- Paperback: 136 pages
- Publisher: New York Review of Books (Sep 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 159017061X
- ISBN-13: 978-1590170618
- Product Dimensions: 12.7 x 0.9 x 20.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 210,434 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Sunday Tribune
‘Brief, haunting and unforgettable’
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
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.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
38 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Format: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.
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.
Far from being a black-or-white account of Sicily, the book investigates- with its open end that can sometimes leave the reader unsatisfied- the interaction between evil and good in Sicilian society. Perhaps the topic moment of the story is when the policeman interviews the local mafia boss- and gets a lesson on Sicilian life and on the division between 'galantuomini' (good men, sirs) and quaquaraqua' (stupid useless men).
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.
Many of the things told in the book are peculiar to a society which does not exist any more in Sicily. But some of the reflections upon Sicilian culture are fundamental and must be put side by side together with Tomasi di Lampedusa, Verga and Vittorini.
This is the cruel Sciascia, the sharp one.
If one wants to discover the sweet side of his writing- Sicily as an idealised land of childhood memories and never-ending poetry and epics, I would recommend to read Candido (unfortunately not in English translation), The dark-wined sea and Sicilian Uncles, his first novel.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format: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.
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.
14 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format: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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A book you can refuse
Sicily in the mid-20th century and an honest man is gunned down in the street in plain view of dozens of witnesses - but no one saw a thing. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Sam Quixote
atmospheric
This short novel about the investigation of a Mafia killing is an easy read and an atmospheric portrayal of life in a small Sicilian town. Read more
Published 14 months ago by moby-dick
"A Play of Mirrors"
This book was published in Italian in 1961 and in English in 1963. It followed a trail of crime in a Sicilian town and the attempt of the local police captain, a northerner, to... Read more
Published on 15 April 2008 by Reader in Tokyo
Darkness at noon
Leonard Sciascia's Sicily is a dark place, even while it basks under a hot noonday sun. In "The Day of the Owl", Sciascia's native Sicily (he was born in Racalmuto, Sicily in 1921)... Read more
Published on 23 Aug 2007 by Leonard Fleisig
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