the book of the week
NoonNovember 12, 2022 – 09:18
A successful debut that of the writer from Santa Maria Capua Vetere
from Mirella Armiero
A small bright example of a debut not to be missed is that of Carmen Verde, who publishes her first novel, A little unhappiness, with Neri Pozza. Born in Santa Maria Capua Vetere, the writer has lived in Rome for some time. The story it tells, however, has no explicit geographical coordinates, it mostly takes place in an asphyxiated family environment which towards the end shrinks more and more and only rarely has glimpses of opening: the school, the family shop, a day at the sea. Annetta, the narrator, first a little girl, then a girl and a young woman, with a more or less evident impairment: small in stature, bordering on dwarfism. But her suffering is not linked so much to the physical limit, but to the existential condition of complete dependence on her mother, Sofia Vivier, a beautiful and enigmatic woman. But mostly restless. Life no less than literature. We should study the unhappiness of our mothers in school. This is precisely Annetta’s main occupation, who lives a reflected life, lost in a repetitive everyday life, but endowed with an acute and amplified perception of the microcosm that surrounds her, of which she is ready to reveal her gloom. For a whole month, returning from school, I kept looking at that cat, dead on the street corner. Every day he became emptier, insubstantial, so much so that the light – which at first beat on his fur – began to pass through him. For a while it was just transparency, then just a gray nothingness amidst a carpet of dead leaves. And again: the drawers are small coffins that hide secrets, the sky returns to its ruthless blue. Until the majestic agony of Sofia Vivier. Not a serene panorama, the one that surrounds Annetta. Yet on everything, even on the twisted family events, her love for her mother stands out crystal clear. Carmen Verde thus outlines a claustrophobic universe, but full of sensations, emotions, segments of real life, hopes, imperceptible heartbeats and leaps of the mind. So much so that it seems crowded with things and people, also thanks to a mature and flexible language. The magic of literature.
November 12, 2022 | 09:18
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