The book begins in 1943, with Allied forces cementing their grip on the devastated city of Naples. The sometime Fascist and ever-resourceful Curzio Malaparte is working with the Americans as a liaison officer. He looks after Colonel Jack Hamilton, “a Christian gentleman . . . an American in the noblest sense of the word,” who speaks French and cites the classics and holds his nose as the two men tour the squalid streets of a city in ruins where liberation is only another word for desperation. Veterans of the disbanded Italian army beg for work. A rare specimen from the city’s famous aquarium is served up at a ceremonial dinner for high Allied officers. Prostitution is rampant. The smell of death is everywhere.
Subtle, cynical, evasive, manipulative, unnerving, always astonishing, Malaparte is a supreme artist of the unreliable, both the product and the prophet of a world gone rotten to the core.
Wow ... what a book. Everything was, anger, laughter, incomprehensible places, cruel, disgusting, painful, sad moments. I will not lie there were places where even reading made me nauseous ...
A book with a lot of metaphors. Sometimes on reading I didn’t realize if this was really the case or if the author was trying to convey something indirectly in this way.
But the book is strong and worth reading. I wasn’t a figure like anything before. And although I liked it, I don’t know if I would like to read something like that again. I think such a book should be the only one.
By the way, for anyone who is interested in the topic of World War II, I think this book must be included in the list in order to read it!
Rating: 5/5
Publishing House: Tyto Alba