New Releases by Niccolo Ammaniti

Traducere și note de Gabriela Lungu Glisând între dramă psihologică și satiră socială, sinuos și seducător, cel mai recent roman al lui Niccolò Ammaniti, Viața intimă, explorează temerile și dorințele profunde ale unei femei, propunându-ne să privim cu empatie lumea derutantă și provocatoare de astăzi. Maria Cristina Palma duce o viață aparent perfectă. Considerată cea mai frumoasă femeie din lume, este căsătorită cu prim-ministrul Italiei, are o fiică minunată și tot ce își poate dori. Imaginea ei construită cu grijă ascunde însă un trecut traumatic și o criză de identitate incipientă, iar proiecțiile celor din jur asupra sa o însingurează. Până când, în urma unei întâlniri neașteptate, primește pe mobil un film erotic care i-ar putea distruge reputația. E nevoită să ia o decizie dramatică, să aleagă ce e dispusă să sacrifice și cu ce preț. Ajuns în acest punct, romanul pune întrebări esențiale pentru cititor: Nu cumva ar trebui să ne temem mai mult de propria privire decât de a celorlalți? Cât de departe suntem în stare să mergem în dorința noastră de apartenență și afecțiune?

Maria Cristina Palma, ex top model et épouse du Président du Conseil italien, vient d’être élue « plus belle femme du monde ». Une nouvelle embarrassante pour celle qui aime se tenir en retrait de la vie publique. Sauf, bien sûr, lorsque le social media manager du gouvernement décide de la mettre en scène pour démentir des rumeurs d’adultère ou charmer l’assistance. Cette Jacky Kennedy des temps modernes, tantôt rebaptisée « Maria Tristina » en référence aux deuils qu’elle a dû traverser, tantôt raillée en « Maria Cretina », s’ennuie. Lors d’une soirée, elle rencontre par hasard une ancienne connaissance, Nicola Sarti. Ils décident de se revoir. Il lui parle de leur jeunesse, lui envoie des photos. Puis, une vidéo compromettante dont elle n’a aucun souvenir. Pourtant c’est bien d’elle et Nicola dont il s’agit. Le sol se dérobe sous ses pieds. Que cherche cet homme qu’elle a perdu de vue après une croisière au large des îles éoliennes pendant laquelle ils se sont brièvement aimés ? Alors qu’elle a accepté de donner sa première interview en direct à la télévision, elle va devoir se débarrasser de ces images qui pourraient avoir des conséquences dévastatrices pour elle et son mari. Comédie de mœurs au rythme étourdissant et à l’ironie parfaitement dosée, ce roman explore l’insignifiance et la vacuité du rôle de première dame au temps des réseaux sociaux tout puissants. La vie intime signe le grand retour au roman de Niccolò Ammaniti et entraîne le lecteur dans une Rome somptueuse, mais un brin décadente, celle de La Grande Bellezza de Paolo Sorrentino. Traduit de l’italien par Myriem Bouzaher

