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Lia Levi

Auteur van The Jewish husband

47 Werken 368 Leden 17 Besprekingen Favoriet van 1 leden

Over de Auteur

Werken van Lia Levi

The Jewish husband (2001) 76 exemplaren
Una bambina e basta (1994) 40 exemplaren
Tonight is Already Tomorrow (2018) 28 exemplaren
Una valle piena di stelle (1997) 17 exemplaren
Cecilia va alla guerra (2000) 14 exemplaren
La sposa gentile (2010) 13 exemplaren
La portinaia Apollonia (2005) 10 exemplaren
La ragazza della foto (2005) 10 exemplaren
Un garibaldino di nome Chiara (2008) 9 exemplaren
Da quando sono tornata (2010) 8 exemplaren
La notte dell'oblio (2012) 7 exemplaren
Trilogia della memoria (2008) 6 exemplaren
La scala dorata (2004) 5 exemplaren
La ‰banda della 3. C (2009) 4 exemplaren
La villa del lago (2003) 4 exemplaren
Il Pappagallo Francese (2006) 4 exemplaren
La gomma magica (1999) 4 exemplaren
Quasi un'estate (1995) 4 exemplaren
L' amore mio non puo (2006) 4 exemplaren
Maddalena resta a casa (2009) 3 exemplaren
Ognuno accanto alla sua notte (2021) 3 exemplaren
Nessun giorno ritorna (2007) 3 exemplaren
Il braccialetto (2014) 2 exemplaren
Se va via il re (2006) 2 exemplaren
La collana della regina (2008) 2 exemplaren
Una famiglia formato extralarge (2007) 2 exemplaren
Tutti i giorni di mia vita (2003) 2 exemplaren
Un cuore da Leone (2014) 1 exemplaar
La esposa gentil (2012) 1 exemplaar
Che cos'è l'antisemitismo? (2018) 1 exemplaar
Il sole cerca moglie (2001) 1 exemplaar

Tagged

Algemene kennis

Gangbare naam
Levi, Lia
Geboortedatum
1931-11-09
Geslacht
female
Nationaliteit
Italy
Geboorteplaats
Pisa, Italia
Woonplaatsen
Rome, Italy
Beroepen
scrittrice
giornalista
novelist
children's book author
journalist
Korte biografie
Lia Levi was born to a Jewish family in Pisa, Italy. After the issuance of the Fascist racial laws in 1938, and the start of persecution of Jews, her family left northern Italy and found refuge in Rome. After World War II ended, Levi stayed in Rome, where she completed her studies in philosophy and became a successful journalist. In 1957, she married Roberto Calderoni, with whom she had two children; after they divorced in 1970, she re-married to Luciano Tas. In 1994, Levi published her first novel, Una bambina e basta (Just a Child), which won the Else Morante Prize. A sequel appeared in 1996, Se va via il re (If the King Goes Away). Her novel L’albergo della magnolia (The Jewish Husband) won the Moravia Prize for fiction in 2001 and when it was translated into English in 2009, it received critical acclaim in the English-speaking world. She also has written numerous children’s books about Italian historical events of the recent past. Several of her other works have won major awards. Levi served as the editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine Shalom for more than 30 years, beginning in 1967.

Leden

Besprekingen

Autumn 1943. A Jewish child and a city occupied by German soldiers. The father is not there. His mother works at home and Daniel has to rush to queue to buy food. But it is the grim concierge Apollonia, certainly a witch, who scares him more than anything. Until one day... Maybe even a witch can save a child?
 
Gemarkeerd
Quilt18 | Oct 25, 2023 |
L'Albergo della Magnolia è un romanzo subdolo: inizia con un tono lieve, leggero, quasi frivolo. Ti fa quasi dubitare del suo valore letterario e ti fa pensare che sia solo la solita storia d'amore travolta dagli eventi storici.

