Define About Books 54
| Title | : | 54 |
| Author | : | Wu Ming |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Super ET |
| Pages | : | Pages: 680 pages |
| Published | : | January 1st 2008 by Einaudi (first published 2002) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Historical. Historical Fiction. Cultural. Italy |
Wu Ming
Paperback | Pages: 680 pages Rating: 3.89 | 1610 Users | 120 Reviews
Interpretation In Pursuance Of Books 54
Non è dopoguerra, è solo un'altra guerra. Il mondo è diviso in blocchi, in realtà ideologie e frontiere si stanno già sgretolando: merci e droga non conoscono confini. Dall'Italia a Mosca a Hollywood, tra balere, viaggi clandestini oltrefrontiera e incontri di pugilato, una folla di protagonisti, spinti da una corrente che li travolge e li supera, si muove verso uno sbocco ignoto. Nuovi eretici, ex partigiani, contrabbandieri, narcotrafficanti, agenti segreti, figli in cerca di un padre si muovono e si sfiorano, inconsapevoli pedine di un grande disegno. Tra loro c'è Cary Grant, l'attore che da due anni non gira un film, il grande di umili origini, la cui eleganza diventa il metro di misura della dignità personale, sull'orlo di una grande onda che sta per travolgere tutto. Sui flutti, come la bara in Moby Dick, galleggia un misterioso televisore, simbolo di progresso tecnologico e di radioso avvenire...
Mention Books In Favor Of 54
| Original Title: | 54 |
| ISBN: | 8806193198 (ISBN13: 9788806193195) |
| Edition Language: | Italian URL http://www.einaudi.it/libri/libro/wu-ming/54/978880622075 |
| Characters: | Josip Broz Tito, Cary Grant, Lucky Luciano, Ivan Aleksandrovič Serov, Robespierre 'Pierre' Capponi, Nicola Capponi, Salvatore 'Kociss' Pagano, Steve 'Cemento' Zollo |
| Setting: | Bologna,1954(Italy) Trieste,1953(Italy) Napoli,1954(Italy) …more Palm Springs, California,1954(United States) Moscow, USSR,1954 Gramovac, Yugoslavia,1954 …less |
| Literary Awards: | PEN Translation Prize Nominee for Shaun Whiteside (2007) |
Rating About Books 54
Ratings: 3.89 From 1610 Users | 120 ReviewsArticle About Books 54
Uneven but i liked it and was especially amused with the Cary Grant storyline.For the reader willing to put in the time, this book is very fun and interesting. Hard to follow initially due to the many Italian names which can be hard to keep track of. But stick with it and a fascinating read weaving Italian post war politics, Cary Grant as James Bond, and Lucky Luciano's drug smuggling into a a delightful brew. Not as good at Wu Ming's Q but still very good.
Set in 1954, Italy, and Yugoslavia (Croatia mostly) at the height of the Cold War with the Russians trying to bring Yugoslavia back to Communism.Lucky Luciano fixing horse races & dealing heroin. His fixer Steve Cement (after the concrete shoe services) gets picked up for a murder and held 3 months under interrogation. Meanwhile he needs to recover the tv set that he hid the drugs he skimmed, to make his sale and escape out of Italy.Pierre has lost touch with his father who is in Yugoslavia,
I found 54 a bit messy - too many characters (going by different names), too many plot lines, too many point of views... The point of view especially bugged me, it is all over the place, with first, second and third person used in turns. A good few of the plot lines didn't really interest me either. I wonder about the collective writing: did each writer come up with an idea, and they sewn it all together then? I does feel that way at times.
This is SO right up my alley, an absurd fictionalization of history featuring several wildly different storylines with dozens of colorful characters crossing paths. Some characters are real historical figures (Josip Broz Tito, Cary Grant, Lucky Luciano) some are fictional, a couple of the best are fleshed-out bit players from newsreels and films. Hollywood, the Balkans, Soviet espionage, the Mafia, intergenerational family drama, post-WWII history, Italian tabloid headlines the sort of story
Entertaining example of the New Italian Epic, a historiographic metafiction, I believe is the term, about what's going on (specifically in Italy) in 1954. Cary Grant has coffee with Tito and drops acid too.
Serves me right for being sucked in by the Cary Grant angle but his was a major disappointment.
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