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Alfa Romeo 1300 and Other Miracles (2011)

par Fabio Bartolomei

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535483,734 (3.67)4
A raucous debut novel of organized--and unorganized--crime. "A story that takes itself unseriously enough to be funny" (The Daily Beast, "This Week's Hot Reads"). Diego is a forty-something car salesman with a talent for telling half-truths. Fausto sells watches over the phone. Claudio manages (barely) his family-owned neighborhood supermarket. The characteristic common to each of these three men is their abject mediocrity. Yet, mediocrity being the mother of outrageous invention, they embark on a project that would be too ambitious in scope for any single one of them, let alone all three together. They decide to flee the city and to open a rustic holiday farmhouse in the Italian countryside outside Naples. Their misconceived endeavor would have been challenging enough for these three unlikely entrepreneurs, but when a local mobster arrives and demands they pay him protection money, things go from bad to worse. Now their ordinary (if wrongheaded) attempt to run a small business in an area that organized crime syndicates consider their own becomes a quixotic act of defiance. A "miraculous" Italian comedy that will have readers laughing out loud,Alfa Romeo 1300 and Other Miracles marks Fabio Bartolomei's vivid debut. "An entertaining and humorous debut."--La Repubblica "A melancholy yet hopeful fable told with a smile."--Internazionale "Left the kind of smile on my face that doesn't go unnoticed and which people often mistake for a kind of facial paralysis."--Valentina Aversano,Setteperuno… (plus d'informations)
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» Voir aussi les 4 mentions

This is a fairly lightweight, blokey feel-good novel, obviously written with one eye on its potential as a film script (since realised). In the aftermath of the financial crisis, no-hopers Fausto, Claudio and Diego decide to put their meagre savings together to follow the Italian dream of moving to the country and opening an agriturismo (farmhouse B&B). They hardly know each other, they don't have much in common apart from a desire to get away from their current lives, and none of them has any remotely relevant skills or experience. So we know it's going to be a disaster of sit-com proportions...

With good luck and the help of some unexpected friends — including a communist veteran, an elderly local mafioso, and some African farm-workers — they manage to make a go of their shaky business, and while they are about it learn about the values of self-reliance, hard work, organic vegetables and elective families. And even that there can — sometimes — be more to relationships than sex. But they still have to deal with the problem of the old car buried under the lawn whose radio keeps on playing classical music at unexpected moments.

Alternately trivial and sanctimonious, and written from a rather tediously heterosexual-male perspective, but a nice idea, and with some good comic scenes. Probably better as a film than as a novel, but quite entertaining anyway. ( )
  thorold | Oct 19, 2020 |
Come faccio a giudicare un libro che ho odiato ininterrottamente da pagina uno?
E' un romanzo leggero e scorrevole, che nelle intenzioni dell'autore vorrebbe essere una rivisitazione della commedia all'italiana di una volta (quella de "I soliti ignoti", per intenderci), reinterpretata da quarantenni falliti dei giorni nostri.
Per quanto mi riguarda, l'intento è fallito miseramente: mai incontrato un protagonista più ipocrita e irritante, che alterna autocompiacimento e autocommiserazione; i comprimari poi sono macchiette, un concentrato di stereotipi: abbiamo il fascista che in fondo è un bonaccione, il comunista esagitato e il fifone. La ciliegina sulla torta è ovviamente lei, la "donna-che-non-è-come-le-altre" (ma poi quali altre?), un concentrato di virtù inserita con l'unico scopo di fungere da interesse amoroso del protagonista.
La trama si dipana in maniera abbastanza scontata, con delle trovate qua e là che non la rendono originale, ma solo inverosimile e fastidiosa.
Insomma bocciato su tutta la linea: è il classico romanzo "furbetto", che vorrebbe essere brillante ed originale ma sotto sotto è un guazzabuglio di luoghi comuni e idee stantie. ( )
  Lilirose_ | Jul 31, 2020 |
Delightful and surprising story about three middle-aged losers who go in on a country B&B together, only to have an immediate run-in with the local mafia, which they deal with in a most unexpected way. And they almost get away with it... I enjoyed every page of this black comedy about modern Italy, growing older and finding yourself. http://www.bostonbibliophile.com/2015/07/review-alfa-romeo-1300-and-other.html ( )
  bostonbibliophile | Jul 21, 2015 |
The best way to describe Alfa Romeo 1300 and Other Miracles is as a men's mid-life crises novel on drugs. The characters don't start out very likeable. They're three down-on-their-luck, self-centered, often prejudiced guys with poor social and love lives and very few redeeming qualities. When these city-slickers decide to start anew and renovate a large country home into an agritourist bed and breakfast, what could possibly go wrong?

Of course, hilarity ensues. At times I was laughing out loud. This is one of the funniest books I've read in a while, just from the characters' blunders and the almost ridiculous situation that progresses between them and members of the local mob. Somehow the author actually makes this scenario seem realistic, though for most of the book the reader lives under the knowledge that the situation can't possibly last in the men's favor and will only end badly. Still, it's fascinating to watch how the characters change and develop under the influence of their mutual country enterprise. They're not always capable of saving themselves from their own mistakes, however, and so the cast of characters grows as others join the initial trio in maintaining their schemes. In addition, there's a good deal of social messages included in the story, making this not only a very enjoyable read, but also one that sticks with readers after they have closed the covers. ( )
  SusieBookworm | Nov 8, 2012 |
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A mio padre, l’unico creatore
di cui posso testimoniare l’esistenza
e i piccoli miracoli
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A raucous debut novel of organized--and unorganized--crime. "A story that takes itself unseriously enough to be funny" (The Daily Beast, "This Week's Hot Reads"). Diego is a forty-something car salesman with a talent for telling half-truths. Fausto sells watches over the phone. Claudio manages (barely) his family-owned neighborhood supermarket. The characteristic common to each of these three men is their abject mediocrity. Yet, mediocrity being the mother of outrageous invention, they embark on a project that would be too ambitious in scope for any single one of them, let alone all three together. They decide to flee the city and to open a rustic holiday farmhouse in the Italian countryside outside Naples. Their misconceived endeavor would have been challenging enough for these three unlikely entrepreneurs, but when a local mobster arrives and demands they pay him protection money, things go from bad to worse. Now their ordinary (if wrongheaded) attempt to run a small business in an area that organized crime syndicates consider their own becomes a quixotic act of defiance. A "miraculous" Italian comedy that will have readers laughing out loud,Alfa Romeo 1300 and Other Miracles marks Fabio Bartolomei's vivid debut. "An entertaining and humorous debut."--La Repubblica "A melancholy yet hopeful fable told with a smile."--Internazionale "Left the kind of smile on my face that doesn't go unnoticed and which people often mistake for a kind of facial paralysis."--Valentina Aversano,Setteperuno

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