Voices in the Evening

by Natalia Ginzburg

Book Overview

After WWII, a small Italian town struggles to emerge from under the thumb of Fascism. With wit, tenderness, and irony, Elsa, the novel's narrator, weaves a rich tapestry of provincial Italian life: two generations of neighbors and relatives, their gossip and shattered dreams, their heartbreaks and struggles to find happiness. Elsa wants to imagine a future for herself, free from the expectations and burdens of her town's history, but the weight of...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811231003
• ISBN13: 9780811231008
• Release Date: May 2021
• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A clear voice, feminine and universal

A short novel describing the decadence of an agrarian italian dynasty from the point of view of a girl engaged in a lame love affair with one of the last decendants thereof. Like her other short novels ("The way to the city" and "This is how it happened" - I don't really know under what titles they were published in the US), the hero is a young woman who struggles for independece but pays a high price. I won't delude you, her writing is bleak and melancholic. Don't expect happy endings or too much optimism, you'll have to settle for a pure voice telling you in a unique style sad but wise and sensitive stories.