Ladies and gentlemen, this is Alessandro Baricco in Novecento.īaricco with his words composes music for mind journeys.įrom the pages of Novecento an extraordinary character emerges, Danny Boodman T. You are infinite, and inside those keys, infinite is the music you can play. You know I’m 88, nobody can care about this. In magica realism, magic is only an auxiliary detail.Now you think: a piano. *If you’re interested, that’s my distinction between fantasy and magical realism: In fantasy, magic is central for the workings of the world.

It’s well-written, short and nice and may hit you at a better moment in your life than it did me. I just felt that I read it at the wrong stage in my life: At the end, Baricco gets a little philosophical-spiritual (a bit like Coelho) and that’s just something I don’t look for in a book anymore. That also makes it the perfect “test book” to see if you like Baricco. You can close the book and feel satisfied that it’s over, you don’t regreat that it’s longer. The book is very short – and there’s no need for it being any longer. And having the story told from the point of view of his friend keeps him a little mysterious, leaves him open to interpretation which is nice. There are some actually magical moments (like how Novecento suddenly learns to play the piano), but they never take center stage – they just facilitate the story or serve as extended metaphors*. With other Baricco books Novecento shares a certain magical atmosphere. I loved his description of the musical duel, for example. Speaking of which: the way Baricco ties music into the narrative is brilliant and very evocative. I especially appreciated the soundtrack instructions – that worked very well for me. Though Novecento is not your classic play, it is a monologue complete with stage instructions. Novecento’s structure is what sets it apart from other Baricco books.

It’s short and wonderfully written and definitely worth to check out. It’s kind of a mixture between a novel and a play. Novecento was written for the actor Eugenio Allegri and director Gabriele Vacis. Novecento disappears for a couple of weeks – and when he’s back, he knows how to play the piano. The machinist practically adopts him and takes care of him until his death, when Novecento is 8 years old. Lemon Novecento was born on a ship, the Virginian, where he was found by a machinist. Novecento is a novel/monologue by Alessandro Baricco.ĭanny Boodman T.

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