Domenico Starnone

After reading Starnone's [book:The House on Via Gemito|63283383] I was interested in reading his shorter non-autobiographical fiction.

Trick is fairly short, and covers about 3 days in the lives of a 4-year-old boy and the grandfather who is looking after him while his parents are away.

The grandfather is aged and tired, but still working as an illustrator--and struggling with his declining abilities.

The boy is energetic, bright, and selfish as all 4 year olds are.

The two match wits, but only the grandfather understands this. To the boy, it is a game.

I enjoyed this story--and could feel for the poor grandfather. Four-year-olds are exhausting and clueless while also being capable of getting into trouble but not necessarily out of it.… (más)

This book is called a novel, but really it falls somewhere in the realm of autofiction and memoir. This is Starnone's memories of his overbearing, arrogant, and selfish artist father (the painter of the cover image--which is magnificent). He narrates his childhood memories of paintings, moving, his father's need to be in control and feel important, his father's hatred of his wife's relatives, his downplaying of illness to avoid spending money on doctors, while he happily spent money on his art.

I found the first 150-200 pages to be quite interesting. The next 250 pages were repetitive and just tiring.

There are 3 sections and no chapters--so no breaks. This is 450 pages of words.… (más)

The unreliable narrator is at his best in this book. First Execution presents a few questions and leaves you to answer them yourself. What is it like to write and rewrite a story until it is part of you? And more importantly - many of us complain about the "state of the world" and the "great injustices," but how many of us would actually step up and do something about it?

The blurb in the back of the book described it as being about terrorism. I think it's more about searching ourselves for what we really, truly believe. A very interesting read for anyone who is trying to find a place in our confusing world.… (más)