Reading Recluse📘 "The Duke" by Matteo Melchiorre, translated from Italian into English by Antonella Lettieri
My final read for the IBP longlist (of the books that have been released so far). I don't think this book would have caught my attention in the wild, so I'm glad I picked it up because of the prize. I had a great time.
Summarized in the most ridiculous way, this is a book about a rich guy with a lot of time and the village bully with a lot of resources getting into a long fight over a piece of land. More seriously, this is a book about conflict, borders, identity, self-doubt, reparations, revenge, legacy, the aftermath of inequality, and what it might mean to belong. It's about a buzzard and a crow and: what does it mean for the present, the way things were in the past?
I loved how old-fashioned and contemporary this book felt at the same time. The writing style feels classic, but is also incredibly readable. The setting of the novel, a small village in the mountains, shares this duality. There's reading by candlelight at night and not one smartphone can be spotted, but there's also farming equipment with ergonomic seats and extreme weather due to climate change. The book embraces this oddly satisfying combination that matches the themes of the book well.
The narrative voice is formal, witty and broody. It's super distinct, you could easily pick out this protagonist from a writing lineup of dozens of characters. I can imagine it being difficult work for a translator to carry such a strong voice from one language into another, but I can only imagine that it was done very well. At times I was (guiltily) cheering on protagonist's worst ideas: yeah, let's go, let's do this shit!!! Other times I thought he was insufferable and I wanted nothing more than to stop him. It was always interesting to observe his reasonings and mood swings.
There's mystery, intrigue, village politics... There's conflict over borders and local control, but zoomed in until we're at this tiny scale. Two men are creating trouble and all villagers are indirectly carrying the weight of the consequences, whether they want to or not. But did the trouble really start with these two?
There's no opt-out button from the people who own the ground you're standing on or who can destroy your livelihood with a snap of their fingers. But can you opt out when you're at the other end of that stick?
A timely book.
TinJar
TinJar
Esther Beck