mistake and for all its faults, they don't want to live anywhere else.
This is a fascinating look at something we are used to over here (true crime narratives) from a different angle, as well as being a glimpse into what life is like in Rome. I will note that this book is often described as fiction, or in one case as "true crime fiction," but whether that is due to the author's reputation as a novelist or the publisher being well known for literary fiction, this book is non-fiction.
This is work of non-fiction by Italian author Nicola Lagioia, who is known for his crime novels, using the brutal 2016 murder of a young man named Luca Varani by two other young men to explore Roman society more broadly, but also diving deeply into the lives of all three men and their families, as well as his own experiences as he investigates this crime that fascinated all of Italy.
Lagioia is doing something more substantial here than just writing true crime, although that is the easiest description of what this is. It is similar to Emmanuel Carrère's The Adversary, although Lagioia makes this not about his interactions with the two murderers but about their motivations, or more exactly, their attempts to explain their motivations even to themselves. As an American reader, it was startling to see how easily members of the press got access to confidential information like police interviews. While a lot of space is given to the timeline of the crime, the description of the actual murder isn't graphic.
Another focus is the city of Rome, a city that Lagioia portrays as a decaying and corrupt corpse, yet when he and his wife make the decision to leave, they recognize quickly that they made a mistake and for all its faults, they don't want to live anywhere else.
This is a fascinating look at something we are used to over here (true crime narratives) from a different angle, as well as being a glimpse into what life is like in Rome. I will note that this book is often described as fiction, or in one case as "true crime fiction," but whether that is due to the author's reputation as a novelist or the publisher being well known for literary fiction, this book is non-fiction.
amavia91's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
3.75
This books is a gripping 'novelization' of a true crime event that occurred in Rome. The author's ability to weave the evidence and larger explorations of individual motivations and societal context is engaging and gave me much to think about. I normally don't enjoy when authors interject their own history alongside the narrative but here it worked more often than not. Specifically, the sections focused on the Dutch tourist did not work for me-- maybe I missed something but I don't feel like they added to the picture of decay and corruption portrayed by the author. All in all, a solid true crime novel.
emanuele_zanellato's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
jdelloso's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0