In realtà, l'autrice tesse intorno ai suoi lettori una rete di inconsapevolezza simile a quella che avvolge Dino, il protagonista, ebreo, che vuole sposare una ragazza di buona famiglia, cattolica e benestante. Siamo nel periodo fascista e gli ostacoli a un'unione del genere sembrano insormontabili: tuttavia, con tenacia, il protagonista riesce a superarli e a sposare la sua bellissima Sonia Gentile.

Sembra non rendersi conto, però, che la sua non è affatto una vittoria: non è affatto riuscito a entrare nella famiglia di Sonia. Di fatto viene a malapena tollerato, come un cane rognoso che venga sopportato solo perché la bambina lo trova incomprensibilmente carino.

Ma l'aspetto peggiore è che Dino è disposto a perdere la propria dignità per diventare uno di famiglia, per essere amato e stimato come meriterebbero la sua cultura e la sua intelligenza, indiscutibilmente superiori a quelle dei membri della famiglia Gentile, appiattiti in una comoda visione del mondo borghese.

E quando il dramma delle leggi razziali si abbatterà su di lui, innescando una serie di eventi che, con il senno del poi, parevano inevitabili, Dino non potrà far altro che arrendersi alle logiche della famiglia Gentile.
… (meer)
 
Gemarkeerd
lasiepedimore | 6 andere besprekingen | Sep 12, 2023 |
Alessandro used to be considered a genius when he was younger. Then school started and his mother started realizing that he is bright but probably not a genius. This could have been the story of any precocious child with an overbearing mother who thinks her son is the best one and noone is better in anything. Except that this specific family happened to live in Genoa, Italy in the mid 1930s. And the family was Jewish.

The mother had been born and raised in Genoa and her whole family is in the area - providing Alessandro with a grandfather and numerous uncles, aunts and cousins. She believes that she is safe in Genoa and that nothing bad can happen to her at home. The father is a British citizen who had always thought that one day he is going to go back - except that the wife is not really interested in leaving her home so he never did.

And then Italy slowly starts changing the rules - the race laws come into effect and being Jewish becomes a problem. And yet, the family stays - the mother is not ready to admit that she must go and as she makes the decision at home, they all stay. The city is flooded with refugees from Austria and Germany and yet they stay - because it will never happen to them, not in Genoa. When the war really starts, the father ends up being branded as an enemy - that British passport which he always considered his Plan B ends up being less than useless - too late to use it to flee, now it ends up getting him sent to the middle of nowhere in the country (better than a camp I guess). And the rules keep changing.

The novel ends on what seems to be a cliffhanger - but only on the surface. The story which the author set out to tell is told - the story of a family which could not believe that things will go that bad, a family who believed in their own city and country and who ended up losing all in the process. In the next few years a lot more families will lose a lot more but this is a story for another place.

It is a story about how slowly changes happen sometimes and how clinging to the familiar can harm you. Reading the novel you want to shake the mother and tell her to run. And yet, the reality is that noone knew what was coming and even when people thought they knew, they still believed they were safe where they were.

Tucked at the end of the novel is a note by the author that the novel is based on real life events - those of her husband's family, complete with a photocopy of his documentation at the border.

If you are looking for heroics, that is not the novel for you. It is a slow (except for the end of course), almost meditative novel about a family, a place and a time. It sounds almost banal - it could have been any family. But then this is part of the point - it was just another family - which got luckier than most.

The novel won the 2018 Strega Giovani award (the youth/YA version of Premio Strega - the biggest Italian award; this one is awarded by a jury of over a thousand upper secondary school students who get to read the 12 nominated books and vote for the best/their favorite).

Not a perfect novel and most of the characters are nowhere near likeable. And yes, the story is believable, even before you find that author's note. How much of the story is reality and how much invention is unclear but it works as is.
… (meer)
½
 
Gemarkeerd
AnnieMod | 2 andere besprekingen | Mar 28, 2023 |

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Statistieken

Werken
47
Leden
368
Populariteit
#65,433
Waardering
½ 3.7
Besprekingen
17
ISBNs
86
Talen
3
Favoriet
1

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