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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
Three and a half stars, really. A short-and-bittersweet novella from an Italian author I clearly need to investigate more fully, Me and You tells the story of Lorenzo, a fourteen-year-old social outcast. He doesn't have any friends at school -- but he also kind of doesn't care. His mother cares, though, so to get her off his back, Lorenzo lies about an invitation to a ski trip with several classmates. While his peers are hitting the slops, Lorenzo is hiding out in the basement of his family's apartment building. But then, his older half-sister shows up in need of help.
There's really not a lot of meat to this story and if Ammaniti had been able to flesh out an entire 300-page novel, I'd probably be raving. Olivia needed some developing and some more tension needed to be built, but I loved Ammaniti's direct, sparse style. Lorenzo is an interesting character, a young man who just wants to be left alone, and it would have been interesting to see more interaction with his troubled sister. The reader's exposure to Olivia is too brief to really embrace her as a fully developed character. It would have been nice is Ammaniti has more carefully explored her history, her role in Lorenzo's life - or lack thereof - and how the three days they share in this story shapes him.
Still, there's promise here and I hope to check out more of Ammaniti's work.
There's really not a lot of meat to this story and if Ammaniti had been able to flesh out an entire 300-page novel, I'd probably be raving. Olivia needed some developing and some more tension needed to be built, but I loved Ammaniti's direct, sparse style. Lorenzo is an interesting character, a young man who just wants to be left alone, and it would have been interesting to see more interaction with his troubled sister. The reader's exposure to Olivia is too brief to really embrace her as a fully developed character. It would have been nice is Ammaniti has more carefully explored her history, her role in Lorenzo's life - or lack thereof - and how the three days they share in this story shapes him.
Still, there's promise here and I hope to check out more of Ammaniti's work.
All'inizio il libro non mi piaceva, era lontano dalla realtà in cui mi trovo...andando avanti si faceva a poco a poco più interessante, fino ad arrivare alla fine. Una fine in cui, nelle ultime pagine, arriva un brivido lungo la schiena. E questa sensazione ti fa capire che non è un libro brutto e superficiale come sembrava inizialmente.
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
The last time I read Ammaniti was when I'm Not Scared was released and at the time it was a big deal for whatever reason, and I remember thinking it was ok but did not know what all the fuss was about. That was many years ago, but I remembered his name when I saw this book in the library and so decided to read it.
It had some interest, although the characters could have been fleshed out a little more.
The ending certainly was a little devastating, and left you a little hollow, but somehow I wish the whole story could have been worked out more, and given the reader a little more detail.
Anyway a reasonable short novel,
It had some interest, although the characters could have been fleshed out a little more.
The ending certainly was a little devastating, and left you a little hollow, but somehow I wish the whole story could have been worked out more, and given the reader a little more detail.
Anyway a reasonable short novel,
La prosa di Ammaniti è come al solito Una Cosa Bella. E poi mi ha fatto rientrare in fissa con Aimee Mann, per cui tante grazie.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Storia molto breve ma al contempo molto intensa e intrisa di sentimenti!