I’m Not Scared was a book that caught my attention because it was listed on the 1001 Books You Should Read Before You Die. I had never come across the name of Niccolo Ammaniti anywhere before, and I don’t know when I would have come across it without this list. But fortunately, there is such a list, and luckily I attempted to read the books on this list. Otherwise, I would not be able to meet Ammaniti. I’m Not Scared will end very quickly, but its effect will last much longer.
I’m Not Scared is a book that won one of Italy’s prestigious awards, Viareggio-Repaci, and it has been translated into more than thirty languages. It exquisitely describes the collision between the innocent world of children and the material world of adults.
In I’m Not Scared, which has no winner, Ammaniti takes the reader into the palm of his hand with his depictions and characters. I don’t know why I love every story that takes place in the villages of Italy, and this book was no exception. In this world created by the author, you will encounter hot weather and nature as a character in their own right; You will also grow up with the children in that village. If you like reading Italian literature, you have to read I’m Not Scared by Ammaniti. Enjoy!
I’m Not Scared
In this immensely powerful, lyrical and skillfully narrated novel, set in southern Italy, nine year-old Michele discovers a secret so momentous, so terrible, that he daren’t tell anyone about it. Read an exclusive excerpt at BookBrowse today.
The hottest summer of the twentieth century. A tiny community of five houses in the middle of wheat fields. While the adults shelter indoors, six children venture out on their bikes across the scorched, deserted countryside.
In the midst of that sea of golden wheat, nine year old Michele Amitrano discovers a secret so momentous, so terrible, that he daren’t tell anyone about it. To come to terms with it he will have to draw strength from his own imagination and sense of humanity. The reader witnesses a dual story: the one that is seen through Michele’s eyes, and the tragedy involving the adults of this isolated hamlet. The result is an immensely powerful, lyrical and skillfully narrated novel, its atmosphere reminiscent of Tom Sawyer, Stephen King’s Stand By Me and Italo Calvino‘s Italian Fairy Tales.
Niccolo Ammaniti
Niccolò Ammaniti is an Italian writer, winner of the Premio Strega in 2007 for As God Commands (also published under the title The Crossroads). He became noted in 2001 with the publication of I’m Not Scared (Io non ho paura), a novel which was later made into a movie directed by Gabriele Salvatores.
Niccolò Ammaniti was born in Rome. He studied Biological Sciences at university, and though he did not complete his degree, his first novel, Branchie (published by Ediesse in 1994, and then by Einaudi in 1997), drew on his unfinished dissertation. In 1999, Branchie was adapted into a movie with the same title. In 1995 Ammaniti and his father Massimo published the essay Nel nome del figlio. In 1996 he appeared with his sister in the low-budget movie Growing Artichokes in Mimongo.
A short novel written with Luisa Brancaccio for the anthology Gioventù Cannibale edited by Daniele Brolli came out in 1996, as did a collection of short stories, Fango.
In 1999 the novel Steal You Away (Ti prendo e ti porto via), was published and in 2001 I’m Not Scared (Io non ho paura), which won the 2001 Viareggio Prize and was adapted into a film directed by Gabriele Salvatores in 2003.
In 2006, he published As God Commands (Come Dio comanda), which won the Strega Prize. The novel was adapted into a movie, once again by Gabriele Salvatores.
In 2009, he published Let the Games Begin (Che la festa cominci), and in 2010 Me and You (Io e te), which was later adapted into a movie directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. The script, co-written by Bertolucci, Ammaniti, and others, was nominated for Best Screenplay at the 2013 David di Donatello awards and at the 2013 Italian Golden Globe. In 2015, he published the novel Anna.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
