A woman in her forties lives alone in an unnamed Italian city, and over a year the reader follows her through short chapters titled after the places she passes: the street, the bridge, the pharmacy, the piazza, the waiting room, the swimming pool. She sits in cafes, visits friends, thinks about her late father and about a mother who lives elsewhere, and watches couples. Lahiri wrote the book in Italian, and it has the spareness of that choice, with loneliness and belonging handled through observation rather than plot.
It suits readers who like quiet, fragmentary novels built from mood and detail, and anyone who has felt like an outsider in their own life. Short enough to finish in a couple of sittings.
Deep, inward-looking, contemplative and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Mindful Reader. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2018
- Publisher
- Guanda
- ISBN
- 9788823523463
- Language
- IT
