Pin is a young boy in a small Ligurian town during the Second World War, who is mocked by adults and rejected by other children. To prove himself to a group of men in a tavern, he steals a pistol from a German sailor and hides it in a secret place by a stream, where spiders make their nests. Italo Calvino, writing his first novel, follows Pin as he is drawn into a band of partisans and comes to know its odd members, including a man known as Cousin. The war is seen through the eyes of a child, with humor and a lack of heroic posing.
It suits readers interested in Italian Resistance literature and in Calvino's early realistic style. It's an accessible novel that shows a rougher side of the war.
Thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Story Seeker. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2002
- Publisher
- Mondadori
- Language
- IT
