Blurb
Giorgio de Maria – ‘Twenty Days of Turin.’ This work by de Maria follows a man in Turin who chooses to investigate a series of unexplained, violent events that occurred a decade before the setting of the novel. The killings, all done with the same bloody modus operandi, happened in some of the city’s best-known spots, often in full view of hundreds of people, yet no one could really remember anything except for vague hints of shadows sliding among the almost catatonic crowds and the echoes of metallic, grey, and threatening cries. The horror in this novel has been cited as an allegory for the fascist violence that plagued Italy during the Years of Lead from the 1960s to the 1980s.
About the Author:
Giorgio De Maria was a pianist, critic, playwright, and novelist. He wrote four novels, the best remembered of which is Twenty Days. It has a cult following in Italy and in leftist circles.
Really enjoying my time with this one, and trying very hard to pace myself! I like @marxisthayaca would have happily read this whole thing this weekend but I stopped myself, if only so I have a little treat throughout the week.
Anyway, I think the first two chapters were a bit too much dialogue and not even other stuff for my taste, but I suppose it was necessary to begin setting things up. There’s a hushed, dreadful mood throughout that I’m liking a lot. Feels like a group of people leaning on my shoulder just telling me to sshhh, don’t talk about that! All the people dying from covid? All the violence and brutality necessary to uphold a society where I can post on Hexbear? No no ssshhhhh, just go about your day. Don’t talk about the killings, just consume. That kind of mods is (obviously) applicable to real life and seems to permeate the book thus far.
Chapter 3 is where it really picks up for me. The Library is just a wonderful, Borges-esque addition to this story that I love. Pretty obviously an unintentional allegory for the internet as it exists today, with its flame wars and mad, rambling blog posts about nothing but the internal monologue of the unhinged desperately trying to be heard. Sharing personal shit like that, amidst a general atmosphere of malaise, is probably not great for anybody’s mental wellbeing!
I was pretty hooked by Chapter 3. I am fascinated how De Maria uses smiling teens as the recruiters for the Library. And funny enough, i had never considered losing sleep from my postings on social media. I hope not to now that the idea has been planted into my head — I already worry that one day someone will report my social media accounts to my employers so I’ve tried to not post anything work-related.
![[Book Club Discussion | Part 1: Chapters 1 – 3] Giorgio De Maria - 'Twenty Days of Turin'(hexbear.net)](https://hexbear.net/pictrs/image/AVN2oxHYg9.png){kind=link}