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I giovani cannibali (Young Cannibals):

A group of Italian writers who got together in the mid-1990s. They have moved beyond traditional literary forms and have been influenced by rock music, pulp fiction, comics, etc. They use crude and direct language and urban realism – drug addiction, homosexuality, shabby housing and the image of blood and disease. Writers associated with his group include Niccolò Ammaniti, Aldo Nove, Daniele Brolli, Giuseppe Caliceti, Raul Montanari, Simona Vinci, Daniele Luttazzi, Silvia Ballestra, Luisa Brancaccio, Francesca Mazzucato, Matteo Galiazzo, Isabella Santacroce, Carlo Lucarell and Enzo Bettiza.
    -The Modern Novel
Mama curled up beside me and whispered in my ear, “When you grow up you must go away from here and never come back.
    I'm Not Scared, Niccolò Ammaniti
What Mama whispers, this novel screams. It’s pretty much an advertisement for opening our borders to provide refugees with better lives.

It’s 1978 in the backwater village of Aqua Traverse, somewhere in Southern Italy. Everyone knows how backward their region is and imagines the wealth of the amorphous “North.” In a sweltering Summer, nine-year-old Michele is stuck with his younger sister as they play with a small gang of kids who are uniformly unpleasant to each other. Life becomes even less pleasant when he discovers the secret that the local adults are hiding.

Personally, I found Michele to be not just innocent but imbecilic. His inability to process anything going on around him seems extreme even for a youngster. To be fair, the dimness of the main character is a fairly typical trope of pulp fiction, so maybe that’s what this Young Cannibal author is going for.

At any rate, we’re with Mama: Get out!


(Reviewed:)

Grade: (C)


Websites:

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General Literature
Niccolò Ammaniti Links:

    -WIKIPEDIA: Niccolo Ammaniti
    -AUTHOR SITE: Niccolo Ammaniti
    -FILMOGRAPHY: Niccolo Amminiti (IMDB)
    -ENTRY: Niccolo Amminiti (GoodReads)
    -AUTHOR PAGE: Niccolo Ammaniti (Grove Atlantic)
    -ENTRY: Niccolo Ammaniti (BookBrowse)
    -ENTRY: Niccolò Ammaniti Italian author (Encyclopaedia Britannica)
    -ENTRY: Ammaniti, Niccolò 1966– (Encyclopedia.com)
    -ENTRY: Niccolo Ammanityi (Fantastic Fiction)
    -ENTRY: Italia Mia)
   
-INDEX: Niccolo Ammaniti (Guernica)
    -INDEX: Niccolo Ammaniti (London Review of Books)
    -VIDEO INDEX: Niccolo Amminiti (YouTube)
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-VIDEO: Author Niccolò Ammaniti in conversation with Antonio Monda (NYU) and Stefano Albertini (NYU) (Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, New York University, 11/16/15, New Literature from Europe Festival)
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-ESSAY: Snapshots: Niccolò Ammaniti (Julian Gallo, Mar 27, 2024, Cazar Moscas)
    -ESSAY: Niccolò Ammaniti: You and Me Time, Space, Matter, 16 July 2019)
    -ESSAY: The "Pharmakeía" of Blood: Misuse, Abuse, & Reuse in the Young Cannibals' Narrative of Violence (Danila Cannamela, Annali d'Italianistica)
    -ESSAY: Italian Pulp Fiction: The New Narrative of the 'Giovani Cannibali' Writers. (Claudia Bernardi, Jan. 2003, Modern Language Review)
    -ESSAY: Social Engagement in Italian Pulp literature: Literary and cinematic trends in the 1990s (Eleonora Boscolo Suteu, June 2020)
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-STUDY GUIDE: Niccolo Ammaniti (Study Smarter)
    -REVIEW INDEX: Niccolo Amminiti (Publishers Weekly)
    -REVIEW INDEX: Niccolo Ammaniti (Kirkus)
    -REVIEW: of I’m not Scared by Niccolò Ammaniti (Michael Dibdin, The Guardian)
    -REVIEW: of I’m Not Scared (Kirkus)
    -REVIEW: of I’m Not Scared (The Greatest Books)
    -REVIEW: of I’m not Scared (Publishers Weekly)
    -REVIEW: of I'm Not Scared (Savidge Reads)
    -REVIEW: of I'm Not Scared (Beauty is a Sleeping Cat)
    -REVIEW: of I'm Not Scared (Studentessa Matta)
    -REVIEW: of I'm Not Scared (Elif the Reader)
    -REVIEW: of I'm Not Scared (Lizzie’s Literary Life)
    -REVIEW: of Anna by Niccolo Amminiti (Thomas Jones, LRB)
    -REVIEW: of Anna (Down Under Literatura)
    -REVIEW: of Anna (The Humble Book Giant)
    -REVIEW: of Anna (The Idle Woman)
    -REVIEW: of Anna (Reading Matters)
    -REVIEW: of Anna (John Burnside, The Guardian)
    -REVIEW: of Anna (Lit All Over)
    -REVIEW: of I’ll Steal You Away by Niccolo Ammaniti (Christopher Bray, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW: of The Crossroads by Niccolo Ammaniti (Lizzie’s Literary Life)
    -REVIEW: of Me and You by Niccolo Ammaniti (The Complete Review)
    -REVIEW: of Me and You (David Mehegan, Arts Fuse)
    -REVIEW: of Me and You (Emilia Ippolito, Independent)
    -REVIEW: of Me and You (Leyla Sanai, Independent)
    -REVIEW: of Me and You (David Robinson, The Scotsman)
    -REVIEW: of Me and You (Bibliophile by the Sea)
    -REVIEW: of Me and You (Blogging for a Good Book)
    -REVIEW: of Me and You (kirkus)
    -REVIEW: of Me and You (Publishers Weekly)
    -REVIEW: of Me and You (Bram E. Gieben, The Skinny)
    -REVIEW: of Let the Games Begin by Niccolo Ammaniti (The Complete Review)
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