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Title: The Day Before Happiness
Subtitle: A Novel
Author: Erri De Luca, Michael Moore (translator)
Narrator: P.J. Ochlan
Format: Unabridged
Length: 4 hrs and 10 mins
Language: English
Release date: 02-26-14
Publisher: Audible Studios
Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes
Genres: Fiction, Contemporary
Publisher's Summary:
Just after World War II, a young orphan living in Naples comes under the protection of Don Gaetano, the superintendent of an apartment building. He is a generous man and is very attached to the boy, telling him about the war and the liberation of the city by the Neapolitans. He teaches him to play cards, shows him how to do odd jobs for the tenants, and even initiates him into the world of sex by sending him one evening to a widow who lives in the building. But Don Gaetano possesses another gift as well: he knows how to read peoples thoughts and guesses correctly that his young friend is haunted by the image of a girl he noticed by chance behind a window during a soccer match. Years later, when the girl returns, the orphan will need Don Gaetanos help more than ever.
Members Reviews:
My rating of The Day Before Happiness
I read the book as a member of a book club. I enjoyed the writing style of the translation. The translator carefully chose his words to tell the story in the fewest words possible. Very compact, yet descriptive. As I was reading the book I wondered if the original language was as rich and beautiful as the translation. I also enjoyed the first person narrative from a young boy's perspective. The main characters were rich, beautifully described; I was able to identify with the boy and his mentor. I appreciate that the author uses the same translator-it is alomost as if they are co-writing the novel. I will definately read another book by this author.
A Wonderful Reading Experience
"The Day Before Happiness" is a delightful read about a throwaway boy just after WW II and how he grows up with the insightful help of a local 'fix-it' man. The translation does not obscure the regional nature of Naples with all of its charm and tradgedy shortly after the liberation by the Americans. It is streaked throughout with hopefulness and an expectation of happiness just on the horizon. I donated this book to the local Library to help them expand in this time of severe budget constraints.I bought this book from Amazon and am pleased I did !
Three Stars
Beginning is good, but somehow doesn't take off later.
"Man is a basin that collects stories - the lower he is, the more he receives."
(4.5 stars) Described by Milan's daily newspaper Corriere della Serra as "the only true first-rate writer that the new millennium has given us for now," Erri De Luca writes a story of Naples, filling it with well-developed characters who live through three different time periods - 1943, as Naples has its popular uprising against their German occupiers; the early 1950s, when the unnamed narrator, a young orphan of about seven, is growing up; and the early 1960s, when the young man is now finishing school and about to set out on his own. The novel moves back and forth in time, as the author writes an often lyrical novel full of noble sentiments and wise observations, at the same time that it is packed with details about life and behavior.
The young orphan grows up in the early 1950s without any real supervision, living in a back room belonging to Don Gaetano, the doorman of an apartment building. As a child soccer player famous for his monkey-like ability to retrieve the ball when it goes awry, he discovers a secret passageway into a grotto behind a statue.