Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Imagine a duel. A face-off between a man and a boy. The same blood runs through their veins. One, Daniele Mallarico, is a successful illustrator at the peak of his career. The other, Mario, is his four-year-old grandson who has barely learned to talk but has a few tricks up his loose-fitting sleeves all the same.
The older combatant has lived for years in almost complete solitude. The younger one has been dumped with his estranged grandfather for a 72-hour stay.
Starnone's sharp, succinct story in Trick unfolds within the four walls (and the balcony ) of the grandfather's apartment, where the rage of an aging man meets optimism incarnate in the shape of a four-year-old child.
Lurking, ever present in their conflict, is the memory of Naples, a wily, violent, and passionate city where the old man spent his youth and whose influence is not easily shaken.
-Star power: Internationally acclaimed author translated by Pultizer prize winning author
-Jhumpa Lahiri's second Starnone translation
-Lahiri and Starnone available for events, interviews
-Setting: Milan & Naples, Italy
Synopsis
Sharp, succinct storytelling and breathtaking prose combine in this new novel by the author of the New York Times editor's pick, Ties.
Imagine a duel between an elderly man and a mere boy. The same blood runs through their veins. One, Daniele Mallarico, is a successful illustrator whose reputation is slowly fading. The other, Mario, is his four-year-old grandson. The older combatant has lived for years in solitude, focusing obsessively on his work. The younger one has been left by his querulous parents with his grandfather for a 72-hour stay. Shut inside an apartment in Naples that is filled with the ghosts of Mallarico's own childhood, grandfather and grandson match wits, while outside lurks Naples, a wily, violent, and passionate city whose influence is not easily shaken.
Trick is a gripping, wry, brilliantly devised drama, "an extremely playful literary composition," as Jhumpa Lahiri describes it in her introduction, about aging, family, art, and reconciling with one's past.
Synopsis
Sharp, succinct storytelling and breathtaking prose combine in this new novel by the author of the New York Times Notable Book of the Year, New York Times editor's pick, a Sunday Times and Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year, Ties.
Imagine a duel between an elderly man and a mere boy. The same blood runs through their veins. One, Daniele Mallarico, is a successful illustrator whose reputation is slowly fading. The other, Mario, is his four-year-old grandson. The older combatant has lived for years in solitude, focusing obsessively on his work. The younger one has been left by his querulous parents with his grandfather for a 72-hour stay. Shut inside an apartment in Naples that is filled with the ghosts of Mallarico's own childhood, grandfather and grandson match wits, while outside lurks Naples, a wily, violent, and passionate city whose influence is not easily shaken.
Trick is a gripping, wry, brilliantly devised drama, "an extremely playful literary composition," as Jhumpa Lahiri describes it in her introduction, about aging, family, art, and reconciling with one's past.
Synopsis
Shortlisted for the 2018 National Book Awards
One of The Globe & Mail's Best Books of 2018
A Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction in Translation of 2018 book
Sharp, succinct storytelling and breathtaking prose combine in this new novel by the author of Ties, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and a Kirkus Reviews and Sunday Times Best Book of the Year.
Trick is a stylish drama about ambition, family, and old-age that goes beyond the ordinary and predictable. Imagine a duel between two men. One, Daniele Mallarico, is a successful illustrator who, in the twilight of his years, feels that his reputation and his artistic prowess are fading. The other, Mario, is Daniele's four-year-old grandson. Daniele has been living in a cold northern city for years, in virtual solitude, focusing obsessively on his work, when his daughter asks if he would come to Naples for a few days and babysit Mario while she and her husband attend a conference. Shut inside his childhood home--an apartment in the center of Naples that is filled with the ghosts of Mallarico's past--grandfather and grandson match wits as Daniele heads toward a reckoning with his own ambitions and life choices.
Outside the apartment, pulses Naples, a wily, violent, and passionate city whose influence can never be shaken.
Trick is a gripping, brilliantly devised drama, "an extremely playful literary composition," as Jhumpa Lahiri describes it in her introduction, by the Strega Prize-winning novelist whom many coinsider to be one of Italy's greatest living writers.
Synopsis
A weary man faces the ghosts of his past while caring for his grandson in Naples in this National Book Award finalist novel by the acclaimed author of Ties.
In Trick, Domenico Starnone presents an unusual duel between two formidable minds. One is Daniele Mallarico, a once-successful illustrator who feels his artistic prowess fading. The other is Mario, Daniele's four-year-old grandson. Daniele is living in virtual solitude in Milan when his daughter asks him to come to Naples to babysit Mario for a few days
Shut inside his childhood home--an apartment in the center of Naples that is filled with memoires of Daniele's past--grandfather and grandson match wits as Daniele heads toward a reckoning with his own ambitions and life choices. Meanwhile, Naples pulses outside, a wily, passionate city whose influence can never be shaken.
As translator Jhumpa Lahiri says in her introduction, Tricks is "an extremely playful literary composition" by the Strega Prize-winning novelist whom many consider to be one of Italy's greatest living writers.