I heard good things about this book, and I'm glad I read it (kindle version - even though I would have much rather paid 10 dollars)
Well worked out main characters, even well worked out secondary characters, who you get to know little by little throughout the book. The author really knew what each character was like, and he knew the way they thought. I read the English version and like others said it seems to be a great translation.
There are 2 (or, counting Fabio) 3 main characters that I expected to come together in the end. But the ending was different from what I expected. I haven't really made up my mind yet whether I like this, or if I would have preferred the perfect happy ending.
Solitude and sometimes choosing to be together (because it's expected, or because you long to) is what runs through all the fragments of the life stories of Mattia and Alice.
It's about two outcasts.
Alice - after a skiing accident at the age of 7 something is permanently wrong with one of her legs (apart from what seems to be a locked up knee what exactly is wrong didn't become clear to me), she also is anorexic. Her father is on antidepressants and especially in the beginning of the book he seems to be very overbearing. Alice's mother is sick (I'm not sure what was wrong with her, was she anorexic as well?) Alice has the strongest connection to their housekeeper Sol (whom she mainly uses for he own benefit...)
She desperately wants to belong, but because of her leg and scars doesn't . There's a lot of peer pressure at school, mainly from Viola and her gang. Alice goes out of her way to be accepted by them, but at the same times she's scared of them. She even secretly gets a tattoo. But in the end it is Viola who brings Alice and Mattia together.. only to get so jealous of them to reject Alice again.
Mattia - after he intentionally leaves his 'retarded' twin sister (his brain seemed to be a perfect machine, in the same mysterious way that his sister's was so defective) behind in a park because he wanted to attend a birthday party without her embarrassing him she vanishes without a trace. He resorts to auto-mutilation. Mattia also is a math genius, and math is what gives him control - QED and at least part of the world is in order. He doesn't have a real bond with his parents who are trying, and grieving, and don't really know what to do with him. He is a `Telephone cord - like a DNA helix missing its twin'. His only friend at school is Denis, but he mainly is his friend because he's gay and in love with him.
Eventually, finally, Mattia breaks down and tells Alice the story about Michela's disappearance. But for him this really is not the 'weight off his shoulders' that I expected it to be. The only thing that changes is that now she knows. He is offered a job as a math professor at some university in England (??). First he wants to choose to stay and be with Alice, but the don't communicate well, and he ends up leaving.
Mattia and Alice are like twin prime numbers, close but never quite touching each other. (with twin primes there always is 1 number in between).
Alice becomes a photographer (ruins Viola's wedding pictures) and marries Fabio (doc at the hospital where her mom dies) - their relationship ends in a fight because of her anorexia. Her boss drops her off at the hospital (go see a doctor, any doctor) and then she sees Michela.
She sends some old Polaroids of her and Mattia to Mattia with a 'you should come here' on the back, and within a few days he's on her doorstep. But she does not tell him, and when they say goodbye he finally watches the sunrise - and finds Nadia's phone number in his jacket pocket.
There are some beautiful similarities and opposites when it comes to Mattia and Alice. Both are damaged in more than 1 way. He rejected the world, and she felt rejected by the world. The both seem to loose some of that later on, but the sharp edges never really smoothen.
I really liked the book and the story, sometimes recognized a small part of myself in the characters. But just like with twin primes I never felt a real connection. They were too distant, detached and strange.
I thought it was too bad that so much was left out (how was Alice rescued after the fall - seems like no one found her but with what seemed to be a broken spine and a serious open fracture, how did she get to safety?), the search for Michela. You only find out very little about that in a few sentences later on in the book. There were also thing that just were not clear, what was wrong with Alice's mom, where did Mattia get a job (English speaking country in Northern Europe could be Scotland/Ireland/England??)
I didn't expect to like the book as much as I do because in the beginning it annoyed me a little that Alice preferred to go to the bathroom inside her skipants instead of just telling her dad to hang on for a minute. But a few chapters later it was hard to put the book down, and I finished it in 2 days.
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Top reviews from the United States
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Top reviews from other countries
- LeonidaReviewed in the United Kingdom on July 16, 2016
Strange, beautiful, challenging
- Soham ChakrabortyReviewed in India on September 10, 2013
Melancholy and solitude
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase -
- Frequent TravellerReviewed in the United Kingdom on July 21, 2020
This is an amazingly good debut novel
