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A review by elanna76
Le otto montagne by Paolo Cognetti
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
If I had to define this novel in a word, that word would be "honest". There is not a hint of complacency towards the characters' flaws or the harshness - and sometimes mysery - of life in the mountains; yet, it overflows with love.
Also, a rare case of a contemporary Italian writer using a clear, elegant style reminding of the great classics of the afterwar literature - Cassola, Bassani, Calvino. A component of this flavour must be the ability to integrate in the dialogues the feeling of the angular conversation of Alps and Appenines people, without recyrring to actual dialect, with the exception of few botanic terms.
What got me though, were a couple of passages about going back to and exploring the mountain, that hit like an avalanche and, to my own surprise, made me cry with nostalgia; not only that - that would be not more than a relatively easy trick - but they also made me reflect on what it means loving the mountain as an external visitor, no matter how frequent or exalted, and even made clear to me why I seem to feel free of all anxiety, and fully present to myself, only when I go back to certain towns on a certain mountain in Abruzzo, and to their people.
Also, a rare case of a contemporary Italian writer using a clear, elegant style reminding of the great classics of the afterwar literature - Cassola, Bassani, Calvino. A component of this flavour must be the ability to integrate in the dialogues the feeling of the angular conversation of Alps and Appenines people, without recyrring to actual dialect, with the exception of few botanic terms.
What got me though, were a couple of passages about going back to and exploring the mountain, that hit like an avalanche and, to my own surprise, made me cry with nostalgia; not only that - that would be not more than a relatively easy trick - but they also made me reflect on what it means loving the mountain as an external visitor, no matter how frequent or exalted, and even made clear to me why I seem to feel free of all anxiety, and fully present to myself, only when I go back to certain towns on a certain mountain in Abruzzo, and to their people.