Don't Move : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: A BRILLIANT EXPLORATION OF OBSESSION
Review: A searing tale of sexual obsession "Don't Move" grips readers with riveting opening lines: "You ran the stop sign. You had your imitation wolf-skin jacket on, your headset was plugged into your ears, and you never even slowed down."

The accident victim is Angela, the only child of Timoteo, a highly respected surgeon, and Elsa, also successful, an independent modern woman. The couple had discussed at length whether or not to give Angela the scooter she so desperately wanted. They had given in at last.

As Timoteo sits alone by his daughter's bedside he realizes she is close to death. This fact, in some mysterious way causes him to reevaluate his own life. He remembers his past, the year before his daughter's birth and his inexplicable passion for Italia, a poor woman he met in a small town bar. His car had broken down, and he was stranded.

Italia was the antithesis of his wife, "She was neither beautiful nor very young, with badly bleached hair and a thin but strong-boned face. She was wearing too much makeup, which made her bright eyes look sad."

Nonetheless his desire for her was undeniable. Reliving his past Timoteo silently pours his anguished confession into the ears of his comatose daughter.

Told largely in flashback "Don't Move" is a marvel of prose as Mazzantini adroitly tells parallel stories of Timoteo's well ordered life with Elsa and his all-consuming, passionate affair with Italia.

Born in Ireland and raised in Italy, Mazzantini is an incredibly skilled writer. "Don't Move," which has sold over a million copies in Italy is her second novel and the first to be published in America. All one can say is welcome to our shores!

- Gail Cooke

Rating:
Summary: A BRILLIANT EXPLORATION OF OBSESSION
Review: A searing tale of sexual obsession "Don't Move" grips readers with riveting opening lines: "You ran the stop sign. You had your imitation wolf-skin jacket on, your headset was plugged into your ears, and you never even slowed down."

The accident victim is Angela, the only child of Timoteo, a highly respected surgeon, and Elsa, also successful, an independent modern woman. The couple had discussed at length whether or not to give Angela the scooter she so desperately wanted. They had given in at last.

As Timoteo sits alone by his daughter's bedside he realizes she is close to death. This fact, in some mysterious way causes him to reevaluate his own life. He remembers his past, the year before his daughter's birth and his inexplicable passion for Italia, a poor woman he met in a small town bar. His car had broken down, and he was stranded.

Italia was the antithesis of his wife, "She was neither beautiful nor very young, with badly bleached hair and a thin but strong-boned face. She was wearing too much makeup, which made her bright eyes look sad."

Nonetheless his desire for her was undeniable. Reliving his past Timoteo silently pours his anguished confession into the ears of his comatose daughter.

Told largely in flashback "Don't Move" is a marvel of prose as Mazzantini adroitly tells parallel stories of Timoteo's well ordered life with Elsa and his all-consuming, passionate affair with Italia.

Born in Ireland and raised in Italy, Mazzantini is an incredibly skilled writer. "Don't Move," which has sold over a million copies in Italy is her second novel and the first to be published in America. All one can say is welcome to our shores!

- Gail Cooke

Rating:
Summary: a mesmerizing read
Review: This is just a flat-out incredible, gripping novel that makes you salivate to anticipate the English translation of the authors' other work (she's written, says the book jacket, another novel). Now I am not the world's most patient reader--I tend to like to get to the end of the books I read, however good they are. But this was a rare case where I wished the novel would have just kept on going, going, going. I was thoroughly captivated by the narrator and his story. You will be, too, I think.

Rating:
Summary: Portrait of a selfish man
Review: This was an interesting read. I found the story to be very detached from time in an odd way. I could not honestly tell you when the story took place because I think that the author was trying to illustrate the concept that it could take place at anytime and anywhere really. What I mean by this is the accidents in life, the affairs and indiscretions that people -regardless of class- all have.

The narrator Timoteo begins the flashback tale by telling us of his daughter Angela's near fatal accident. She was riding a scooter that her parents had argued over even giving her (for fear of an accident) and she ends up in the hospital because she was hit by a car. Her father Timoteo is a brilliant surgeon and she is rushed, clinging to life, to his hospital. While she is being operated on Timoteo reflects on the year prior to her birth all the way up through present moment. He tells of his relationship with her mother Elsa -- an incredibly independent and well provided for woman. They have a beach house and lead what is most likely a very privileged life. One day on the way to the beach house Timoteo's car breaks down in what I could only gather was a shantytown. While waiting for the car to be repaired he meets a woman named Italia in a bar and ends up raping her. After raping what he describes as a poor and ugly woman, he proceeds to his beach house to meet up with his wife. All the while Timoteo cannot stop thinking of the power he felt by raping Italia and how he wanted it to happen again. Ultimately he goes back and bizarrely enough begins a relationship with her. He leads a double life until up to a few days after his daughter is born. And so goes the story...

The entire time I was reading this book I could not help but feel that Timoteo was quite possibly the most selfish man to have ever walked the face of the earth. He spends his time mentally confessing his sins to his daughter instead of praying to God for her operation to be successful. The book was very well written but I absolutely detested the storyline. This book is actually closer to a 4 but I did not think it was quite there by my standards -- hence the 3 star rating. A good book to get from the library - certainly not worth purchasing at the hardcover price.