If I’m ever a famous director I want to adapt this.

I’m sure we’ve all heard of sad girl summer at this point but … have you ever heard of sad boy summer??

well… this book is exactly that.

sets in Rome during the 1970s, the novel explores a nostalgic and introspective young man who is absolutely clueless , trying to navigate his life through a summer of profound personal change.

this book explains really well the distress of being lost at an age where you’re supposed to have it all figured out, it dives into the themes of loneliness, the meaning of life and the complexity of relationships.

as much as the theme of the book already put us in like a lost but dreamy mood, I think Calligarich’s writing helps enhance those feelings even more. This book does not have any structure, but definitely not in a bad way. The writing is lyrical and dimensional.

the only thing that would make this book not a 4-star for me is probably that the writing is too dimensional. It kinda feels very lengthy at some point even though the book is not even 200-page long.

but besides that I really liked the juxtaposition between the city of Rome’s dynamic and liveliness during the summer and the protagonist’s messy and existential inner world.

Ben scritto, è un libro che però non mi ha convinto del tutto. Ambientato negli anni 70, le descrizioni che il protagonista, Leo, fa di Roma sono bellissime. I personaggi di questo romanzo sembrano quasi tutti sospesi nelle loro indecisioni o nella loro vita in generale: Leo porta con sé questo senso di non appartenenza, di smarrimento che lo trascina da una cosa ad un'altra senza mai riuscire a capire cosa voglia realmente; Arianna, una ragazza-farfalla, senza posa e riposo, incerta su quel che c'è da fare o quel che c'è da sentire; Graziano, senza più una carriera, mantenuto da sua moglie, si getta sull'alcol. Però, tutti questi loro problemi non trovano soluzione o cambiamento... i personaggi diventano succubi e forse in un ultimo tentativo di liberazione, finiscono per trovare soluzioni tragiche. Tutto sommato, una bella lettura ma non indimenticabile.

fakt asi budem musieť knihy čítať čo najrýchlejšie, pretože po nejakej dobe ma prestanú baviť. Toto ma zo začiatku bavilo, až som bol z toho prekvapený. Na pár dní som to odložil, zatiaľ ma chytili iné knihy a teraz som to už len rýchlo preletel očami, nech to mám z krku… *why me*

We get it he drives an Alfa Romeo

Not sure if it’s a poor translation, or bad writing on the part of Calligarich, but if I ever see the phrase “I was at the end of my tether, truth be told” again, it will be too soon. The characters are awful, which made the supposed depth of feeling between Gavarro and Arianna totally unbelievable, the writing is flat and at times bizarrely repetitive. Page 38 for example: “I really wondered who she was running away from, because there was no doubt about it, she was trying to get the hell out, to escape. I wondered who from.” Page 102: “Why didn’t she drop it, she knew perfectly well what had happened. ‘Drop it,’ I said, ‘you know perfectly well what happened.” Arrgghhh! Not one I would recommend.

"'Try to survive,' I said, 'it's worth it.'"

I came to Calligarich through Natalia Ginzburg. Her minimal prose intoxicated me with the scents of Italy. I wanted to stay. Calligarich offered me a meandering dawn stroll through the lilac-scented streets of Rome. Following Leo as he sways from friend to friend to lover to bar to bed. In a haze of Aperol and cigarettes, he sees the lives of others – what he has squandered. Bathed in guilt and a longing for what was – "Rome isn't the same anymore" – we bear witness to a selfish who didn't love when he had the chance. Regret is a tempestuous beast that haunts the cards table and that ungodly hour when the responsible are floating peacefully in their auric dreams. Well, one more drink can't hurt?

"I think about all the things unrealised, the loves only imagined, the dreams crushed by dawn."

"Me di cuenta de que era el lugar más hermoso que había visto y de que no estaba yendo a ninguna parte, de que no había ningún lugar adonde pudiera ir que no fuera ese".

Novela triste y dolorosa que continuamente rompe tus expectativas y te desmonta en el proceso. El final de una época y de una generación. Cuando todo acabe, solo Roma aguantará en pie.