Riparare i Torti - Pino Cacucci

 

I hadn't read a book by Cacucci in ages. And it's lovely to see that he's still mildly obsessed with Mexico, and that he remains an excellent storyteller. 

As usual, he tells a (fictional) story of forgotten characters based on real events: the Italian sailors left stranded and uncertain in Mexico as a result of their country's entry into WWII. The story is compelling, and while most of the characters and rather dogmatically sketched (there is often little room for nuances) I found it quite easy to grow fond of a lot of them. 

Through the life of the "proper Fascist" whose identity gets stolen Cacucci shows some very justifiable sympathy for those poor idiots who were taken (or allowed themselves to be taken) for a ride by a regime based on hollow promises and misconceptions. Yet, I wish he wouldn't err so much towards the conspirational at times, because he has enough factual history on his hands to make for a really good novel without resorting to too many mysteries and subterfuges. 

Puerto Escondido – Pino Cacucci

I read this book after watching a travel program on Mexico in which Cacucci was gallivanting around the country with a couple of Italian comedians. Now that I think about it, there isn’t much to say about the novel: it’s just a series of wacky adventures that lead the main character to end up in the Mexican village of Puerto Escondido.

It’s just that – not a masterpiece, not a work of great literature – but it’s absolutely lovely, and isn’t this what reading (at times, not always!) should be about?

In Ogni Caso Nessun Rimorso – Pino Cacucci

Cacucci is one of those really good (not great, but really good) Italian writers whose existence somehow is often forgotten by the country’s shrinking readership. He has written fiction (Puerto Escondido is a funny little gem) as well as fictionalized history books, like this one about Jules Bonnot and the Bonnot Gang at the turn of the century.

The novel alternates fictionalized descriptions of Bonnot’s life to frequent extracts from anarchist writing (it is also the novel which introduced me to Max Stirner: until I was 16 I was convinced that Bakunin had been the only actual anarchist philosopher). It is a beautiful attempt to again give importance to the small defeated of history (the big ones are still remembered, the small ones are quickly forgotten). More people should read this book (even if it’s just to realize who were the members of the first criminal gang to use a car), but even in this case more people won’t.