- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: EUROPA EDITIONS (11 Sep 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1933372443
- ISBN-13: 978-1933372440
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 13.9 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 746,130 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
One late-winter morning, a young man is cycling downhill to primary school when he encounters a peculiar man - as big as a mountain and as filthy as a garbage dump. After a brief conversation this earthy apparition endows him with a gift: an internal clock that allows him to see into the future, and exist in the present at the same time. The young man becomes Timeskipper, seeing and forseeing the epochal events of his era, from postwar reconstruction to the birth of television. These events are tenderly offset by his own personal experiences - love, jobs and adventures.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This promises, at first, to be a magical realist novel. Timeskipper meets God, who tells him he has two clocks - the one we all know and an inner clock that enables him to see the future. So far, so promising. From there, though, it becomes a rather long and rambling coming-of-age story, and the glimpses of the future, the encounters with God and various other beings, slip in and out of the story with no real impact.
That's not the only reason I found this disappointing. There are far far too many characters. Some are introduced so briefly as to be little more than ciphers, names that crop up now and again. When something happened to one fo them, I didn't care, because I hadn't a clue who they were and wasn't interested enough to plough back through what is a very long book to find out.
There are interesting sections, which is why it just scrapes its three stars. The passages set in the 60s are interesting, as is the general idea of progress and the corruption that often goes with it.
There is a subtext, too, which non Italian readers will probably miss, until they read the afterword (but don't read it first as it contains spoilers). Certain events in Italy's history are quite significant, with references so obscure most would miss them anyway, I suspect.
There isn't really much in the way of plot development, and what character development there is is rather marred because the characters are so briefly and unsatisfactorily drawn to begin with. And there are so many of them! You need a notebook to keep track.
All in all, it noodles along, sometimes interesting, often not, sometimes satisfying, sometimes frustrating. There might be enough here for most, but it hasn't made me rush to read any of this author's other books.
That's not the only reason I found this disappointing. There are far far too many characters. Some are introduced so briefly as to be little more than ciphers, names that crop up now and again. When something happened to one fo them, I didn't care, because I hadn't a clue who they were and wasn't interested enough to plough back through what is a very long book to find out.
There are interesting sections, which is why it just scrapes its three stars. The passages set in the 60s are interesting, as is the general idea of progress and the corruption that often goes with it.
There is a subtext, too, which non Italian readers will probably miss, until they read the afterword (but don't read it first as it contains spoilers). Certain events in Italy's history are quite significant, with references so obscure most would miss them anyway, I suspect.
There isn't really much in the way of plot development, and what character development there is is rather marred because the characters are so briefly and unsatisfactorily drawn to begin with. And there are so many of them! You need a notebook to keep track.
All in all, it noodles along, sometimes interesting, often not, sometimes satisfying, sometimes frustrating. There might be enough here for most, but it hasn't made me rush to read any of this author's other books.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Modern Classic
5 Oct 2010
Format:Paperback
I discovered this book reandomly in my local library, and am only grudgingly going to give it back. This is one I will be recommending to all my friends. Excellent writing. The story has a bit of magic to it, while exploring some history of Italy in the 60s, along with biting commentary on the destruction of the environment in the name of progress. All this, in the form of a moving and very funny coming-of-age story! I can't say enough good things about it. I was very sorry when I got to the last page...
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