Lost on me
It was something that was lost on me, too. It was the translated title Lost on Me. I pondered this for a while. Maybe, I guess, but I think that most of the meaning is lost. Niente di Vero is the original title that translates to Nothing True.
And I think the biggest question here is... How much of the novel is based on true events?
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| Goodreads |
My brother dies several times a month.
It’s always my mother who phones to inform me of his passing.
“Your brother’s not answering my calls,” she says in a whisper.
To her, the telephone bears witness to our permanence on Earth, so if there’s no answer, the only possible explanation is the cessation of all vital functions.
When she calls to tell me my brother is gone, she’s not looking for reassurance. Instead she wants me to share in her grief. Suffering together is her form of happiness; misery shared is misery relished.
Sometimes the cause of death is banal: a gas leak, a head-on collision, a broken neck from a bad fall.
Other times the scenario is more complex.
My mother’s call last Easter Monday was followed by another one from a young Carabiniere officer.
“Your mother has reported your brother’s disappearance. Can you confirm this?”
- author: Veronica Raimo
- full title: Lost on Me
- genre: literary fiction
- format/type: bookfiction
- country: Italy
- topics: #autofiction
- publisher: Grove Press, Black Cat
- publish date: June 27, 2023
- pages: 224
Literary Awards:
- International Booker Prize Nominee for Longlist (2024)
My Rating of the Book:
- content: 💙💙💙
About the Author:
Veronica Raimo is the author of four novels, the most recent of which, Lost On Me (Niente di Vero) was shortlisted for the Premio Strega Prize and won the Strega Off Prize, the Strega Giovani Prize and the Viareggio Rèpaci Prize. Her 2019 novel The Girl at the Door (Miden) was called "Darkly amusing...profoundly feminist" by Jezebel and “tight and provocative” by Salon. Her stories have appeared in various anthologies and magazines, here and abroad. She wrote the collection of poems Le bambinacce with Marco Rossari. She cowrote the script for the film Sleeping Beauty (2012) by director Marco Bellocchio. She contributes cultural articles to various Italian publications, and her translations into Italian include works by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Octavia. E. Butler, Ray Bradbury and Ursula K. Le Guin. Film rights to Lost On Me were acquired by Fandango and the book will also be published in the UK, France and Germany.
... authors from all around the World.
