Voi non la conoscete

by Cristina Comencini

nan

80 pages, Paperback

First published July 2, 2011

About the author

Cristina Comencini is an Italian film director, screenwriter and novelist.

She is one of four daughters of Italian film director Luigi Comencini. She attended with her sisters le Lycée français Chateaubriand (Rome).

Cristina Comencini's 2005 film The Beast in the Heart , based on her own novel La bestia nel cuore, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Her upcoming film When the Night is scheduled to compete in competition at the 68th Venice International Film Festival in September.

Reviews

[Lelena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Troppo breve ma mette una gran voglia di leggere altro della Comencini

[Callie S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Che io non mi senta molto a mio agio con la narrativa femminile è ormai risaputo, come che imputi a certe penne un eccesso d'enfasi, sul piano della cosiddetta 'emozione', dunque il bisogno di ricercare l'effetto retorico, la lacrima facile, persino - e non di rado, purtroppo - la semplicistica stilizzazione dell'essere e del sentire 'da donna'.
La Comencini, invece, mi sorprende e lo fa con un racconto in cui ogni griglia concettuale salta per lasciare spazio, se mai, alla narrazione dell'anti-femminino per eccellenza, perché la scelta che compie la protagonista del racconto è, appunto, una scelta anti-: anticonvenzionale, antisociale, antifamiliare.
Come capita che una donna dalla banalità archetipica scelga consapevolmente l'Inferno?
La Comencini non dice ma suggerisce, proiettando all'esterno le ombre di una personalità complessa e di una vita in cui essere, apparire e sentire non sono mai la stessa cosa.

[Kevan Houser · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very intriguing and well-written portrait of a mentally disturbed/ill woman (at least that's how I interpret the first-person protagonist Nadia—others may well have different interpretations).

No spoilers:

I was immediately drawn in from the opening words: "Nella mia vita fuori di qui..." (In my life outside of here...)
I didn't understand what it meant, and, as we all know, a good mystery engages the reader. It took a few pages to figure out where she was and what was going on, but by then were some new mysteries to ponder, as Nadia's backstory was revealed in satisfying little bits and pieces.

In other words, a skillfully crafted and emotionally resonant short story. (Or perhaps novella. This paperback edition uses larger than average font size, and the first page of the story is page 9, and the last full page is 66. Plus, about 3 or 4 more pages are lost with the blank lines that divide the text in lieu of chapters. It's easily read in one sitting.)

I'll be thinking about Nadia for a long time. A few mysteries were wisely left unsolved.

Anyway, some may say the story is too short. I disagree. Sometimes writers feel they need to reach a certain number of words or pages and end up stretching an idea beyond its natural length, weakening the impact. I think Comencini did the right thing in giving this story its due, no more, no less. It feels the perfect length, even if fails to reach the traditional word count for a standalone novel.

(A while back I also read from the same author "Passione di famiglia" and I left a review here on this site.)

(I found used copied of both of these books at Powell's here in Portland, a couple of years apart.)

[Massimo Semprini · Rating 4 out of 5]

La scrittura della Comencini è cruda ed efficacissima.
Il personaggio ha una psiche disordinatissima e perennemente perduta.
Molto affascinante.