•
Rating: Gutenberg Corner No.1
Before talking about the book, allow me a personal introduction, I hope you'll forgive me. In high school, I curated a book column in the school newspaper: I reviewed two in each issue. "Gutenberg Corner" was the name of this column, and having learned that on DeBaser it is possible to write about it, I decided not to miss the opportunity to reopen this little space and share it with others. In the first issue, I choose one of the most fascinating books released in Italy in recent years: "La messa dell'Uomo Disarmato".
The beginning of the book is entrusted to Franco, a novice priest who does not decide to continue his priestly experience and chooses to become a farmer in the family farmhouse with his parents. The life of the village is calm, very serene and seemingly detached from the surrounding world. On the scene, one can glimpse a lot of ordinary people, calm individuals, each with their rhythms and usual activities marked by the times of Nature. Two events disturb Franco: the choice not to become a priest, described in a very heartfelt epistolary, and the departure of his brother Piero to the front in Greece during World War II. The return home will be dramatic: he will arrive with frozen feet and eyes filled with indelible images of the death of many young men fallen without a reason. The most dramatic moment will be September 8: the German occupation disrupts the life of the village and its inhabitants. Many make a life choice, going to the mountains and deciding to become partisans. The Resistance becomes an important moment where many meet, deciding to take up arms for a cause. Besides Piero, many fellow villagers follow: Stalino, Sbrinz, Rondine. For some, it will be a journey with no return. Each has a story, a way of living, a personality, and a sentiment to carry with them.
The period up to April 25 is described by an omniscient narrator, the various adventures of the groups where the protagonists are present are recounted with skill and precision, in one of these there is also an abbot. He reads the Bible to the partisans, holds mass, and helps them in their actions but never decides to harm anyone, never kills. The end of the war becomes a moment of reflection and pacification, in the search for a Meaning to everything that has happened. A very raw human balance with Franco returning to a first-person narrative.
With this book, a unique journey in Italian literature is accomplished: every character, major or minor, has features, is described very well, and has its intrinsic value in the story. The main narrative core, the tale of the Resistance, is intense, passionate, and also precise. There are no pauses or dead moments: every sentence has its weight, its importance and serves to best represent a world that seems fictional but has extremely real sides to it. Luisito Bianchi manages to drag the reader, to move them and have them empathize with the people present in the book. Every emotion that transpires is real and is returned to us with an unimaginable intensity. There can't be a detachment between the reader and the content of the work: a magical and immense fusion occurs. Many words could be used, maybe they would be wasted, but I prefer to use them anyway.
This is a Masterpiece: a book on the Resistance not seen in Italy since Fenoglio, something heart-wrenching and extremely dramatic written by a man who gifts the reader with his Soul, his heart, and transmits it to the paper and ink so it can accept this Gift.
Loading comments slowly
