Enrico Brizzi
Bastogne

It's not a book for everyone.

Enrico Brizzi writes "Bastogne" when he's barely in his twenties, and tells the story, through the eyes and words of the protagonist, Ermanno Claypool (does the surname remind anyone of someone?), of the Nice of the early '80s, controlled by four boys dedicated to illegal trades, massive drug use, theft, robberies, limitless violence, and the friendship that binds them, the only positive sentiment expressed in the novel.

The writing is fast, irreverent, raw, expressed with neologisms, vulgar and coarse language; the book is divided into temporal sequences, like a real logbook, where every chapter is tied to an adventure of the terrible cousins, Ermanno and Cousin Jerry, a true antihero, and their friends Raimundo Blanco, a handsome guy with Dillon-like features, and Dietrich Lassalle, the manager of the gang’s hangout bar, occasionally interrupted by flashbacks of past reminiscences linked to Ermanno’s adolescence.

References and quotes abound: Andrea Pazienza, even from the name of their Siamese cat Penthotal, Supertognazzi and Italian "B movie" films, the episode where the two cousins flip out after a close encounter with LSD and joints is hilarious, and Ermanno begins his trip even meeting Supertognazzi who fights against the Chinese...

Another great classic might come to your mind: 'A Clockwork Orange' ("A Clockwork Orange" - Anthony Burgess), the bar, the droogs, gratuitous violence, the drugs... And you wouldn’t be wrong to think of it, many are the allusions that lead back to Alex and company, while everything is also accompanied in the narrative by a virtual "alternative" soundtrack of the time: from Billy Idol to P.I.L. by John Lydon, Killing Joke, Gaznevada, Virgin Prunes, the legendary Skiantos, frequently mentioned in the person of Beppe Starnazza (Freak Antoni), Cheetah Chrome Motherfuckers, Einsturzende Neubauten, Morricone, Bauhaus, Anti-pasti, up to Alberto Camerini and the legendary Righeria.

It is precisely the Righeira brothers, together with the "bad boy" Billy Idol, who have the task of inaugurating the first chapter of the book, where the cousins take it upon themselves to chastise a girl from the middle-upper bourgeoisie and leave her in a bloodbath (most likely dead) in the living room, after a cheerful and innocent private soirée for three based on music, drugs, and sex (non-consensual on the girl’s part).

This is where the adventure of the two "droogs" begins, to which the other two key characters of the novel will gradually be added, the handsome Raimundo, a crazy "white" consumer and notorious pusher in the area, and the friend Dietrich, perhaps the most "good-natured," who will be the only one to pay for all the misdeeds of the four in the end.

An escalation of brawls, rapes, violence, sex told in minute detail, with details that sometimes disturb the reader, both those with an erotic background and those describing the cruelty of their actions, fragile, nonexistent or very unlikely loves, absent respect for the female world, and, in the end, everything culminates in a robbery at the expense of a Chinese restaurant and its customers, poorly planned and turning out even worse: the four lose control and start pulling the trigger in a drugged frenzy, causing numerous victims, but manage, with a daring escape, to vanish.

This will be the last "game" for the bored boys, the police will not stand by and, as I have already mentioned, the only one who will pay the consequences will be poor Dietrich, the weakest pawn, betrayed by friend Raimundo, who, after a brief moment of glory, will find the worst of fates.

I’m not here to tell you in detail what happened to the "lookalike" of Matt Dillon, you will discover it if you manage to get to the end of the book, I can only tell you that the ending has a melancholic taste, almost tear-inducing...

Recommended for those with strong stomachs...

Happy reading