Blue Hunger

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In the nail salon, a woman with pockmarks slept slumped over in a child-size chair in front of magazine ads taped to the wall. Blue Hunger asks how we create our identities and how we escape them; it is a fever-dream of a novel, visionary and uncanny, that demolishes all taboos and wisely explores, in a wildly imaginative language, the twisted peaks of loss and desire. Dovrebbe trattare del lutto e della riscoperta di sé stessi ma tutto ciò di cui si concentra la protagonista è la ragazza cinese, antipatica e tossica. The same hand that she had grabbed suddenly in the street and held all the way to the hotel: a hand that had absorbed a kind of promise. No me gusta que nadie llegue a anularse o dejar de lado por la dependencia que tiene hacia otra persona.

Once there, though, she becomes numb, lost, merely going to work, sightseeing and living with her pain – until, that is, she visits a nightclub and meets Xu. Capita di sentirlo nelle tempie o nella punta formicolante delle dita - una turbolenza simile a uno sciame, a una corsa d'insetti nel buio - o nell'incavo sudato di un ginocchio. My favourite stories were ‘bones’ and ‘scab’ as the metaphors and words used to describe protagonist’s pain and numbness were intricate to say the least. Read more about the condition New: A new, unread, unused book in perfect condition with no missing or damaged pages. Viola Di Grado scrive un romanzo cupo, incalzante, in equilibrio precario tra l’istinto di sopravvivere e il bisogno di sentirsi ancora vivi.Nothing really happens, yet everything seems to subsume the main character, Ruben—love, loss and language. On top of all of that, language, both as a concept for the narrative and the intertextuality of the novel, is used to isolate Ruben further as a foreigner in China; it's a deep-seated displacement that I, as a reader, felt with the character. Actually, it feels a bit like a number of things it isn’t: a dystopia, an elegy, a crooked love story. Blue Hunger by Viola Di Grado captures perfectly the isolating and strange feelings the narrator experiences through the combined affects of bereavement and living in a foreign place, culture and language.

Blue Hunger (translated by Jamie Richards) focuses on an unnamed young Italian woman, introducing us to her shortly after her move to Shanghai to be an Italian teacher. Not my cup of tea, but I would recommend it to readers seeking slow-paced, character-heavy, plotless novels. I would definitely go back to specific excerpts though because the author and translator genuinely did such a wonderful job with this book. In luminous and startling prose, Viola Di Grado lays bare the risk inherent in human relationships, the capacity we have to inflict and enjoy pain as well as pleasure, and the disassembling power of grief.

Di Grado’s prose is exhilaratingly dynamic, made up of fragmented paragraphs that look and sound like prose poetry and that use poetic language in surprising and edgy ways. At the heart of the story is a woman devastated by the death of her twin, seeking refuge in prescription medication, alcohol and lonely nights in front of Chinese TV. With her first novel 70% Acrylic 30% Wool she became the youngest winner of Italy’s Premio Campiello Opera Prima and the youngest finalist for the Premio Strega.

Blue Hunger, a prose poem and a fearless descent into language and the realm of meanings, is about our experience in the acidic lights of the contemporary world.Turning right, I came to the reception of another hotel, an elegant man in the glow of a blue sign, and then to the sleeping pock-marked woman again, so I went the other way and this time it was the right direction. She holds a degree in Eastern Languages from the University of Turin and a Masters from the University of London.