Resumo de God's Mountain

GODS MOUNTAIN is only the second book Iove read by Erri De Luca (SEA OF MEMORY being the other) and Im pretty sure these are the only works available in English by him. He is a writer of amazing talent and sensitivity. GODS MOUNTAIN gets under the readers skin so easily his economy of language is perfect for this story of a boys passage into manhood. Montedidio (Gods mountain) is a poor sector of Naples. The story is set in 1960 there are still fresh memories of World War II among the inhabitants (a theme that also plays an important part in SEA OF MEMORY), but there is a new, young president in America and despite the political tensions between the East and the West, there is a palpable sense of freshness and hope even amidst the poverty in which these characters dwell. The young narrator has started to keep a diary and the observations he makes, the things that he sees as moving and important, are very telling. He is a special soul he aches to become a man, but can still look back with genuine affection on the days of his childhood. He honors his parents and the man who employs him as well as his other friends. He works hard and feels the glow of it in his soul. He sees the struggle in the wrinkles of older people, and he respects them for it and he hears the wisdom in the words they pass on to him. There is a young girl named Maria who lives in the same building as his family she is thirteen, and the depiction of their blossoming friendship and subsequent romance is rendered in such a lovely manner by De Lucas prose. They are each reaching out to discover the nature of love out of curiosity, of course, but also out of a burning need that flames within each of them, a need to replace the ties of love they see shredding in their own lives. They are drawn to each other naturally and innocently every aspect of their romance is tender and new. Love that includes sensuality, without being driven by lust, is a beautiful thing its a joy to see it in such grace-filled writing. One of the young mans friends is an old man a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust who is a cobbler. He has a workbench in the carpentry shop where the boy is employed. The cobblers generosity he repairs the shoes of the poor of Naples for free as well as his wisdom and stories touch the boy deeply. The old cobbler has a physical deformity a hunchback that he decides are angel wings waiting to burst forth, allowing him to fly to the Holy Land. His belief in this and the belief of the boy as well make it real. The boys father has given him a boomerang a gift from a sailor friend, brought back from Australia. The boomerang is mystical and mysterious to the boy he practices with it every night on the roof of his building. He practices throwing it up to the point of actually letting it go he rightfully sees the time when he will actually allow it to fly as a turning point in his life. He is both thrilled and frightened to see that time arrive. The book reads fairly quickly but it is one that should be savored. There is so much wisdom and life contained in these pages, that it mustn t be hurried. After all, life passes by too fast as it is This is a little treasure.

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