''One of Italy''s brightest literary stars’ Observer It is some years since a virus killed all the adults. Now Sicily lies in ruins while the disease lies in wait, poised to claim the children as they reach adolescence. Brave, stubborn thirteen-year-old Anna looks after her brother Astor in the cottage where their mother’s skeleton rests, lovingly decorated, in a locked bedroom. She tells him fearsome stories about monsters, hoping to keep him safe at home while she forages among the real hazards. Wild dogs. Gangs of savage, blue-painted kids. But then Astor starts to question Anna’s version of the world, just as the blue kids are turning their attention to the cottage—and suddenly, everything will change. Niccolò Ammaniti was born in Rome in 1966. He has written two collections of short stories and six novels, four of which have been translated into English. He was the youngest ever winner of the Italian Viareggio Literary Prize for Fiction for his best-selling novel I''m Not Scared, which has been translated into thirty-five languages. The Crossroads received the Premio Strega Prize in 2007, Italy''s equivalent to the Booker Prize. ‘As well as conjuring up this excellent characterisation, Ammaniti’s prose has a strange, deadpan tenderness that I loved. There is always a sense of hope in the hopelessness. This is a sickeningly wonderful novel, and a perfect example of literary dystopian fiction.’ Readings ‘With William Golding''s Lord of the Flies and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road as its touchstones, this dystopian novel pays homage to resilience and survival against the odds in a climate of violence and superstition. It’s also a coming-of-age story about a harsh transition to adulthood, with the added stinger that death waits in the wings.’ Qantas Magazine ‘A fearsomely gifted writer.’ Independent ‘Ammaniti’s writing is sharp, lean and pacy.’ Herald Sun ‘Ammaniti excels...in capturing the thought processes and fears and desires of children... once you start reading him, you can’t put him down.’ Sunday Telegraph (UK) ‘Surreal but somehow also wholly believable. This book is repulsive and terrifying in all the right ways.’ The Best Books We’ve Read This Year (So Far), Readings ‘Ammaniti''s prose is faultless from the first . . . A fearsomely gifted writer’ Independent ‘A writer of rigorous imagination and moral subtlety’ Times Literary Supplement ‘A master storyteller’ Guardian ‘Ammaniti is a modern-day Dickens’ La Repubblica ‘An audacious and elegant post-apocalyptic novel.’ Mindfood ‘Ammaniti’s descriptions have a film-like quality...The story and those images have stayed vivid in my mind’s eye. The message this book carries is also important.’ Good Readings ‘A thought-provoking addition to the genre of science fiction.’ ReadPlus ‘Stark and confronting, the writing seethes with images of desperation, violence and death...Anna is an unforgettable read.’ Otago Daily Times

IschianoScalo, a village of four houses next to a mosquito-infested swamp, is the place in which two tempestuous love stories are told. One of them is betweenthe young Pietro and Gloria:she is the daughter of a bank manager, he is the son of a psychopathic priest; she is beautiful, sure of herself and a Little arrogant; he is irresolute, a dreamer. But, despite their differences, a strange feeling, which has a curious resemblance to love, emerges between them. The other story is that of GrazianoBiglia, a playboy who''s seen better days, and who has now returned to the village after many years where he falls in love with Flora, a lonely and mysterious woman who everyone in the village avoids.

A perfectly timed political satire from the internationally bestselling author of I''m Not Scared and Me and You. It is the most decadent party of the century. A nouveau riche real estate magnate has planned a lavish weekend for a who''s-who of celebrities: starlets, politicians, soccer stars and intellectuals. Among them is a neurotically charming author struggling to write his next book and hoping to rejuvenate his reputation. In an unexpected turn of events, he crosses paths with the Wilde Beasts of Abaddon, a satanic sect planning to ruin the evening''s festivities and become celebrated as a world-famous cult. What was intended as the most lavish spectacle of the year quickly descends into chaos. Let the Games Begin, international best-selling author Niccolo Ammaniti fuses a riotous dose of absurdity with a clear-eyed critique of the superficiality and vulgarity of modern culture. Let the Games Begin may well be, as Italian left-wing daily L''Unita remarked, ''the print version of La Dolce Vita for the present day.'' Niccolo Ammaniti was born in Rome in 1966. He has written two collections of short stories and six novels, four of which have been translated into English. He was the youngest ever winner of the Italian Viareggio Literary Prize for Fiction for his best-selling novel I''m Not Scared, which has been translated into thirty-five languages. The Crossroads received the Premio Strega Prize in 2007, Italy''s equivalent to the Booker Prize. ''Ammaniti writes about an Italy you don''t read about in the travel books.'' Sunday Telegraph ''A young novelist with extraordinary narrative gifts.'' Australian ''Niccolo Ammaniti is the best novelist of his generation.'' Il Giornale ''A brilliantly perverse comic triumph...Unpredictable, witty and very black.'' West Australian ''Exuberant, erratic satire of consumption of corruption...A lot of the laughs are verbal, and Kylee Doust''s crisp translation seems to have rendered them neatly.'' Weekend Herald ''The chaos that descends is at times shocking, but always thought-provoking, in this absurdists romp through modern culture.'' Limelight ''Seeming absurdities, outrageous situations and human follies are piled one on top of the other with a ghoulish humour that never fails...This is a novel pointing a deliciously blood-soaked finger, ever sexually resuscitant, yet shaking from alcohol overload, at the rest of 21st-century decadence around the globe.'' Otago Daily Times ''This book pulls off a rare feat: an action-packed but well-paced satire populated with characters rather than caricatures.'' Publishers Weekly ''Let the Games Begin reads like an intellectual''s beach-read: romantic, full of plot and characters, but also teeming with ideas, symbols, dense metaphors, and complex satire.'' Vol. 1 Brooklyn

