Book Review: Me, You by Erri De Luca

About:

Me, You by Erri De Luca (translated by Beth Archer Brombert) is a fictional coming of age story of a boy at the end of World War II. The book was previously released as Sea of Memory.

The pub­lisher is giv­ing away one copy for two winners of this novella— enter at the end of the post.

• 160 pages
• Publisher: Other Press
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590514793

My rating for Me,You – 4
Buy Me, You from Amazon.com*
More books by Erri De Luca*
More Books translated by Beth Archer Brombert*

Thoughts:

Me, You by Erri De Luca is set in a small Italian fishing village after World War II ended, in the 1950s. The story takes place over one summer where the boy explores his new found feelings, love, lost and the grim realities of war.

The author tells the story with sensitivity and depth. The other characters in the book give the narrative depth, mostly in answer to the curious boy’s questions. While we all love to read and discuss history, we often find that firsthand accounts are not easy to come by. The narrator of this book finds that as well. Questioning the village men about the war, not being satisfied by the answers, he discovers that instead of answering they simply clam up.

For our narrator, the war is history, for the adults the war provokes horrendous memories of serving in the Italian Army which was controlled by the Nazis. Some adults managed to avoid committing war crimes and atrocities, but others are still bogged by guilt doing things they were ordered to do against their conscious, others helped those who they were suppose to oppress.

As the boy hears more stories, the angrier he gets at the Germans. When the narrator befriends a Jewish girl, a holocaust survivor, his anger gets harsher. Caia, or Chaia, is attracted to him as well, as the friendship deepens we learn more about Caia’s deep secrets.

The story revolves around the life in the village, the relationship between the boy and his girl, the fishermen, family members and atmosphere. The village is another character in this novella and, like the rest of the human characters, is being treated with respect and sensitivity.

As it is a coming of age story, the boy’s anger combined with his newfound love bring him to crossroads, whichever way he turns, his life will never be the same again.

Buy Me, You from Amazon.com*
More books by Erri De Luca*
More Books translated by Beth Archer Brombert*

Give­away

• Give­away ends: November 13, 2011

• US/Canada Ship­ping Addresses Only

• Win­ners will have 24 hours to write back with their address, oth­er­wise an alter­nate win­ner will be picked

Congratulations: madamerkf@, scarpeta1217@

Zohar – Man of la Book
Disclaimer – I got this book for free.
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account, the money is usually spent on books
Article first published as Book Review: Me, You by Erri De Luca on Blogcritics.

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Summary

Reviewer

Man of la Book

Review Date

2011-11-06

Reviewed Item

Me, You by Erri De Luca

Author Rating

4