The Book of Homes - by Andrea Bajani (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

From prizewinning Italian author Andrea Bajani: the secrets of a man and his country as seen through the eyes of the homes that have guarded them.

A finalist for Italy's prestigious Strega Prize, The Book of Homes is a remarkable achievement: a sprawling story that unfolds across much of Italy and yet that is told within the confines of the homes of its characters-and often from the point of view of the homes themselves: the many homes that shaped our main character named "I," though the novel is in third-person; the home of I's childhood companion, a turtle in her shell; the final homes of two figures whose murders shattered a country: a kidnapped, murdered politician; a poet dead in the street, run over by his own car. . . Both chilling and touching, The Book of Homes is an ambitious coming-of-age story unlike any other. One that jumps from home to home, upstairs to downstairs, decade to decade, and slowly reveals the blueprints--the puzzle pieces--to a life's story.

Extraordinary, emotionally resonant, and utterly unique, The Book of Homes affirms Andrea Bajani's status as a major force in contemporary international literature, and dares readers to consider what they'd be willing to give up in order to keep themselves.

Review Quotes

Finalist for the Strega Prize

"Bajani's episodic, nonlinear narrative traces one man's memories and rites of passage through a series of northern Italian homes, from infancy in 1976 to 21st-century adulthood." -The Millions

"This lush narrative is a memorable tale of a man shaped by the walls around him." --Publishers Weekly

"A real writer, a real artistic style, and a world in itself."--Mircea Cartarescu 

"Andrea Bajani, explores, as no one has done before him, that place in the world where we have discovered the most and loved the most, where we have been hurt the most and where, finally, we have become ourselves." --Sandro Veronesi

"Il libro delle case is a tough, illuminating investigation into finding other answers to the same question.  "Who are you?" we're often asked. And we are also our homes." --Claudia Durastanti

"One of today's best and most versatile writers. With this new work, Andrea Bajani offers surprising and magnificent narrative images. Images that portrays the depths of pain, pleasure, tragedy, nostalgia or pure comedy and amazement typical of human beings."--Mercedes Monmany, ABC Culturàagrave;l

"The Book of Homes is the most original book I have read in the last twenty years. Although it is very understandable in its poetic and sweetness, the most receptive reader will be caught in a puzzle trap that is by no means simple: reconstructing the author's biography. At the same time, the author doubles as a reserved narrator and I, the literary hero. Sometimes the descriptions of the author's houses come with a blueprint copy. The name of the town or place where the house is located is often included, and the year in which the author stayed there is always indicated - but even these specific information are not enough to reconstruct author's real life. The book of houses represents a thinly concealed autobiography, in which the main role is given neither to the author nor to the ego, but to the houses, the living, all concrete spaces, which, mysteriously, the reader perceives as dreams." --Dubravka Ugresic

"With Il libro delle case,  Andrea Bajani recounts his "life as a man," and at the same time--by entering the homes that the narrative I lives in over the years--he captures the small and large upheavals (fears and burning desires, betrayed expectations and the longing for redemption) that pepper the inner life of each of us, that no one knows a thing about. Marriage, divorce, parents, children, escapes, returns, uprootings, unresolved conflicts with our loved ones. All of this as time goes by, changing our perception of the world (and of others, and ourselves). And in the background, the story of Italy. Only the living walk steadily beside the spectre of possible failure, and only those hopeful for an authentic relationship with others can

About the Author

Andrea Bajani was born in Rome in 1975. He is the author of many award-winning novels, including, in English translation, If You Kept A Record of Sins (Archipelago, 2021) and Every Promise (Maclehose Press, 2013). He is currently a writer in residence at Rice University in Houston, Texas.

Elizabeth Harris is a literary translator specializing in contemporary Italian fiction. She is the author of multiple award-winning full-length translations include works by Giulio Mozzi (Open Letter Books), Antonio Tabucchi (Archipelago Books) and Mario Rigoni Stern (Autumn Hill Books).