Recommended by my wife, so it must be good. Winner of the Prix Goncourt, book of the year by Fnac and the favourite novel of the readers of Elle.
This is the story of Mimo and Viola, born in 1904, two people who should never have met when they were thirteen. He is born into poverty, leaving his widowed mother in France, returning to the Italy of his ancestors to be brought up in the workshop of an alcoholic sculptor uncle. She lives in the most powerful family in Liguria. Two polar opposites trapped in their situation, she in her woman's body dreaming to have the same possibilities as men to fulfill her dreams; he suffering from dwarfism while he intends to master marble blocks to become a sculptor. Yet both are smart and sensitive and exceptional in their own way. And they connect.
The novel opens in 1986. Mimo, on the threshold of death in a Piedmontese abbey where he has lived in seclusion for some forty years without taking the vows, recalls the thread of his life, his unique relationship with Viola and the story of his masterpiece: a mysterious statue that so disturbing to anyone who saw it that the Vatican decided to keep it out of sight.
Andrea is an incredible story-teller, epic and poetic at the same time, driving the action forward, adding characters, situations, cities ... adding layers that are all representing hurdles in the way for the one romantic ideal of the perfect sculpture and the perfect love.
Of course you want these two special people to succeed, the identification by the reader with the fate of the protagonists is great even if there are obviously no common elements with my own situation.
Andrea adds another layer of magic which he keeps hidden as much as possible but that is frequently hinted so that you know that there is more to it than meets the eye. This suspense is also the result of his excellent compositional work. The dying Mimo who reflects back on his life, surrounded by the monks who try to assist him, while the events of his youth unfold in parallel chapters.
The book is 580 pages long, but I read it in a few days while on holiday. It's not complicated. It's easy to read. The story is captivating and moving. His style is direct and functional.
A book to enjoy if you like great story-telling.
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