From Booklist
When his reclusive single-parent mother suddenly dies in her bed, young Luca dreads change, especially the possibility that he will land in an orphanage, so he keeps his mother’s death a secret, goes to school, uses her cash card, and cares for his beloved cat, even as the rotting corpse swells up in the one-bedroom apartment on the eighth floor of their city building, and the stench begins to reach beyond the locked bedroom door. Translated from the Italian in clear, lyrical prose, always true to the child’s viewpoint, the blend of horror and innocence captures a universal nightmare, as Luca dresses up as “a normal little boy,” tries to make do, talks to his mother and himself, listens to the silence, gets through a visit from a friend, and wards off the neighbors. The terse survival drama of the child marooned alone, not in the wilderness but in the crowded city, will stir readers: Could it be happening on my street? How will it end? --Hazel Rochman
Review
Praise for Marina Mander's The First True Lie“If you liked
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, read
The First True Lie, by Marina Mander
. Mander’s English-language debut has all of Foer’s energy, despite a hard-to-stomach premise… As in
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, the buoyancy of the child narrator’s voice is ultimately an act of hope — hope in the face of death, darkness, and trauma.”
—Cosmopolitan
“From page one I was with Luca, the adorable and witty young narrator of this brilliant and emotionally upsetting story. I lived in his words and in his head, and stayed there for a long time after I had finished the book.”
—Herman Koch, author of the international bestseller The Dinner
“Mander’s English-language debut is narrated by the ebullient Luca, whose voice is every bit as engaging as the best child narrators out there: imagine a blend of Oskar (
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close), Blue (
Special Topics in Calamity Physics), and Christopher Boone (
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time). This slim novel smartly focuses on the cranks and gears of Luca’s imagination….[A]t its best, Luca’s original voice will break your heart. Ultimately, Luca’s story offers a buoyant picture of hope in the face of disaster, and life in the face of death.”
—Publishers Weekly
"Translated from the Italian in clear, lyrical prose, always true to the child’s viewpoint, the blend of horror and innocence captures a universal nightmare….The terse survival drama of the child marooned alone, not in the wilderness but in the crowded city, will stir readers: Could it be happening on my street? How will it end?”
—Booklist
“[An] elegantly carved look into the inner life of an orphaned child.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Cruel, heart-wrenching, and surprising...As all great books do, this opens a window into a world. It will not be easy for you to close that window, nor to forget that world.”
—La Republica
“A beautiful novel that tells a terrible story with brio and depth.”
—Tiziano Scarpa See all Editorial Reviews