An anonymous underground. A floor in concrete, dust, bare and old pillars. And blood.
An unspecified Italian secret service has a prisoner, a dissident called Coda di Lupo. And he wants to make it speak, by every means necessary. Coda di Lupo speaks, it is said, marking his life to the notes of the song by Fabrizio De André, from his childhood and the G8 in Genoa to the last, desperate years of resistance in the Susa Valley.
A novel that speaks of struggle, resistance, state, suffering, death. And the joy of fighting, despite all the sacrifices that this entails.
On the notes of "Coda di lupo" by Fabrizio de Andre, the author tells us a story of struggle, resistance, opposition, a story of strength, sometimes violent and not always just.
"This book speaks of a State, the one that should be removed from the initial capital as dirty and bloodthirsty as it is, of its need to perpetrate itself and its power against all dissidents who would like to change it.
The story is told by Coda di Lupo, a man who calls himself a rebel, but whom the authorities call a terrorist.
Coda di Lupo is an activist, he is part of the NoTav movement in Val Susa and what he does in this text is
to tell us about his life, his battles, his sufferings.
"I have become a rebel because when you are hopeless and without anything else you either shoot a shot on your head or you lift your middle finger and fight.
In a handful of pages, Coda di Lupo transmits to us his resentment, his pain, his tenacity, the ardor he puts in the fight for what he believes right.
"And he no longer hears music, but only the warm embrace of anger and the caresses of the conviction of being right.
In this book there are many things that you spontaneously think about.
From the interests of the State, to the good it says it does, to the disgust it commits in the dark of common unconsciousness.
Finally, you also ask yourself: who is the real hero and who is the baddie?
Was Hero the policeman who, to the detriment of his life, tries to quell the protests in order to restore order? Or is it the boy who protests about cuts in public education and who is beaten by the police with a truncheon?
"When I was a child I fell in love with everything.
Then I became great.
And hatred has begun.
A book that in its brevity gives us a glimpse of an unjust Italy, far from the utopia of peace.
The writer adopts a language not the most elegant, sometimes uses hard and dark words.
His intention, in fact, is to show us a reality that is not always visible to everyone, but often hidden and ignored. He does not want to lull us with sweet words, but to show us the harshness of truth.
"These bloodstains, this torture, this murder: the story of a dissident.
A raw, incensed text, a battle cry that wants to push the reader to open his eyes.
A book that is also a manifesto, a way to fight and assert the truth.
If you are looking for a light reading here you will not find it, but if it is a story of values that you want, this is the one that suits you.
A volume that struck me with its direct action, its harsh words and its horrifying images.
A book to which I cheque:
Plot: 4 - Narrative: 3 - Characters: 3 - Cover: 2 - Final: 3 -
3 out of 5 Wonderlands
From the book:
I grew up without ever stopping loving, at least at the beginning.
Love for a victory that seemed there around the corner.
No one has made the Resistance, they are too young. But they know the value of dying for an ideal. And they know the importance of protecting younger lives to ensure a better future for them.