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A review by izabela
Me, You by Erri De Luca
3.0
As said in the description, this is a coming-of-age book about a young boy. He's spending his summer in a small fishing village in Italy with his family, including an older cousin. He befriends Nicola, a man who works for his uncle and served in the Italian army during World War II. The story is set shortly after the war, when the memories are still fresh and the horrors are still visible.
The young boy hangs out with his older cousin quite a lot, and feels that he is more mature than his counterparts (and seems to act so). In his cousin's group of friends, he meets Caia, or Chaile, from Yugoslavia. As Nicola tells him stories of WWII, he realizes that Caia was a part of this war (and has lost her parents to it). The young boy starts changing and growing, and slowly Caia falls for himshe believes that her father's spirit is inside the young boy: she sees it in his mannerisms .
As he grows in love with Caia, and learns more about her (especially her Jewish heritage), he becomes more protective over her. So when they meet a group of German tourists who are singing a Nazi song, he feels that he must fight them. Ultimately, his protective nature leads him down a destructive path.
The story is really well told. You get inside the boy's head. The characters are all interesting (even when we see them for a short span of time) and the small village serves as a great setting for this story.
The young boy hangs out with his older cousin quite a lot, and feels that he is more mature than his counterparts (and seems to act so). In his cousin's group of friends, he meets Caia, or Chaile, from Yugoslavia. As Nicola tells him stories of WWII, he realizes that Caia was a part of this war (and has lost her parents to it). The young boy starts changing and growing, and slowly Caia falls for him
As he grows in love with Caia, and learns more about her (especially her Jewish heritage), he becomes more protective over her. So when they meet a group of German tourists who are singing a Nazi song, he feels that he must fight them. Ultimately, his protective nature leads him down a destructive path.
The story is really well told. You get inside the boy's head. The characters are all interesting (even when we see them for a short span of time) and the small village serves as a great setting for this story.