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Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio
Amara Lakhous
Europa Editions
October 2008
On Sale: September 30, 2008
144 pages
ISBN: 1933372613
EAN: 9781933372617
Paperback
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Fiction
A compelling mix of social satire and murder mystery. A small culturally mixed community living in an apartment
building in the center of Rome is thrown into disarray when
one of the neighbors is murdered. An investigation ensues
and as each of the victim’s neighbors is questioned, the
reader is offered an all-access pass into the most colorful
neighborhood in contemporary Rome. Each character takes his
or her turn center-stage, “giving evidence,” recounting his
or her story—the dramas of racial identity, the anxieties
and misunderstandings born of a life spent on society’s
margins, the daily humiliations provoked by mainstream
culture’s fears and indifference, preconceptions and
insensitivity. What emerges is a moving story that is
common to us all, whether we live in Italy or Los Angeles. This novel is animated by a style that is as colorful as
the neighborhood it describes and is characterized by
seemingly effortless equipoise that borrows from the
cinematic tradition of the Commedia all’Italiana as
exemplified by directors such as Federico Fellini. At the heart of this bittersweet comedy told with affection
and sensitivity is a social reality that we often tend to
ignore and an anthropological analysis, refreshing in its
generosity, that cannot fail to fascinate.
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