Set in Italy and beginning in the first half of the twentieth century, this story revolves around the narrator tracing the life of her family, principally her grandmothers and mostly her paternal grandmother. A poetic, passionate and lonesome woman, the narrator's paternal grandmother is considered mad by her village for her passions and the ways she expresses them through words, and she goes for years unmarried because of this. Finally, she's married to a widower that momentarily lives with her family and then couple moves to the city of Cagliari. But even though the marriage is a respectful one and suits both partners, it is still lacking in the ardour she longs for. It is until she leaves for kidney stone treatment in Civitavecchia where she meets a disabled World War two veteran that she finds the passion she's long desired.

The writer's managed to do so much with such few pages, the possibilities she offers almost as the story ends and the ending itself was incredibly done. ( )

Beautifully written story focusing on the years after WWII, of an Italian woman on the island of Sardinia. The story is pieced together by the woman's granddaughter (both are nameless) from things she has been told by her grandmother and by her found journal and a letter after her death. Grandmother was "rescued" from old maidom by a refugee during the war, though she did not love him. Beautiful and voluptuous and ahead of her time in terms of independent thought and a romantic disposition for poetry and love, "the principle thing" Grandmother is a local misfit, though she makes due in her marriage. She is also unable to have a child due to kidney stones, so she goes to the mainland in 195o to a hot springs spa for treatment. There she meets the Veteran, a war hero, who has lost a leg and who shares her love of all things romantic. They become involved and Grandmother finally feels the completion of all her longings and desires. 9 months after she returns home, she gives birth to a son (father to the narrator). A simple tale in terms of action, but complex in terms of emotional involvement, family dynamics and mores of the time. Translates well from the original Italian and the wistfulness can be summed up by the epigraph: "If I never meet you in this life, let me feel the lack." ( )

Une évasion, parfaite pour les vacances sans pour autant être banale. ( )

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1639916677 ( )

Avevo desiderato tanto leggerlo, poi non me ne avevano parlato bene e invece, nonostante sia meno coinvolgente di mentre dorme il pescecane, in cui la caratterizzazione dei personaggi è troppo accentuata, l'ho trovato ben scritto e interessante, finalmente non un noir sardo, un bel romanzo, interessante è l'aggettivo. ( )