I'm Not Scared

by Niccolò Ammaniti

Book Overview

"Stop all this talk about monsters, Michele. Monsters don't exist. It's men you should be afraid of, not monsters." A sweltering heat wave hits a tiny village in Southern Italy, sending the adults to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1841952974
• ISBN13: 9781841952970
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Canongate Books
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

This book is brilliant

I'm Not Scared is a brilliant novel. The plot involves a group of young friends who go out exploring the Italian countryside around the village they live in. One of the friends, Michele, discovers a boy he believes to be dead in an abandoned outbuilding. The novel follows the story of what happens when Michele returns to the boy and finds out that he is not dead, but is chained up in the hole. When Michele discovers the reason why the boy is imprisoned, his whole world starts to crack and every last drop of his courage and bravery is tested. The book wouldn't be brilliant if the characters weren't so strong and recognisable from our own childhoods. The book shows with great skill the various sides of being young and realising that the world isn't perfect and that our family and friends do not always behave as we would like. I felt like I knew Michele and his sister Maria and their little group of friends. Michele's character was so realistic, and all the elements of growing up were described with such clarity - the fear of the outside world coupled with reckless bravery, the love / hate relationship with his parents, and the struggle between right and wrong. I also thought that the characterisation of Michele's mother was spot on - a woman who is desperately tired and scared, whose personality is caring one minute and harsh the next. The use of language is light and beautiful. I read the book in a single sitting and am sitting at my computer in the early hours of the morning writing this review because I simply couldn't go to sleep without writing something down about it. Overall this book is a literary treat. It is absorbing, shocking, suspenceful, terrifying, touching. The end doesn't tie everything up with a nice little bow on top, but it is realistic and frightening and hopeful. I loved it. JoAnne

A modern day parable

Told through the thoughts and views of a young boy, I'm Not Scared is a searing look at the struggles and truths of childhood morality, the formidable situations many children's parents force them to face, and the untimely death of childhood trust and safety. Jonathan Hunt has translated Niccolo Ammaniti's disturbing story beautifully, capturing the hard realities of desperate and self-righteous people along with the sinister and surreal atmosphere that slowly descends around Michele and his family. A difficult book to discuss without revealing plot lines and endings, Ammaniti has, in an unusual sense, written a compelling psychological thriller and has created a story that does not end with the printed page but within the reader's own imagination.

Amazing

Too much information has already been given about the story, so i'll not give more.I will just state that this is one of the most amazing, thrilling, beautiful novels that i have read in the past few years. Don't miss it.

Horrible and beautiful

Michele is an average nine year old boy who lives in a tiny hamlet in southern Italy. On a very hot summer day in 1978 he and a few of his friends from the village climb a hill on top of which they find a deserted house. When Michele has to cross the house he finds a boy who is locked in chains in a well. He does not tell his friends, but later he goes back to find out what is happening. Slowly but surely it becomes apparent that the boy is kidnapped and that all the grown ups in the village are involved. Michele's father tells him not to get into the vicinity of the boy anymore, but in the end pity wins it from the vow to his father and the end of the story happens at night.'I am not scared' is a book about a boy who discovers a secret that is not bearable at his age. First he seeks refuge into ideas from fairytales, but in the end reality wins. This book is beautifully written, with grand descriptions of the summer heat in southern Italy and real Italian fights. Absolutely a must read.

Close to perfection

The publication of Niccolo Ammaniti's work in English is long overdue. "I'm Not Scared" lacks the black comedy and outrageous situations of his earlier work but, in this novel, one of Italy's most important young writers attains something close to perfection. Like "The Great Gatsby", this is a novel with zero padding. Every word has its place and contributes to the whole. The style, the sensitive descriptions of the hero's world and attitudes and the construction of the story are first class. The whole book unfolds like a movie (the first few pages brought back vivid images of Terrence Malick's "Days of Heaven" with the undulating fields of grain) in vibrant, striking images. And that's all that I'll say because any more about the plot could ruin the pleasure of discovering a great modern novel.