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CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS OVER AN ELEVATOR IN PIAZZA VITTORIO
By: 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 victimβs 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, βgiving evidence,β recounting his or her storyβthe dramas of racial identity, the anxieties and misunderstandings born of a life spent on societyβs margins, the daily humiliations provoked by mainstream cultureβs 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 allβItaliana 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.
 Media BuzzFresh Air - NPR - November 12, 2008
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