Stefano Benni's Margherita at the European Book Club
Next month’s European Book Club focuses on Italy and the title being discussed is Stefano Benni’s Margherita Dolce Vita, translated by Anthony Shugaar. Benni’s enormously popular and distinctive mix of the absurd and the satirical has made him one of Italy’s best-loved novelists. In this, his twelfth bestselling book of fiction, fifteen-year-old Margherita lives with her eccentric family on the outskirts of town, a semi-urban wilderness peopled by gypsies, illegal immigrants, and no end of bizarre characters: a reassuring and fertile playground for an imaginative little girl like Margherita. But one day, a gigantic, black cube shows up next door. Her new neighbors have arrived, and they’re destined to ruin everything.
The European Book Club is a joint enterprise of the Austrian, Czech, French, German, Italian and Spanish cultural institutes in New York City. The Club meets monthly in a different cultural institute and discuss a well-known, contemporary novel of the respective country.
The European Book Club has already met to discuss a couple of Europa titles— The Elegance of the HedgehogClash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio (Italy)—and in 2009, in addition to Margherita Dolce Vita, Katherina Hacker's remarkable The Have-Nots (Germany) is on the roster. (France) and
The European Book Club is a joint enterprise of the Austrian, Czech, French, German, Italian and Spanish cultural institutes in New York City. The Club meets monthly in a different cultural institute and discuss a well-known, contemporary novel of the respective country.
The European Book Club has already met to discuss a couple of Europa titles— The Elegance of the HedgehogClash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio (Italy)—and in 2009, in addition to Margherita Dolce Vita, Katherina Hacker's remarkable The Have-Nots (Germany) is on the roster. (France) and