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owlribbon's review
challenging
dark
medium-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Excrement, and Murder
Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis
laurareads87's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.25
With The Twenty Days of Turin, De Maria manages something astounding: a story that is simultaneously wholly bizarre and disturbingly familiar. The novel follows an unnamed narrator investigating twenty days of unexplained violence that occurred a decade prior and how, if at all, these murders relate to The Library, a space where citizens of Turin can deposit their personal writings – “authentic documents reflecting the real spirit of the people ... a diary, a memoir, a confession of some problem...” – and read the writings of others. The Library is housed in an otherwise un-used wing of a sanitorium.
The descriptions of The Library and its creators read as almost prophetic commentary in 2022. Those extolling the virtues of the library offer to put like-minded people in touch – “it’s an important thing we do, considering how hard it’s gotten for people to communicate these days” – and even the hesitant contribute: “the prospect of ‘being read’ quivered in the distance like an enchanting mirage...” One character argues of the Library’s creators: “they helped to furnish the illusion of a relationship with the outside world: a dismal cop-out nourished and centalized by a scornful power bent only on keeping people in their state of continuous isolation.”
Meanwhile, the central plot – the investigation into the violence – turns weirder and weirder as the book progresses. What begins for the narrator as a series of frustrations – witnesses unable or unwilling to recall details, a climate of distrust, ambiguous evidence – turn darker and much stranger, almost creeping up on the reader as the story veers into the fantastical.
Glazov’s translation and introduction are both excellent; indeed, the introduction stands on its own as an interesting and informative read about an author I didn’t know much about prior to picking up this book.
Content Warnings
Minor: Forced institutionalization, Animal death, Excrement, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Violence
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