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2.0
Outsiders is a collection of stories from Italy by prominent Italian authors. Except for a couple of stories, the others didn't really have a specific sense of place - thus a disappointment. Apart from the excellent American Parmesan and the interesting 'The opposite of death' - nothing else really stood out for me.
The first one 'The opposite of death' by Roberto Saviano tackles the tragedy of Southern Italy where almost all male population have been conscripted to military service. Although conscription has stopped, the economic conditions of South Italy, prompts the men to take up service and go on campaigns to Bosnia, Afghanistan, and wherever the latest battle is on. The story takes a sympathetic view on veterans, their parents, widows who bear the brunt of this tragedy, focusing particularly on a 18-year old widow, whose husband is identified dead in Afghanistan.
'Ferangi' by Carlo Lucarelli sets its plot in Eritrea where Italy had a colonial presence. The story is centered around a colonial family whose younger generations are plotting to take over the assets of their bed-ridden father. However, their plans are squandered by the maid who had arrived to nurse the old man. Deceit, patriarchy, glipmses of native African life in the colonial period are covered - but not quite interesting.
In 'The Prize' by Valeria Patella, a girl from the peasant background becomes the wife of a high-society Italian after the death of this wife. The changes in her life and how she adapts to the new found life is what is explored in this story.
'Stairway C' by Piero Colaprico is whodunit that investigates a murder and missing person in a social housing in the crime ridden Milan city. We see glimpses of subaltern crime life, workings of Italian detectives and has a functional but ordinary reveal.
'American Parmesan' is an interesting historical story, wherein the origin of the word Parmesan and its subsequent usage & copyright problems prompts a historian to take a trip to the United States to verify the veracity of the story. He goes on to discover something fantastic.
'Another Kind of Solitude' is an essay, arguing on the various types of isolation and its utility quoting historical examples.
The first one 'The opposite of death' by Roberto Saviano tackles the tragedy of Southern Italy where almost all male population have been conscripted to military service. Although conscription has stopped, the economic conditions of South Italy, prompts the men to take up service and go on campaigns to Bosnia, Afghanistan, and wherever the latest battle is on. The story takes a sympathetic view on veterans, their parents, widows who bear the brunt of this tragedy, focusing particularly on a 18-year old widow, whose husband is identified dead in Afghanistan.
'Ferangi' by Carlo Lucarelli sets its plot in Eritrea where Italy had a colonial presence. The story is centered around a colonial family whose younger generations are plotting to take over the assets of their bed-ridden father. However, their plans are squandered by the maid who had arrived to nurse the old man. Deceit, patriarchy, glipmses of native African life in the colonial period are covered - but not quite interesting.
In 'The Prize' by Valeria Patella, a girl from the peasant background becomes the wife of a high-society Italian after the death of this wife. The changes in her life and how she adapts to the new found life is what is explored in this story.
'Stairway C' by Piero Colaprico is whodunit that investigates a murder and missing person in a social housing in the crime ridden Milan city. We see glimpses of subaltern crime life, workings of Italian detectives and has a functional but ordinary reveal.
'American Parmesan' is an interesting historical story, wherein the origin of the word Parmesan and its subsequent usage & copyright problems prompts a historian to take a trip to the United States to verify the veracity of the story. He goes on to discover something fantastic.
'Another Kind of Solitude' is an essay, arguing on the various types of isolation and its utility quoting historical examples.