Risk Hallberg Garth
Città in fiamme

Risk Hallberg Garth's debut novel, "City on Fire," kept me engaged for a couple of weeks due to its considerable length (almost 1000 pages). As often happens with novels of this size, the approach to the core of the story is slow; there is a succession of micro-stories that chase, develop, and evolve, giving the impression of being disconnected from each other. The only thing they have in common is the backdrop, the scene that hosts them: a gray, underground Manhattan, full of characters struggling with themselves and the world around them, yet vital, raging in their search for a way to exist. Then, as events unfold, the small singularities expand their field of action and come into contact or collision with each other... at times during the reading, I felt like I was being sucked into a vortex, in a constant acceleration towards the focal point, towards the resolution of all the knots of the plot. The final pages, like the calm after the storm, are lyrical and touching, almost unexpected, I would say, almost detached from the harshness of the book... The plot? I could tell you about a gunshot on New Year's Eve in New York, about a girl who falls to the ground, about her friendships, forbidden loves, and everything that revolves around her lingering in a hospital room while outside, a near-retirement, polio-stricken policeman tries to piece together a puzzle that seems senseless... I could, I said... but what makes this novel special are precisely the personal stories, the developments and consequences in the lives of the characters revolving around Samantha... and the wonderful and terrible New York of the '70s.