Lorenzo Cuni is a fourteen-year-old loner. His wealthy parents think he is away on a school skiing trip, but, in fact, he has stowed himself away in a rarely visited cellar of his parents’ house. Surrounded by video games and tinned food, he is perfectly content in his isolation. Then he gets an unexpected visit from his estranged half-sister, Olivia. Olivia is in her twenties, she’s addicted to heroin, and she needs Lorenzo’s help. Against his better judgment, Lorenzo lets her stay. Over the next week, they form an intense bond. This brief encounter will change the course of both of their lives. From the acclaimed author of I’m Not Scared, this is a compulsive exploration of what families keep behind locked doors.

Thousands of depressed little towns, villages and hamlets dot the vast plain where Cristiano Zena lives with his hard-drinking father Rino. Unfocused urban sprawl with no centre to look to and nothing to look forward to. Rito Zena and his cronies Danilo and Qauttro Formaggi are planning a ram raid on an ATM using a converted tractor. The wary, adoring Cristiano sits in on their meetings, watching their half-baked plans unravel, and thinks about the unattainable Fabiana Ponticelli. He has no idea that something very, very bad is about to happen. Or that it will change his life forever. Niccolo Ammaniti, author of the loved and acclaimed I''m Not Scared, brings an extraordinary blend of tenderness, buffoonery and violent tragedy to this gritty, compelling novel from Italy''s industrial wastelands.

From the author of the international bestseller, Iâ€TMm Not Scared. Youâ€TMve got to taste the high life once a week, otherwise whatâ€TMs the point of living? In swampy Ischiano Scalo, the grown-ups are losers and the children dream of escape. Pietro is a frustrated eleven-year-old, finding it hard to deal with school bullies and indifferent parents. His only support comes from his pretty friend Gloria and favourite teacher Flora. Graziano, aka Big Biglia, is an ageing Lothario who returns to the village with plans of marriage, though they are soon thwarted. Almost at once this oafish child-man finds another, unsuspecting paramour. In this wild and mordantly funny picaresque tale of small-town life, Ammaniti confirms his status as Italyâ€TMs best young writer.

Un piccolo paese perduto nel sud d''Italia del 1978 in mezzo al grano, ai boschi e alle colline. Un gruppo di ragazzini che nei giochi si amano e si odiano. I "grandi" che vanno e vengono: gli uomini in giro chissà per fare cosa, le donne a casa o al mercato. E un giorno in questo mondo fermo e ossessionante, dove si sogna di vedere il mare o di andare in città, accade qualcosa che cambia tutti i significati. (Buchdeckel verso).

One relentless summer, six children explore the scorched wheatfields that surround their tiny community in the Italian countryside, while the adults shelter indoors. But when the gang chances on a tumbledown farmhouse, nine-year-old Michele Amitrano makes a discovery so momentous he dare not tell anyone about it. I’m Not Scared is a devastatingly authentic portrayal of childhood, and Michele must summon all of his imaginative resources to deal with his terrible secret. This is an enthralling and terrifying story about friendship and betrayal, guilt and innocence, which drives us inexorably to its tragic climax.