Nonna Carla - by Alain Elkann & K E Bättig Von Wittelsbach (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

One of Alain Elkann's most intimate books, this is a story told through diary entries that lovingly and demurely investigate his mother's illness and death. From the warning signs of illness to the traumatic experience of the intensive care unit to the closing moments of the funeral, these are memories that emerge as simple and precise, highlighting a son's rebellion and helplessness in the face of his mother's demise. This is a meditation on death and it's ability to still catch us unprepared, leaving behind a void that even time is never able to fill.

Review Quotes

"A book different from Alain Elkann's others, more intimately suffered, offering itself to the reader with a sincerity without repair."

Raffaele La Capria

"[This] book is divided into two parts. First a diary, sad and excited, lost and resigned, of the last months spent with her. And then a reflection that comes later, when she is gone, and memories come back, along with regrets and a fresh look at what was and what was not between mother and son throughout their lives. There is no hesitation, either before or after, in going inside the pain. In trying to shape it through words, living it on one's own skin. Once precipitated inside the loss - 'I am an orphan now, ' the author says to himself, almost in disbelief - comes the afterthought, a kind of lucid revisiting of the mother and son relationship. Around them, the family, custodian of memories and nostalgia."

Elena Loewenthal, La Stampa

"A short but intimate book, where the truth of grief and writing are interwoven against the backdrop of everyday life: children's journeys, the waiting for a grandchild...."

Vera Schiavazzi, La Repubblica