La Malora – Beppe Fenoglio

A rare work of art by Fenoglio that is not about Italian Fascism. It’s still about “my” hills though, so I’m obviously still biased. My heart clearly considers this (like pretty much anything else by Fenoglio) to be one of the best books of the Italian 20^th century. However, I do fully realize that most readers will (fairly rightfully) agree to disagree with me.

Because at the end of the day this book is about something so local, from the landscape of the area to the actual challenges faced by Agostino and his family, that it is probably really hard to understand for outsiders. I’ve grown up walking, hiking, and cycling on those hills, looking at the farms and fields that Fenoglio talks about. For anyone that hasn’t done this, the book is bound to be extremely dry, probably too grim, and the small accomplishments and huge hurdles in Agostino’s way are probably going to be almost incomprehensible.

Yet, for someone who has grown up on those hills and whose granddad was a “countryside serf”, as they called themselves, much like the novel’s protagonist, this is a work of incomparable beauty. And it seems hard to believe that those harsh hills are now on everybody’s mouths because of their wines.