“My beautiful friend” is the book of the century according to “New York Times” – Corriere.it

2024-07-12 18:45:20

Of CRISTINA TAGLIETTI

The American magazine interviewed 503 people, including writers, scholars and strong readers: Elena Ferrante, the only Italian in the ranking, is the most loved author.

There is no Great American novel, but a Great Italian, or rather Neapolitan, Saga, in first place among the most important books of the year 2000.
Nice friend it is a 21st century book, at least this first quarter, according to “New York Times”. This was established by 503 writers, scholars and strong readers, to whom the newspaper entrusted the task of establishing a ranking of the ten favorite titles among those published from 1 January 2000 until today. Names like Stephen King, Claudia Rankine, James Patterson, Karl Ove Knausgård, Marlon James, Junot Diaz, Scott Turow, Jonathan Lehem answered the call.

In front is the first volume of the quadrilogy of the novelist, champion of sales (more than 10 million copies in forty countries) and invisible, who escapes (for now) all attempts to trace him. Published in Italy in 2011 by e/o, was followed by History of the new surname (2012), The story of those who escaped and those who survived (2013), The story of the lost little girl (2014), also in the list of the most influential books, in the eighty-fourth place (in the ninety-second place is another Ferrantian text, The day of abandonment). The saga of Lila and Lenù, two Neapolitan girls, then girls, then women who fight in a man’s world, champions of the popular epic that is true, has conquered readers and critics from all over the world with the pressing pressure of rivalries, jealousy, dreams and illusions against the background of Italy from the post-war period to 2010 in Naples as a region and a historical heart.

Nice friend was released in English in 2012 translated by Ann Goldstein with title My cute friend, for European Editions, a global category created by the respected e/o publications. “Reading this unforgettable novel without shortcuts is like riding a bicycle on gravel: rough, slippery and provocative”, is the summary of “New York Times”. In our second place In the warmth of distant suns (published in Italy by Saggiatore) by Isabel Wilkinson, Pulitzer Prize, book on the Great Migration of black Americans from the South to the North and West between 1915 and 1970. Third place Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, a historical account of the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell (in Italian by Fazi). On the fourth The known world by Edward P. Jones (Bompiani) about a former slave in Virginia before the Civil War and in the fifth Corrections (Einaudi) by Jonathan Franzen.

July 12, 2024 (updated July 12, 2024 | 8:44 pm)

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