Come With Me by Nicola Viceconti - Translated by Laura Bennett - #BookReview

 

"Paris, 19th July 2015

They tricked us, Franco. They tricked us! They duped us with their ideology, their propaganda and their imaginary paradise of justice and liberty. They destroyed us. They wiped out our love, as if peoples' hearts were anything to do with them. You understood what they were like before I did. No soul and no conscience! That's what you said that time at the hospital. How could anyone be indifferent? The time to tell people has come. Please. You're someone who can, so do it for me too!"

Just a handful of words before Irina vanished into the darkness. She was thin, very thin, if it hadn't been for her unmistakable eyes, I wouldn't even have recognised her. It was very painful seeing her again. Her cheeks were dirty with earth and she had a large grey bruise across her forehead, which was more furrowed than I remembered.

The eighty-year-old Professor Franco Solfi, a disillusioned former communist, discovers a note in the pocket of an old coat from the love of his life, a Russian girl called Irina. He had believed that she was dead, but is now convinced that she is alive and crosses two continents in an attempt to find her.

***

This is such a wonderfully heart-warming novel. An elderly man who discovers that the love of his life is not dead, as he had believed and sets out to find her. I was immediately captivated by the premise.

It contains all the ingredients of a book that made me want to sit down quietly and read through from the first page to the last in one sitting. This was entirely possible as the book is only 170 pages long and it was a joyous way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

As the protagonist of the story crosses borders in his search for Irina, I thoroughly enjoyed meeting the cast of idiosyncratic characters that he met along the way. They were well portrayed, and each brought something to the novel.

It made for fascinating reading as we learn of the disillusion of communism as experienced by the main character. It was disturbing to learn of the control that had been exerted over Franco and Irina and which ultimately resulted in their separation.

Appropriately paced, the novel proceeded in a gentle manner and every word was carefully placed. It may be a short novel but there is plenty in it to hold the readers interest.

However, for me, the main theme of the story centred around the potential of a reunion between them. As ever, there are no spoilers in this review, but suffice to say that I found the concluding chapters to be extremely moving.

If any further books written by Mr Viceconti are translated into English I will definitely be reading them. I highly recommend this book, and I would love to hear your thoughts on it.

ISBN: 978 1916289536 

Publisher: Aspal Prime

About the Author:

Nicola Viceconti is a prize-winning, Italian writer, poet and sociologist, with a passion for history and the culture of Latin America with particular reference to the subject of human rights. Some of his novels were published simultaneously in Italy and Argentina and also distributed in Cuba and Chile. The Chamber of Deputies of the Province of Buenos Aires bestowed upon him the prestigious title of Visitant Ilustre (Honoured Guest) for his work in keeping alive the history of the Argentinian people through his novels portraying significant historical moments in contemporary culture and politics. 

He is the winner of numerous Italian literary prizes for his novels and poetry including for this novel, Come With Me.