I'll Steal You Away

In "I'll Steal You Away" Ammaniti gives us two intersecting tales of people trying to escape the deadness and brutality of Italian provincial life, interspersing these stories with cameos, walk ons and diversions from a range of hilariously drawn characters. And whilst I would agree that the one of these narrative threads - the story of Graziano Biglia, ageing Lothario and charicature of the Latin stud, desperately trying to conjure up a respectable future as the local boy made good, whilst being led by the nose by the skittish, gold digging nude dancer Erica - is frequently hilarious, embarrasingly well observed, and always diverting, ultimately this is an entertainment. Such a cartoon is Biglia, that it is hard to be anything other than amused by his sufferings, or those of Flora, drawn reluctantly into his web thanks to the inhibition-lowering effects of MDMA. But in his other narrative thread, Ammaniti has created one of the great adoloscent characters in literature. I challenge anyone who had a less than perfect childhood - and that's most of us - not to relate strongly to Pietro Moroni. Pietro, 12 years old but small for his age, struggles with a dysfunctional family dominated by an abusive alcoholic father and with bullying and victimisation from the local toughs. His only salvation comes from being the best friend and soulmate of Gloria, the most beautiful and feisty girl in town. But as Pietro hits adolescence that plank is also becoming shaky, as friendship starts to turn into something else, with all the uncertainties and fears that brings. Pietro is swept along on a wave of events that he has no way of controlling, let down by all the adults in his life, only able to turn to the always supportive, but not always wise, Gloria. Ultimately, as his narrative crosses paths with that of Biglia, he takes a series of unpredictable and shocking actions to take control of his life. A book that can be hilarious, picaresque, and profound simultaneously is a rare thing indeed - and Pietro and Gloria's story in particular will stay with you for a long time. And for anyone who remembers the fear, pain, occasional rapture and general heightening of the senses of your first love / first crush, this book will stir up feelings and memories you've long forgotten. Deliberately or not, Ammaniti has left plenty of room for a sequel and personally I hope he writes it. But for now, I heartily recommend this book to anyone with a heart.

Only read this if you like conflict, unrelenting quirky characters, bullies, mischief, sex and a carefull sad ending. A humorous yet sad story, and entirely believable. Translated from the Italian by a Brit., I'LL STEAL YOU AWAY," is delightful in context and hilarious in a really good translation. The author, Niccolo Ammaniti, could have written this story around my own Italian-American family. Some of the characters and scenes mirror the things I have seen in my early years in a similar ethnic neighborhood. I'm anxious to read more from this author.

Niccolo Ammaniti's "new" book, "I'll Steal You Away" is a melange of small but very passionate vignettes concerning a cross section of people in Ischiano Scalo, an Italian Peyton Place. His protagonists are one Pietro Moroni, an uncertain pre-teen who carries the responsibility of the world on his shoulders and Graziano Biglia, a forty-something ne'er-do-well. Their lives are largely connected with Flora Palmieri, a local school teacher on whom Pietro seeks revenge for failing him at school and with whom Graziano has a whirlwind courtship lasting one night. I'll Steal You Away" is "new" in the sense that it was written before his wonderful 2003 book, "I'm Not Scared" (after which a gratifying movie was made) and translated by Jonathan Hunt (no relation to me) earlier this year. Ammaniti's attention to detail and his often graphic descriptions of characters in sensual scenes are in abundance in "I'll Steal You Away". He knows how to tell a story. However, this earlier book suffers from being too long where "I'm Not Scared" was of an apt length. While one of the aims of the book is to transfer a sense of worth and power to Pietro from Graziano during an encounter where the youngster is being attacked by his peers and Graziano comes to Pietro's aid, it nonetheless takes almost the entire length of the book to get to that point. Hunt's very British translation makes for a fun sidelight (at least for American readers!) but Ammaniti shines in the force of his narrative delivery. It's a good book but some editing would have made "I'll Steal You Away" an even better one.