Imagine mixing French contemporary history, a detective story, three friends loving the same woman, Lole, and the unforgettable setting of Marseille. With constant references to poetry and music, this trilogy makes you feel so immerse in the story that you almost hear the sound of the sea, while Montale is drinking Lagavulin and listening to his vynils. Amazingly written, a human manifesto against racism, against the boundaries of power, and, most of all, a declaration of love for the Mediterranean sea. I read them all, while I was on holiday with my family in Cap D'Antibes, South of France, the perfect setting for such readings, I couldn't take my eyes off of the pages. Even if it was very successful at its time, it's less-known now, so get ready for a fresh, original, poetical, and breath-taking story.If you're interested in the author's biography I have found a nice article on The Guardian, published in 2000 after Izzo's death: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2000/feb/02/news.obituaries
I apologise for the use of Italian quotes for Chourmo and Solea, but, unfortunately, I couldn't find them in English, and I don't want to ruin the book with my translation. I read all of them in Italian and these are the quotes I highlighted at the time.
Favourite quotes:
Total Kheops “I felt suffocated. And alone. More alone than ever. Every year, I ostentatiously crossed out of my address book any friend who'd made a racist remark, neglected those whose only ambition was a new car and a Club Med vacation, and forgot all those who played the Lottery. I loved fishing and silence. Walking the hills. Drinking cold Cassis, Lagavulin, or Oban late into the night. I didn't talk much. Had opinions about everything. Life and death. Good and evil. I was a film buff. Loved music. I'd stopped reading contemporary novels. More than anything, I loathed half-hearted, spineless people.”
“Sometimes, all it takes is one gesture, one word, to change the course of someone's life. Even if you know it won't last forever.”
“...I understand where you're coming from. I know it isn't just a question of revenge. It's the feeling there are some things you can't let pass. If you did, you wouldn't be able to look at yourself in the mirror afterwards.”
“So much violence. If God existed, I'd have strangled him on the spot. Without batting an eyelid. And with all the fury of the damned.”
“Days are only beautiful early in the morning. I should have remembered that. Dawn is merely an illusion that the world is beautiful. When the world opens its eyes, reality reasserts itself, and you're back with the same old shit.”
"Why was it so difficult to make new friends once you were past forty Was it because we didn't have dreams anymore, only regrets?”
“The sensuality of desperate lives. Only poets talk like that. But poetry has never had an answer for anything. All it does it bear witness. To despair. And desperate lives. ”
“We fought over a girl's smile, not because of the color of our skins. It created friendships, not hatreds.”
“Leila was untouchable. She was in my heart now, and I'd carry her always, on this earth that every day gives men a chance.”
“Killing was easy. Dying was something else.”
“Marseilles isn't a city for tourists. There's nothing to see. Its beauty can't be photographed. It can only be shared. It's a place where you have to take sides, be passionately for or against. Only then can you see what there is to see. And you realize, too late, that you're in the middle of a tragedy. An ancient tragedy in which the hero is death. In Marseilles, even to lose you have to know how to fight.”
“Outside, the sun hit me full in the face. I had the feeling I was coming back to life. Real life. Where happiness is an accumulation of insignificant everyday things. A ray of sunlight, a smile, washing drying at a window, a boy dribbling with a tin can, a song by Vincent Scotto, a slight breeze lifting a woman's dress...”
Chourmo"Di fronte al mare la felicità è un'idea semplice."
"Non ho mai creduto che gli uomini siano buoni. Ma meritano di essere tutti uguali."
"Va bene amarsi. Ma non possiamo vivere in un museo, i n mezzo ai ricordi. Le persone che abbiamo amato non muoiono mai. Viviamo con loro. Sempre..."
"Mettersi in regola con la vita significava mettersi in regola con i ricordi."
"Credevo solo a questi momenti di felicità. Alle briciole dell'abbondanza. Avremo solo ciò che riusciremo a mietere, qui e là. Questo mondo non aveva più sogni. E neppure speranza."
"Gli eccessi sono da condannare. Troppo alcol o troppa religione, è la stessa cosa. Fanno male. E sono quelli che hanno fatto le peggiori cose che vogliono imporre il proprio modo di vedere! Di vivere."
"Sembrava sempre vicina a quel limite estremo dove la specie umana confina con la bellezza animale. L'avevo capito nell'istante in cui l'avevo vista."
"I grossi numeri azzerano la morte. Più ce ne sono, meno contano. Troppi morti sono come l'ignoto. Lontano, non reale. E' vera solo la morte individuale. Quella che ti tocca personalmente. Quella che vediamo con i nostri occhi, o negli occhi di un altro."
"Anche i rimpianti appartengono alla felicità."
Solea "Era una delle ultime settimane di vita insieme. Una di quelle notti in cui ci sfinivamo a discutere per ore e ore, fumando una sigaretta dietro l'altra e bevendo bicchieri pieni di Lagavulin."
"Quando non si può più vivere si ha il diritto di morire e di trasformare la propria morte in un'ultima scintilla."
"Ma Lole, l'avevo aspettata per tutta la vita, quindi non avevo intenzione di rinunciarci. Avevo bisogno di credere che sarebbe tornata. Che avremmo ricominciato. Perchè i nostri sogni, i nostri vecchi sogni che ci avevano unito e dato già tanta felicità, potessero realizzarsi."
"Sempre in ritardo sulla morte. E sempre in ritardo sulla vita. Sull'amicizia. Sull'amore."
"Li seguii con lo sguardo, scommettendo che si erano incontrati lì, a sedici o diciassette anni. Tre amici e tre amiche. E invecchiavano insieme. Con la gioia semplice del sole sulla pelle. Qui la vita non è altro. Una fedeltà ai gesti più semplici."
" 'Sono spesso degli amori segreti...' cominciai.
'Quelli che dividiamo con una città' continuò con il sorriso sulle labbra. 'Anch'io amo Camus.' "
"Era sempre un buon giorno per amare."
"Perchè non era facile lasciarsi così. Era un po' come perdersi prima ancora di essersi trovati."
"Tutti i veri amori sono così. Fragili come il cristallo. Che l'amore tende gli esseri fino al limite massimo."
Next "What shall I read today?":
My Dark Places (James Ellroy) and Invisible Monsters (Chuck Palahniuk).
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