Christ Stopped at Eboli: The Story of a Year

Speaking only to the purchase experience, not the book itself. Delivery was quick. Purchased this book expecting a hard cover edition. Received a paperback edition instead, but still acceptable for reading.

Carlo Levi writes in his usual warm style and gives us a timeless lesson of how one can face hardship with dignity. This book, which is hard to classify, has been described as everything from a novel to a diary and a memoir. Either way, it is a unique, moving and poignant look into the era of when Fascists controlled Italy and the lives of the people within it. Levi's descriptions of the people of the hilltop village of Lucania, where he was exiled by the Fascists in the 1930s, are precise and heartwarming. His descriptions of the landscape makes one feel as if they are there. Carlo Levi has produced a true masterpiece.

I think this is my favourite book. It is certainly one I wouldpack amongst my Top Ten for life on a desert island. It is about theindomitability of human spirit. It is about attempted repression and inhumanity of fascism, yet it is about the small wonders and joys that are human life. Eboli, the nearest major town is the 'last outpost' of civilization - beyond which are 'heathens', untouched by Christ, or salvation. Of course that is a metaphor, not reality, for our little village has the same corrupt and stifling religiosity as elsewhere. This is one of those personal accounts that makes it possible to begin to understand the enormity of the outrage of political repression, and ultimately war.

This a memoir of Carlo Levi`s experience as a political exile during the fascist regime, at the outset of the Abyssinian war. The setting is a remote village in Lucania, southern Italy, a region characterized by poverty, malaria, completely forgotten and neglected by the State. Levi's artistic sensitivity describes the people, the landscape, with an acute human feeling. This is the other side of Italy, the reverse of the rich, famous, well-developed North. After reading this book, it is easy to understand why so many Italians were tempted to emigrate to the American continent. Levi's ability to socialize and understand the peasant mentality is outstanding; it's a merit to his personality. The fact that he did not isolate himself from the people around the village, regardless of social and cultural level, enable him, after his realease, to write this book with a deep understanding of the social, political, religious, economical, and cultural problems of Southern Italy. The style is simple, direct, and elegant. Why Christ, why Eboli? the author only wants to say that the "civilized world" of Christianity has not reached this region of Italy, be it in Eboli or any other village of the South. An interesting book, written by someone whose main occupation in life was not be a writer. Levi was trained as a doctor, and as a "social doctor" he brush-stroked his thoughts into this memoir.

Why read this book? The title won't reel you in. It's not about Christ. It's not religious. It's not even about Eboli. It's about Lucania, a remote village in Italy. So remote, so inconsequential that even Christ never bothered to visit the village, but stopped short at Eboli. It's not really a novel, but more of a cross between a novella and a diary. Having said all that it isn't, let me tell you what it is. It is the true story of a doctor who is banished to a remote village in Italy due to his anti-fascist views during the Abyssinian war. What a turn off! So why read it? It is humorous. It is poignant. It is timeless. And yes, it is a page turner. May we all face adversity with the grace and dignity of Carlo Levi