- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: Granta Books; New edition edition (26 April 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1862074186
- ISBN-13: 978-1862074187
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 0.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 241,264 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| ||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Authors
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Review
A short novel and a brave act of denunciation by the distinguished Sicilian novelist that is a mesmerising demonstration of how that organisation sustains itself. A man is shot running for a bus in the piazza of a small town and the investigating officer finds himself up against a wall of silence. The narrative moves on two levels: that of the investigator who reveals a chain of crime; and that of the bystanders, of those complicit with secret power and who are determined to stop the truth coming out.
Herald
‘His prose is crisp... He writes with an unerring precision and can penetrate the heart of the matter immediately’
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A portrait of Sicily without compromises,
By ormt2@cam.ac.uk (Cambridge, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Day of the Owl (Paperback)
Sciascia is one of those Sicilians who don't like pleasing themselves. His prose is crisp and precise, direct as some glances Sicilian people give are. He does not want to talk about Sicily justifying its people; he has never intended to deny the presence and the influence of mafia, reducing Sicily to an island of dream, where nothing else matters but the sea, the memories of Greek gods and its beautiful women.On the contrary, Sciascia has wanted -since his beginnings- to stand on the difficult side of the story. That is, the side of those who describe Sicily with the love of sons and still find some pride and honesty for accusing its people. The Day of the Owl is a book of this latter category. Written during the sixties, it describes the situation of poverty and conspirancy of silence of a small fictional village. When a man is misteriously murdered, the young police captain just come from the north has to struggle against the barrier of fear, silence and ignorance that has led to the brutal act, learning at his expenses the secret laws that rule this land. This is not a book for those who want to get an easy account of mafia as a criminal association. Rather, it is a sensitive and accurately balanced analysis of feelings and moods in the Sicilian society of the sixties. To do so, Sciascia uses the detective-story genre and builds a story which is fiction and essay at the same time.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
kenblackie@compuserve.com,
By
This review is from: The Day of the Owl (Paperback)
Leonardo Sciascia uses the mafia killing of a local building contractor as a vehicle on which to describe the ills that, at that time (1961), pervaded Sicily and were creeping ever northwards up the Italian peninsular. "this palm tree line, this strong black coffee line, this scandal line, rising up through Italy and already passed Rome".Captain Bellodi finds that his investigation is not only hampered by lack of evidence or witnesses, but is being actively impeded by corrupt government influences working in conjunction with those that it should be opposing. Here he finds no witnesses only fear. Here he finds no truth only lies. Here he finds no hope only despair. Wonderfully written, as all his detective novels are, it offers no conclusion, it merely states the facts and allows the reader to make their own judgements.
13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A writer in charge of his material,
By
This review is from: The Day of the Owl (Paperback)
In a note at the end of this book, Sciascia explains that he had to constantly trim this book so as not to make anyone identifiable. Although this is ostensibly a complaint against a lack of freedom, it may well be the book's greatest strength.This is wonderfully economic prose - stark, simple, and incredibly effective. The prose is as clear as the case appears to be, but you still have to see it through to the end. A man is murdered, and the investigation could bring down people in very high places. Sciascia could write a shopping list and you'd enjoy every bit.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
