Gianrico Carofiglio
Il Passato è una Terra Straniera

THE REVIEW

"There's always time to end up in Hell"

"It depends on how much you want to suffer"

In reality, the phrase is taken from the film of the same name, released in 2008, which I remember fondly, starring Elio Germano and Michele Riondino, but it was too fitting not to use it as an incipit.

Giorgio, the classic good guy, diligent and devoted to his old-school family, meets Francesco at a party. Francesco is a skilled cheater who, after unexpectedly defending him in a brawl, becomes his friend, introducing him to a world of illegality, rigged games, easy money, women, and drugs.

His journey is a literal descent into Hell filled with recklessness and low blows, with immorality becoming increasingly tangible until the final climax, which I won’t reveal, set against a backdrop of a Bari riddled with violence and unsolved rapes.

"The Past..." is a magnificent book, one you read in one breath, and despite some "flaws" in the plot, it never tires and surprises with its impressively clear communication: it's practically impossible to start reading it without reaching the end, I say this without fear.

A simple prose, but also harsh and especially clear, vaguely reminded me of Two Out of Two by Andrea de Carlo, another work/masterpiece that perhaps I will Review in its time and that also deals with that magical world of friendships, sometimes wrong, but that still leave us with something.

A novel that I consider a small masterpiece in today's stagnant Italian literature.

Read it!