A language learners’ forum

I don't know whether this is the right place for this thread but here goes.

Last month, Stelle and I agreed to read Io non ho paura by Niccolò Ammaniti together in July. Since then, several members of the Italian study group have also shown interest in joining us.



This thread is a place for us to discuss the book as we each read at our own pace. Please feel free to share any thoughts you have about the story, characters etc. as well as any comments about Ammaniti's use of language and all that good stuff. However, please ensure that you mark any spoilers clearly, to avoid ruining anyone's reading experience.

Buona lettura!

Edit: Please feel free to write in either English or Italian (or both). This is the multilingual room after all.

I think the french edition of this book is Je n'ai pas peur.

ah! i am catching up - thanks to the pdf idea
I am so glad you suggested reading this book- i had glanced at it before and considered it, and now i am enjoying it very much.
I agree with you- il teschio is a rat indeed, but michele has a bit of conscience.

I'm up to page 48. I love the prose and the rhythm of the story. I get a bit confused, though, when the narrative jumps to the future. It always takes me a few minutes to figure out what's going on.

The author is really good at getting inside the mind of a child. I particularly enjoyed this bit, when he got up at night to get a drink of water for his sister:

(Potential spoiler alert?)

Non volevo aprire la porta. Se mia nonna Giovanna era seduta a tavola insieme al bambino? E mi diceva, vieni, siediti qui con noi, che mangiamo? E sul piatto c'era la gallina impalata?

I was that child. Except that instead of dead chickens and grandmothers, my imaginary horrors usually involved aliens wandering my hallway. Ha!

Well I suppose it's time for me to share some more of my thoughts, given that I created this thread

Stelle wrote:The author is really good at getting inside the mind of a child.

You said it! I think this is one of the most brilliant things about this book. It just feels really authentic and believable. In the scene with Michele's father in chapter 2, I felt intimidated, as Michele did.

For those who are just finding this thread, I have shared my thoughts about the beginning of this book on my log. I am currently up to page 65, at the beginning of chapter 3, and I plan to read some more tonight, because I want to know more about the hole etc.

Hello! Is there anyone there?

I am very much still reading and enjoying this book, although I have only managed one chapter this whole week (chapter 3).

That said, I don't really have much to say about chapter 3. The plot thickens, I guess

So I just reached page 102, finishing chapter 4, and I'm a little bit in shock.

Possible spoilers below!

One minute I was amused at "Lo guardava con la faccia con cui si guarda uno stronzo di cane." and the next minute, everything got very dark indeed. But Michele still told his sister a story in their make believe tent, in a brilliant juxtaposition which almost brought a tear to my eye actually...

Where is everyone else at?

Spoonary, I wanted to read along with you and thought I had bought a copy of it a few years ago but I didn't find it on my bookshelf and amazon has no ebook version so I won't be able to since ordering from Italy is expensive because of postage (not the book price).

lingua wrote:Spoonary, I wanted to read along with you and thought I had bought a copy of it a few years ago but I didn't find it on my bookshelf and amazon has no ebook version so I won't be able to since ordering from Italy is expensive because of postage (not the book price).

Hi lingua, thanks for dropping by!

I know we would all prefer to be 100% legal when procuring our language learning material, but I don't think I'm doing anything wrong making you aware that there is a very good pdf version of the book freely available with a quick Google search. A few of the others are reading along using that version. You could always convert the file to your preferred ebook format as well...

I prefer to be legal. I just noticed I could get the audible version in Italian so I will listen while you all read along.