*3.5

”I would've cut my veins to wake up in the morning, find you in my bed, and say, 'Good morning, my love.' But no. For you, I was a pastime."

Books like this keep me sane. I really thought I was getting a story about a woman and her disabled chicken, but instead got handed a fable of two former lovers on an extended phone call over four decades after the affair. I think we all have people that we can imagine in that scenario—Reading about women able to stand up for themselves (and then navigate relationships) with the people that have hurt them makes me feel good. I love Nives.

❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ( )

Nives by Sacha Naspini was first published in 2020, and is now being issued by Europa Editions in a translation from the Italian by Clarissa Botsford with the title Tell Me About It. It is a wicked little novella which can be read in one sitting, but which packs a punch and leaves a bittersweet aftertaste, not unlike a shot of grappa.

The book starts off quite wackily. On the very first page, Nives’s husband Anteo Raulli dies in a rather macabre accident on their farm in rural Tuscany. Once the funeral is over, and her daughter Laura goes back to Languedoc where she lives with her French husband and children, Nives tries to ward off loneliness by bringing her favourite hen Giacomina to live with her inside. Nives is surprised to notice that the hen’s company makes up more than adequately for Anteo. One night, however, Giacomina seems to fall into a trance. Panicked, Nives phones Loriano Bottai, the local vet who has cured the Raulli’s farm animals for decades. As the phone call proceeds, we realise that that Nives and Loriano share a colourful history beyond a pure professional relationship. It will be a night of shocking revelations, nostalgic reveries, painful discoveries and brief moments of unexpected tenderness.

To be honest, none of the characters come across as particularly endearing – certainly not, to my mind, the acidic Nives or the spineless Loriano. But I’m not one who believes that a story needs “lovable” leads to be engrossing. Indeed, the dark humour of the barb-filled dialogue between Nives and Loriano is what gives this novella its particular flavour.

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2022/04/Tell-Me-About-It-Nives-Sacha-Naspini.... ( )

Nives' husband of many years has just died suddenly of a stroke. At first, Nives seems strangely unaffected by his death--she doesn't even cry. But when she finds herself unable to sleep, she brings her favorite chicken inside to live with her as a companion.
I had seen this book described as the story of a newly widowed woman adjusting after the death of her long-time husband, but I don't think that is the book's true focus. Things take off when shortly after bringing the chicken inside, Nives becomes concerned that the chicken might be having a seizure of some sort and calls the town veterinarian. The remainder of the book (in fact the bulk of the book) is basically a long conversation between Nives and the vet (Loviano Bottai). As the conversation proceeds, we learn all the secrets and scandals of this small Italian town that have occurred over the past 50 years.
There is some good writing here, and I'm not sorry I read the book, but it wasn't one that touched me in the way I was anticipating.

3 stars ( )