katarinaliest

Lorenzo is no typical teenager, he is a sheep in wolves clothing or as he puts it a fly pretending to be a wasp. In school this tactic helps him get by but it does notmake him any friends. So he remains uninvited to the ski-trip his classmatesare planning. On a whim he tells his mother he’s going and decides to spend theentire week hiding in the cellar. A comfortable seven days awaits Lorenzo, untilhis half-sister Olivia shows up uninvited and demands shelter or she will tell on him.

This is ashort book, leading the reader along a very simple plot. Lorenzo the asocialteen hides in a cellar, “tap, tap!” on the window and “oh! There’s company”that’s it. But don’t let that fool you because in simple things often lie greatpleasures. Due to the limited staging of the novel it reads a little like aplay. With no backstory that isn’t scenic and only two ventures to the outside, Niccolo Ammaniti crafts a captivating read out of next to nothing. Characters Lorenzo and Olivia aren’t easy to relate to or understand but their story manages to stayinteresting to the very last page. What awaits the reader is a chilling twistto the story in the form an unexpected ending. This novel takes about a day toread and if you happen to have some time on your hands, enjoying a copy of thisbook will be a day well spent.

A novel that took me by surprise and now won’t let me go.